Mass. Parents Angry Over Kids Sent Home With 'Fat Reports'

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


None of my children or grandchildren were/are overweight, my skinniest child, happens to be a type one diabetic.

We have much more access to food then we did in ancient times when we needed to store fat to survive, and had to work much harder to eat, can you imagine the amount of calories expended just to hunt and gather?

I have lived this way, off the land.

www.articlesbase.com...

the human body when we were hunter/gatherers has exactly the same genetic blueprint as the human body today. It has adapted to continuous cycles of feast and famine and it has done this by developing efficient fat storage capabilities. By storing large amounts of fat whenever food was plentiful the body could protect itself against times when food was scarce. Long periods without food in winter conditions meant it would often come down to survival of the fattest.

Read more: www.articlesbase.com...
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

The reason I mention medication in another post is that many medication can cause weight gain and weight loss, I happen to be on one that causes gain,


[edit on 123131p://bSunday2010 by Stormdancer777]

[edit on 123131p://bSunday2010 by Stormdancer777]

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
reply to post by sdcigarpig

 

There's the danger of abuse in everything. But do we stop progress or ignore the uses and benefits of all tools just because of these potential dangers? Or do we stay vigilent about potential abuses while using the tools for the good they do provide? Fine line.

Pick your battles. In this particular case as with many others brought up in this way, the mob is angry and probably can't really even clarify why, and in all likelihood probably isn't even concerned about the things you mention. It's probably a small mob with 100 different reasons masquerading as a trend.

Any tool like this could grow into a monster like our beloved credit score system, which will in all likelihood one day be linked to our medical records, which will in turn play into corporate and government decisions about our worthiness or the risks we pose.

Also, to think that the government and corporations don't already have access to this information should they want it is probably naive.


[edit on 7/18/2010 by ~Lucidity]

But that is the point, is that when ever the federal government gets involved, it never goes well. The path to hell is laid with the best of intentions. In one of the prior posts a person asked if the parents have it under control, and I would like to use that, along with the point of the government interference to answer your question.
I believe that in the pictures, that yes the parents do have it under control, as they made a choice to let their children eat fast food, and probably I would say alot of junk food and sugary stuff. And who ultimate is responsible for alot of this is the parents. But the government is equally to blame. I am one of the last generation to grow up without the rules that the government has set up in the name of protecting children, and when the department of social services was just getting started. Now days, in most city, and states, parents can not be parents, or have to tred fearfully for fear of someone or their own child calling and putting in a complaint to the department of social services. When I was growing up, Mcdonalds or any fast food restraunt or junk food or soda was a treat, not a staple. Dinner was made, and the rule was if I did not eat it, care to guess what was for breakfast? If I was not at home when dinner was on the table, well the next meal was in the morning. When I went out to play or ride a bike or skate board, I did not wear a helmet or protective gear. If I got hurt, meant a trip to the bathroom, and then it was cleaned with hydrogen perxoide, rubbing alcohole, iodine, a bandaide and sent back out to play.
But now days, with all of the mandates of the government, we are over protecting our children, to the point where parents are not sure if they should or should not. If the child cries in public, or pitches a fit, cause the parent says no, there is no discipline, and if they do, or the child has been told about such, they call CPS and the parents are in for a large mess of problems. Yes children do lie. Anymore if a child goes out, they are all in protective gear, as mandated by the law. The government came out with being out in the sun is bad, and guess what, there is now a problem with vit D deficiency. With food being as expensive as it is these days, more and more people are going out to eat, at fast food places, as it is cheap, quick and easy. The solutions are neither easy or simple, but I do not believe that the government should be mandating anything at this present time. There is no mandate or law, that tells the people how to live that is ever sucessful in its nature. The best example of such is the drug problem of the country. The government spent billions to say don't do drugs, but nothing on helping those who are addicted to such.

I don't see whats wrong where I live between my 5th grade and 9th grade in gym class we would do all kind of tests to see if we were healthy and then at the end of the year we would get a paper with the results and some advices and the tests counted for 30 per cent of the mark in gym's class.

For example a boy of 14 years old would have to be able to do 7 push ups and girls that age 5 sit ups, 20 come and goes (I don't know the English name so i translated it) for girls of 14 years old and 40 for boys etc... We would measure our height and weight and calculate our BMI and check our flexibility...
Now the only thing I do in class are the exercises and it still counts for 30% of my final mark.
As we age the number of sit ups, push ups etc, gets bigger.

