I read something today that I could not believe. I am so shocked by the information that I am (almost) at a loss for what to say. But I wanted to pass this along to all of you, so you could share my disbelief and anger. In Pennsylvania and some other states, schools are SENDING HOME notes to parents of kids that have high "B.M.I." counts.
The schools are sending home these notes to warn the parents about the child’s potential weight problem—–but does anyone but me think that this completely INSANE and sure fire way to start a child on the road to an eating disorder? Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
Six year old Karlind Dunbar is not eating lately. Ever since her school sent home a note about her higher than average "B.M. I.", Karlind is afraid she’ll get in trouble with her teachers if she eats too much. I have the link to the article about this insane practice at the end of this blog entry, but here’s a preview:
Since the letter arrived, “my 2-year-old eats more than she does,â€
said Georgeanna Dunbar, Karlind’s mother, who complained to the school
and is trying to help her confused child. “She’s afraid she’s going to
get in trouble,†Ms. Dunbar said.
The practice of reporting
students’ body mass scores to parents originated a few years ago as
just one tactic in a war on childhood obesity
that would be fought with fresh, low-fat cafeteria offerings and
expanded physical education. Now, inspired by impressive results in a
few well-financed programs, states including Delaware, South Carolina
and Tennessee have jumped on the B.M.I. bandwagon, turning the reports
— in casual parlance, obesity report cards — into a new rite of
childhood.
If you have the stomach for it (literally, this article made me sick) read more here.
What is the world coming to? Please tell me a good side to this as I can’t see it.
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{ 7 comments }
I think I would really hit the ceiling… before they send those stupid notes home, hows about they review their cafeteria menus. My daughter’s school offers burgers, fries, fried chicken, ramen noodle, and then make no effort to make the vegetable choices appealing, by putting out crappy, wilted salads and vegetables with no seasoning or anything. I don’t expect cuisine, but don’t tell me my kid’s not eating right then put out chips and cookies. Period.
I wanted to share this with the other WT moms and dads and others out there because it is such a stupid way to attack the child obesity problem! Let’s just label the kids…and send them on a fast track to an eating disorder.
I saw something about this on tv this morning!Things like this can hurt siblings, too. My cousin has never been considered overweight, fat or even pudgy. She never even had baby fat, but she became anorexic after years of hearing her mother telling her brother and sister to lose weight. Things like this effect everyone.
I agree with j-yo above. The new “wellness plan” implemented by the government is a good idea, but our local school doesn’t qualify for funding for it because our percentage of free and reduced lunches is too low.
WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO???
This is a heartbreaker….
The only reason that I can possibly see thinking something like this is a good idea is that a study was done not too long ago which showed that a fairly large number of parents who had children who were clinically obese* underestimated the severity of the problem. “It’s just puppy fat”, “My kid’s fine” etc. etc. etc. The bottom line: it appears that parents of overweight children often fail to recognize that their child has a problem.
So if I am being extremely generous, maybe this new trend is an attempt to educate these parents. Although, is the school the forum in which to do this? Maybe the logic here is that not all children have yearly pediatrician visits, but they all go to school… In any event, this does seem a misguided way in which to do it…
———-
*I didn’t say this well. The kids were obese. The study made no mention of what the parents weighed…
This may be the study I heard of (but it seems there are several:) http://www.obesityresearch.org/cgi/content/full/11/11/1362
This is happening in Florida as well. My son got a note home that he is overweight. Now he is just a regular little boy who plays outside and is active. He is not as large as some and not small. I was so mad when I got the letter. Not only that, but my ex husband then tried to use it to get custody of our son. Very sad world where kids are subjected to this.
2 years ago my very athletic daughter received this same BMI letter. Because of her high muscle structure due to 5-6 hours a week of soccer practice and games her height to weight ratio was a bit off – she stands 5′6″ and weighs 142 but looks like she weighs 110…she is solid muscle. To say that I was furious was an understatement. I fired off a strong worded letter to the administration and copied the school board. I never heard a word from anyone even though I followed up with phone calls. My daughter loves to play “Guess my Weight” with people as well as tell the story of how she is in danger of being fat. Thank goodness her body image is sane as is her younger sister’s though she recently went through an “I have a ‘fat’stomach phase. The older girl set the younger girl straight very quickly. Now to convince the ped that an 11 pound gain in a year is okay because it is all muscle.
Well, now I’m pissed. This is so typical of our society’s hypocritical attitude toward’s weight. Let’s require schools to tell students that they’re fat, but let’s not give them any additional funds to serve healthier foods in the cafeteria or offer nutrition classes to families. Is offering funnel cakes without powdered sugar really a step in the right direction when we’ve got kids worried about their BMI? That’s just as pathetic a nutrition move as my practice of drinking a Diet Coke with my pizza. Hey, I agree that childhood obesity is a problem in our country but I don’t think informing parents via report card letters that their kids are (duh) fat contributes anything positive in fighting this trend.
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