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

Originally posted by FrancoUn-American
reply to post by Skyfloating

 

Just as Brits are characterized as hideously ugly with bad teeth

Good Point
Who needs teeth when you are in a soup line?

Welcome to Socialist hell my friends. Soon the government will tell you how to eat, how to brush your teeth, how to wipe your behind.

When exactly did it become the governments business how fat its citizens were, especially the children? I thought it was a parents job to raise their kids however they see fit or unfit.

Massachucetts is going broke, the Federal government is going broke and they want to tell us how to manage our live.... oh the irony.

[edit on 18-7-2010 by ZuluChaka]

IMO, it depends on what parameters they use for this BMI report. Looking at the role models we have lately, I would want to make sure they were not making the report show a normal weight child as fat and an underweight child as normal. It seems to be the trend.
A blood pressure reading of "normal" has gotten much lower, as has the "normal" cholesterol reading, but this is often attributed to manipulation by big pharma.
How I wish kids could get out of school and run a mile to the old fishin hole to swim. I used to go climb mountains every day.
hm, sad.

Good!

It's about time they start teaching kids and their parents about Body Mass Index. You are supposed to learn that in Physical Education.

I see nothing wrong here. However, I do see kids teasing other kids about their BMI ratings in the future.

Originally posted by Skyfloating

Originally posted by airspoon
The school should be for teaching kids academics only.

Disagreed. A human being is not only the intellect but also body and spirit. If a school wants to deserve the name "learning institution" it should teach about life as a whole.

Very true, SF. The sign of a great school is one that actually strives to make its programs impact the kinds in a variety of ways. To simply send a letter out to the parents is tip toeing around the subject. If the school system finds an exceptionally high amount of its students are considered to have a bad BMI, then they should institute programs that get the kids more active.

Originally posted by Skyfloating

Originally posted by airspoon
The school should be for teaching kids academics only.

Disagreed. A human being is not only the intellect but also body and spirit. If a school wants to deserve the name "learning institution" it should teach about life as a whole.

Our son brought one of these home. Hes a slim kid but very soild and was over the weight range for his age by just a few pounds. He eats a high protein diet and is very active so he has heavy bones and muscle.

reply to post by drsmooth23



And look at the garbage they have been feeding our kids in public schools for years.....that we have been paying for.

reply to post by airspoon


I don't see the problem with this.

If the parents don't care enough about their children's health, to allow them to become great big wobble bottoms and sweat profusely on relatively cool days, what's wrong with the schools trying to open the parents eyes to how unhealthy and prone to illness they're allowing their children to become?

If a kid was caught sniffing glue, or smoking crack at school, would they prefer the teachers didn't point it out to the parents then?

Both the crack/sniffing/drugs/booze/whatever are unhealthy, and not conducive to a long term healthy lifestyle, but then again, so is huge waddling children, prone to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, lethargy etc etc.

Why should it be acceptable to highlight one unhealthy issue, and not another?

I'll tell you exactly why these parents are up in arms about this, it's simply because they know full well it's them, the parents that who are at fault where fat kids are concerned, and they don't like anyone drawing attention to their failings as responsible parents.

Drugs on the other hand, can be blamed entirely on the kids themselves, so that's fine to mention.

Hypocrites.

reply to post by Logarock


This is based on BMI (Body mass Index) isn't it?

In other words, the ratio of body fat to muscle.

A stocky, well built teenager, with a lean musculature should not be highlighted as being obese or near to being obese, and shouldn't have been included in a negative way.


The BMI should only highlight those kids, that have a high proportion of fat that is calculated to be unhealthy for their age/height.

None of you seem to be paying attention to the fact that the "fat report" was sent home with a NINE year old. 9! We aren't talking about high school students. We are talking about elementary school students - 3rd and 4th graders!

I have four daughters - 12, 10, 9, 9. My 9 year old twins will be going into 4th grade this fall and calculating their BMI would not only be a useless bit of info (children at this age can start to look chubby and then suddenly have a growth spurt and their increased height balances out their weight) but a total waste of time and money on the part of teachers and schools.

IMHO, this makes about as much sense as the new push to force nutritional labels to the front of the box because the feds think people are too dumb to turn a box around. Even the average Joe with an IQ of 100 can figure out where to find a nutritional label and they can see if their child needs to lose some weight.

Anyone that is OK with this shouldn't complain when sites like ATS get shut down. We're getting deeper and deeper into a Nanny State and I would think that of all places, people on ATS would be sensitive to that and attempt to avoid it.

Jemison

Let me tell you my story.

I was extremely overweight for my height in elementary school. I'm talking about 178 lbs. in 5th grade and I was probably only 5 feet tall.

I was "selected" to participate in a special class for some of the other overweight kids in my grade. I didn't know they had such things and I'm not sure that we weren't just an experiment.

It may have been twice a week or so, but our fat kid club would meet with the school nurse to weigh in and then talk about nutrition and stuff. The person (kid) who lost the most weight for the week would get a little prize. Ironically, my prize one week was a pig magnet. We did other good activities, like keeping a food journal.

The Big Fat Problem with this...lack of parent involvement.

I said all of that to say this. It starts and ends with the parents. Raising obese (not just overweight) kids is irresponsible bordering on abusive. If your kids are obese, it's your fault. You've done something wrong.

BTW - BMI is, in general, a decent tool for indicating issues, but fails totally if you're at all muscular.