Physical Education IS a part of school,

Whats wrong with a Body Mass Index report?

Im always measuring myself all the time.....

Basically the public is stupid
80% of the United States population never even read books...

Not everyone is as self-educated as us

I think you over estimate the level of the mass public's intelligence

The average IQ is 100...

That is pretty low to me;
Mines is 140

So basically a lot of people do need to be told what to do because they are unintelligent and cant think for themselves,



[edit on 18-7-2010 by SupremeKnowledge]

Originally posted by SupremeKnowledge
Physical Education IS a part of school,

Whats wrong with a Body Mass Index report?

Im always measuring myself all the time.....

Basically the public is stupid
80% of the United States population never even read books...

Not everyone is as self-educated as us

I think you over estimate the level of the mass public's intelligence

The average IQ is 100...

That is pretty low to me;
Mines is 140

So basically a lot of people do need to be told what to do because they are unintelligent and cant think for themselves,



[edit on 18-7-2010 by SupremeKnowledge]

I disagree with you on that one. People do not need to be told what to do, being human, means you have to make mistakes, they are as important to learning as not. We learn by doing, by suceeding and failing. But what you advocate is dangerous, and wrong. What if some government agency came into your private life and told you what you could or could not do, stating what you just did, would you be happy? Consider that the government reports often conflict, how would you feel? Take for example, they tell you to eat healthy, cause it will improve your health and you do it, well that happened, and now the same experts are now coming out stating that is a mental disorder. They say that going out into the sun will lead you to have skin cancer, but are often shocked to see a raise in diseases that are from a lack of vitamin D. Oh eating fish is healthy, but if you eat alot of fish, you could end up with mercury poisoning.
See there you go, examples where we are told what to do, but the consequences of loosing the freedom of choice has consequences that can be far worse than then actual condition.
A school or any government agency should not be watching medical records or wanting to know about the health of any individual unless it is required. That means a school should not be monitoring bmi indexes of any student as now they are violating the right to privacy of that student. Does a school need to know about medical conditions of a student, yes but only for the safety of the student. Allergies, physical condition, and innoculations, but that is it, not bmi index. Nor does it take into accound genetics, as that too has been proven by medical science.

reply to post by SupremeKnowledge


Maybe people are so dumb because they are constantly told what to do and how and when to do it. If it were left up to the people to make their own choices in life, then they would either die off or wisen up real quick. Frankly, I could care less whether people become successful in life and it pisses me off that I can no longer make my own choices in life because people feel they need the government to make those choices for them.

This country was founded upon liberty, it is supposed to be a corner-stone of our society but instead, we have a nanny-state. To me, the liberty of one person is far more important than the percieved well being of 100 people. Of course, people could be much more safe if we lock them in their own homes and control everything in their lives right down to how and when they go to the bathroom, but that doesn't mean that we should. Give me liberty or give me death. Liberty needs to be the last word and people can either sink or swim.

--airspoon

[edit on 18-7-2010 by airspoon]

reply to post by sdcigarpig

reply to post by airspoon

Okay maybe I worded it wrong;

I agree that it is wrong to force people to do things,

But I feel that simply educating them would be helpful....
Since:
1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
57 percent of new books are not read to completion.


And I dont think the government is overstepping their boundaries on this issue,
Telling a parent what their child's weight is and then telling them what is the healthy weight according to the Body Mass Index is pretty much just facts,

Maybe some parents got mad because they are obese themselves, and instead of looking at the facts logically they associated the facts with personal social trauma stemming from their own obesity.....


[edit on 18-7-2010 by SupremeKnowledge]

Originally posted by SupremeKnowledge
reply to post by sdcigarpig

reply to post by airspoon

Okay maybe I worded it wrong;

I agree that it is wrong to force people to do things,

But I feel that simply educating them would be helpful....
Since:
1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
57 percent of new books are not read to completion.

But there you go, that is personal choice. We can not force people to read or purchase a book, or go to a bookstore to look at such. And maybe that is a problem in the modern day world, after all why buy a book, when you can read stuff online? Why read when you can turn on the TV or go to the movie and be entertained mindlessly? Why read a book, when you can get it on tape and have someone else read it for you? Most people, and I will admit I am one of them, are creatures of comfort and lazy. We are products of our own environment, but as we are creatures of comfort and are lazy, we choose to be such, not cause we can not be, but we choose to.
I believe that the best example when it come to food, comes from a famous cook, Grahm Kerr. He was once known as the Galloping Gourmet, would show people how to cook rich deliscious foods, till he had to have a triple bypass. He discovered that the main reason why most people bulk as such, is cause the food tasted terrible and looked bad. Instead of continuing to eat such, he saw the problem, one being cost. He turned around and redid his recipies to where they were low fat, tasted good and looked good, focusing on those three things. And they do not cost that much to make.

Aside from all the anger on this issue,
I think if the report helped at least 1 or 2 families change their eating habits to a much more healthier lifestyle;
Thereby making them more attractive, more healthier, more fit, guiding their children to a better life,
Then I think it was worth it.....

There are only 3 things that people desire on this planet
HEALTH, WEALTH, AND LOVE

Instead of scorn,
They should be offering their gratitude to the person that is trying to help them achieve better health.....

I applaud the person who came up with the idea...

[edit on 18-7-2010 by SupremeKnowledge]

reply to post by ThaLoccster


Im sorry but your child is huge, look at the size of him compared to the kid on the left!

Maybe if he lost the toolbelt and hard hat he would have a normal bmi

Sounds like their nutrition classes/new lunch menu's aren't working?

All I can see this interference doing is causing more divisions between the students.

Like a "fatties" clique and a "thinnies" clique.

---------------
Here's a thread on ATS about a family that had their child taken away from them because of him being obese, and they called it "child neglect." Here's the thread

--------------

I think the poster that posted that it is going to be required for "everyone" by 2014, is very important. You know... start making it mandatory now for kids at school, then work on the parents.

So you all better start losing weight now... or else you'll be on the fattie list!

All persons on the the "fattie" list will be volunteered into the National Service first!

reply to post by airspoon
A couple of things,.Airspoon ,.. by your avatar are you Ex military? if so then you would not feel this such a offensive issue by the school
Being this is just information for the parents, there should be nothing wrong with it.
For one ,. parents have become so stupid to what the necessary nutrients are for a human to eat. fast food has become the norm. Quick meals that come from a box or bag,.. Parents have lost touch with reality and traded it for convenience.
well if you havn't noticed we are becoming a fat nation (my self not included)
If a school chooses a program that could save your kids life why be so opposed to it,.. and besides this is just info on the child's
health potential.
A very serious health threat rapidly growing Here in the US is diabetes.
Being overweight can be a sign, besides inactivity

I think the state needs to keep their noses out of parent's business. The state has become far too involved in people's personal lives, especially when it comes to our children. School is a place for acedemic learning and nothing else, everything else is the responsibility of the parents. Parents can and do find out if their child is at a healthy weight when they take them to the doctor and the family doc is far more competant to make that judgement then a school that simply takes into account height and weight.

Most people look at my grandson and assume the boy doesn't get fed properly because he is so thin. However that is far from the truth, that boy eats as much as his father or uncle, and he eats good healthy food he just metabolizes it very quickly. He's very thin, but all muscle he's 9 and already is forming a 6 pack (and no it's not from working out) it's just the way his body is. I'm German on my mother's side and we're all big in my family (not fat, big) my grandmother was 6' 200 lbs, my ma is 5' 11" and my boys are 6' and 6'3" and our body structures are large framed. A BMI doesn't give the correct resluts as it doesn't take into account other factors suce as muscle content. I did one of those BMI things the other year and I freaked at the results. Next time I went to the doc he laughed when I told him my concerns. He said not to pay attention to those things because most of my weight is muscle, he said look at your legs, you could be a damn football player with those leg muscles

One of the main reasons that we face such a problem with obesity in this country is all the GM food, additives, and high fructose corn syrup that we consume. The government would serve us better to address that issue.