The disease of addiction manifests in five primary behaviors:
Alcohol AA
Drugs NA
Sex SAA
Food OA
Money GA

Since alcohol drugs and sex have taken a big hit in USA the past 40 years it leaves USA population as morbidly endogenous obese gamblers.

Fat Gamblers.

Moderation in all areas.

(AA Alcoholics Anonymous, NA Narcotics Anonymous, SAA Sexaholics Anonymous, OA OVEREATERS Anonymous, GA Gamblers Anonymous)

this is just another example of typical bureaucratic bravo sierra. they feel like hey i was hired by the state so i have the authoritay to quote cartman. to tell these kids parents hey you are failures your kid is morbidly obese or your kid is too skinny. next they will do like they did in england when they snatched the kids from this one family because they were afraid parents would make them fat. i have already seen this in my state a friend of mine who is a been pole and his wife had there 10 year old and 2 yearold snatched from them and charged with being unfit because their kids were considerd too skinny the whole family is very skinny. i used to go over to their house on a daily basis and his wife was always cooking meat and potatoes and lots of vetables. those kids just had trouble holding the weight because of genitics

Originally posted by Jemison
None of you seem to be paying attention to the fact that the "fat report" was sent home with a NINE year old. 9! We aren't talking about high school students. We are talking about elementary school students - 3rd and 4th graders!

Yes my child was 1st grade....1ST GRADE!

Originally posted by spikey
reply to post by Logarock

 

This is based on BMI (Body mass Index) isn't it?

In other words, the ratio of body fat to muscle.

A stocky, well built teenager, with a lean musculature should not be highlighted as being obese or near to being obese, and shouldn't have been included in a negative way.


The BMI should only highlight those kids, that have a high proportion of fat that is calculated to be unhealthy for their age/height.

I didnt mention he is only 7 years old..sorry.

But your point is taken. This was a problem in the military on this body fat and wieght thing. There was only one way of doing it and made zero provisions.

reply to post by airspoon


Mass can do this as they have the people hostage under their version of mandatory universal health care reform, they can tell parents what to do when it comes to the health of their children.

But what mass doesn't tell is that many people in the nation that are forced into buying the health care can not afford to pay for deductibles to see doctors and to engage their children on specialized care for obesity.

People just look listen and learn, this heading to all of us and in every state very soon. . .

In a nation obsessed with vitality and health you couldn't expect them to ignore the fat people too. They went after the smokers now there going after other unhealthy habbits too (eating).

It's getting out of control honestly. First they tell you you can't smoke, then they tell you to wear your setbelt. Now there gonna tell you what to eat.

I was flipping through the channels the other day and came across a cartoon I use to watch when I was 5 years old. Tom and Jerry anyone remember that show? My jaw hit the ground when I saw Jerry the mouse smoking a cigarette. I could only imagine the uproar now adays it they showed that in a cartoon.

Personaly I smoke. I have no retirement and the faster I leave this world the better. F-em.

Land of the free? whoever told you that is your enemy.



[edit on 19-7-2010 by wantsome]

Originally posted by Logarock

Originally posted by Jemison
None of you seem to be paying attention to the fact that the "fat report" was sent home with a NINE year old. 9! We aren't talking about high school students. We are talking about elementary school students - 3rd and 4th graders!

Yes my child was 1st grade....1ST GRADE!

1st grade????? Ok, that SERIOUSLY makes my blood boil!

Looking at this from both a personal view, as a parent, and a professional view, MFCC (Marriage and Family and Child Counselor), the potential damage for fat reports far outweigh any potential benefits. Keep it out of elementary schools and teach older students how to calculate their own BMI the way schools have been doing it for years.

I'm incredibly disturbed that so many people are defending this. I would expect it in some forums but I honestly am shocked to see it here.

Jemison

After reviewing what all is going on in Massachutes, there are other points that were not brought up and what many people don't realize. What you are seeing is just the begining. Under the new laws that were enacted, for a hospital to get any sort of federal funding, it is mandated that they take the BMI reading off of every child brought in and reported to the federal government, now you may not think it is bad, but what if you got a letter from the federal government stating that you are fat and slightly overweight? And what about if it states that if you do not show a weight loss you will have to pay a bit more for insurance or face an additional tax for being in the higher bmi index? The problem with the bmi issue, is that it does not take into account one thing and I have seen this before first hand, and that is muscle mass. I have seen time and time again, where a person who is very muscular, who is told he is over weight. Several years ago, there was a case of a person in the US Airforce, where that came out. The airman was a professional body builder, but his bmi score indicated he was way overweight, and could have been kicked out of the military. All cause the BMI test incorrectly indicated the true fat amount on his body. Eskimos and people who are of innuet descent also tend to have the exact same problem as well.
I saw and heard about this report this morning on Fox news and the girl in the article in question should make you question about the entire process:
She is still growing be a preteen and does gymnastics. So she has more muscle mass than fat on her body. So the entire BMI system is flawed.

[edit on 19-7-2010 by sdcigarpig]

reply to post by airspoon


I think the school has some say in this.. When I was younger I was very fat (now just a little overweight lol) and my gym teachers saw me buying tons of donuts from the school... so they called my parents and told them.. Which was the right thing to do. I didn't have any idea about nutrition then.. Donuts were good.

But the least schools could do is not send home a letter and instead call the parents.

I have a feeling the school chose letters to de-personalize this. They didn't want to deal with the angry parents, which makes me wonder if they are really that concerned.