In my grandchildren's school they have no recess, and only 15 minutes to shove their lunch down their throats. Their physical ed classes have been cut down to barely nothing at all, they have alternating phys ed classes now if you had phys ed this year you don't get it next year and when you do get it you only get it for half the year . When I was in school we had two 15 minute recesses and an hr for lunch and we only stayed in school 15 -30 minutes longer than they do today. Factor in the garbage processed food they feed these kids in school lunches today and you start to see that all the blame does not lie with the parents. I've noticed that many of my grandchildren's classmates that have a weight problem are the ones that eat the school breakfasts and lunches, the classmates that are within their normal weight range are the kids that eat breakfast at home and bring their lunches. And for some reason the schools seem intent on having the students eat the food that the school provides.

This past school year their school noticed that a lot of students were showing up for school without eating breakfast so they implemented a program where they set up tables at the top of the staircase and hand out bagged breakfasts to the kids when they come in and are allowed 10 minutes in class to eat before class starts. I have no problem with this program, my problem came in when I noticed the school personell attempting to force those breakfasts on my grandchildren. My grandkids would say no thank you I already ate breakfast and the lunch ladies would follow after them trying to put it in their hands After I had spoken to them twice regarding this matter and they still kept doing it I had to go to the principal and raise a stink about it. If there are children that are going to school without eating breakfast, fine offer them one but don't try to force one on children that have already eaten breakfast. Makes me wonder if there's another motive behind this new program.


The main thing that concerns me is the chance that by sending home these "fat reports" they may place unwarranted worries in the minds of these children and this may lead to self esteem problems and eating disorders among many of them.


The schools should stick to their job of educating and leave the health concerns up to the parents and the medical professionals. If the schools are truely concerned about this issue then I suggest they implement healthy breakfasts and lunches in the school and adequate exercise time during the school day.

Originally posted by SupremeKnowledge
reply to post by sdcigarpig
But I feel that simply educating them would be helpful....
Since:
1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
57 percent of new books are not read to completion.

I don't get why you are harping on about reading. There are in fact other ways to learn. Some people don't learn a lot from books. In fact, for some people it's just a bad way to learn. I'm an auditory person myself. If you say it, I'll remember it and I'll get it. I do read as well. You know though, my grandmother used to do nothing but read and as much as I loved her she wasn't very bright. Now Grandpa, he doesn't read at all and he's still sharp as a tack. You wanna learn to save money? Go live with him for two weeks. He makes less than 2 grand a month and still can save about 12K a year.

Reading might be a particular habit you are fond of and that's fine. I'm just not sure why you use this as a way to measure the intelligence of others though. Honestly, you seem a bit...immodest, to put it lightly.

As for the issue of the parents not wanting to know the kids are fat...Well, there is some truth to this. It's mostly because people in this country are deluded about the state of their health. When my doc told me I was a fattie, I didn't have a fight with him. I just lost eighty pounds. When people tell me I'm ugly I don't argue with them, I think I'm ugly too so I don't care. Most people don't want reality though. They want the fantasy. And i think if we are gonna be paying for people's health care we should just let them have the fantasy. In the long run we might pay less if people just eat themselves to death.

That was so rude on my part.

[edit on 18-7-2010 by antonia]

reply to post by airspoon


I'd put any money on the most of these kids eat school lunches.
Ketchup is a vegetable?
Poison it's all poison.
Just my belief, you don't have to share it but if ya want I'm not greedy we can all share it.

reply to post by airspoon


No instead our society ridicules the overweight.

In the Media that is being released
BMI= Body Mass Index
But in my mind it equals
BMI= Barack Media Influence!

reply to post by Skyfloating


Just as Brits are characterized as hideously ugly with bad teeth

I received one of these, seeing as I'm a high school student here in Mass, and it's definitely not the "Fat Report" people are making it out to be.

My friend, which weighs somewhere around 160 and is in perfect physical condition, received the report stating he is over the recommended BMI percentage. So it's not the most accurate measure in the world, some parents need to realize this and quit wasting other people's time.

Regardless of the inaccuracies of the test, I think it's important for us young people to receive information on the current physical shape of our bodies. I found the report to be one of the key things that drove me to a healthier, more active lifestyle, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Maybe some parents need to get over their extremely sensitive egos and look at the benefits of having your 250 pound 14-year-old told he has to drop a few pounds in order to live a healthy life.

This is coming from the viewpoint of a person who was told he was underweight by this paper and decided to change his life. So it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

BMI= Barack's Military Intentions!
Equals Government is not going to pay a lot for Health Care
Government needs the Money for War!