Government ordered B M I for school kids!!!!!!!!!!

OKay i dont were to put htis so please move as you see fit.

My kids ( kindergarden an fourth graders) just got home an in there bookbags are letters for me to sign to have their BMI recorded for something called HEALTHY CHOICES FOR CHILDREN ACT....

apparently this was signed into law last year(well 2010) the paper says that it is required that all school districts do this.....
does anyone know more about this? Its crazy that its a law!!!
I signed NO way are they bmi my kids
granted my kids would be lucky to have 1% body fat as they are all small for there ages.
please let me know more about this law

Whats wrong with the government trying to keep children healthier? They only have one place that they can control a child's diet, and thats at school. Obviously, most parents aren't doing a very good job controlling their diets at home, so this seems like a good idea to me. Plus, if you learn to eat healthy when you're a child, then maybe you'll choose to eat healthy when you grow up.

reply to post by HideNASecret

I wouldn't do it either.
The BMI doesn't really reveal anything relevant or accurate in any way. Personally, I believe the schools are supposed to educate, and I think I would remind them of that at every opportunity.

in Britain its not a law but we do it at the doctor just as a check up and sometimes in school for like a biology class, but i'm surprised they still use it it since it don't really work for short muscly people, some Rugby players are considered to be morbidly obese even though there athletes.

reply to post by faint1993


I can see your point of view but do they need bmi's on every kid to pick healthy lunches? Couldnt they serve healthy lunch with out doing the bmi's? thats my point, not saying that teachin g kids to eat healthy is not a concern.

BMI isn't a very accurate way to determine health.
There was a child in the UK sent home with a letter to his parents because his BMI considered him as Obese, but clearly he wasn't, and he was a very active child.
It's just a bunch of bull# numbers.
A better thing to do would be to increase physical activity and provide the children with nutritious meals while they are at school

reply to post by HideNASecret


Well, I've got a couple of links for you:

Link 1

Link 2

Personally, I'm glad that you refused. If your kids are small for their age, tall for their age, or are early developers, that will skew the results.

My nephew is approaching the "obese" category for his age. Problem is, he's in the 85th percentile for his age in height, too. Now, you'd think that if the kid is kinda heavy but also kinda big for his age, they'd just chalk it up to the extra height. Well, you'd be wrong.

reply to post by HideNASecret


Okay, but why is it bad if they take the BMI? I'm just curious why this bothers you so much.

Originally posted by faint1993
Whats wrong with the government trying to keep children healthier? They only have one place that they can control a child's diet, and thats at school. Obviously, most parents aren't doing a very good job controlling their diets at home, so this seems like a good idea to me. Plus, if you learn to eat healthy when you're a child, then maybe you'll choose to eat healthy when you grow up.

While i do not think this is that big of a deal (testing BMI, even though it doesn't mean much because everyone' bodily make-up is different), who is the government to decide what is "healthy" and what isn't? It already approves boatloads of drugs to pump into people with just a simple signature, increasingly lax standards on foods (such as toxic allowances, GM products, chemicals, etc), and seeks to BAN the things that are good for is in favor of crap that is tied to BUSINESS, not health. Pharmaceutical industry, agri-business, corporate lobbying, lax regulations, and plenty others, while making organic and natural foodstuffs harder to get and grow through legislation, ordinances, and laws.

Who are they to tell me what is "healthy?" Granted, another hand in our lives they want, even though i DO think are kids' health are of utmost importance, so i can see the government wanting to ensure some sort of health regulations, due to the fact that many kids DO eat unhealthily.

I have never heard of this particular "act," and it does make me curious the reason WHY this is being done, because i doubt it is simply for awareness. What does the ACT say, exactly?

I just wish the OP had a LINK to something. I could research it on my own, but i'd like to have an immediate reference for the sake of the thread.

Aside: when i was in health class (required by both primary and secondary school), we took the BMI just to see whether we were "obese" or not. No big deal.

Hmm.

ETA: Apparently this is STATE Law. You're in Ohio, OP?

SB 210 - Healthy Choices for Healthy Children Act

Ohio Senate Bill 210, The Healthy Choices for Healthy Children Act, became law June 18, 2010. The law contains provisions to combat childhood obesity in the next several years by increasing students’ physical activity and ensuring access to healthy meals and beverages at school.

It also requires school districts, community schools, STEM schools, and chartered nonpublic schools to establish body mass index (BMI) and weight status category screening programs for students in kindergarten and grades 3,5 and 9.

Now, that doesn't sound ALL bad, even though they seem to "categorizing" children based upon weigh for whatever reason...Interesting.

Originally posted by faint1993
reply to post by HideNASecret

 

Okay, but why is it bad if they take the BMI? I'm just curious why this bothers you so much.

Is it the governments job to be concerned about how fat children are? Surely that's the parents job

the only sorce i have for this is the letter i got from my kids school an im concerned because as some have stated bmi's are bull an why does the government need to know my kids bmi? just make lunch healthier an bring back phyical activity.

Originally posted by woodwardjnr

Originally posted by faint1993
reply to post by HideNASecret

 

Okay, but why is it bad if they take the BMI? I'm just curious why this bothers you so much.

Is it the governments job to be concerned about how fat children are? Surely that's the parents job

I know this is a conspiracy sight, and many of us are anti-government or close to it, but the fact remains that the government exists to help and protect us. When you send your kid out of the house for 6 hours to go learn things, it might comfort you to know that they're being taken care of. Being fed proper food is considered being taken care of in my opinion. Public schools ARE a system of the government, and we shouldn't jump to crazy conclusions when they want to see how many of their students are obese.

reply to post by woodwardjnr

Surely that's the parents job

I agree it is the parents job but most are not doing their job.
I have a granddaughter that just turned 4 and she weighs
80 pounds. Mother is also overweight. The doctor has
told her that her child needs to loose. If a family member
says anything about it Mother goes off in a huff. She
says she can't handle her fits if she doesn't feed her
what she wants. Obesity in children is a problem,
its leading to health problems in children. If parents
aren't doing their job someone has to.

reply to post by definity


Oh yes! definity. Obviously you haven't read todays papers. A couple have just had their children taken off them for being above the average BMI weight. They don't need actual laws to take your children off you. Only the say so of any child care people or medical people. They take the children then you have to fight to get them back and believe me the care people put the parents through intensive scrutiny and they have to prove that they will do EXACTLY as the care people want of them. This is going way beyond the powers of anyone aught to have.

Last year I was going to do a rant on this BMI rubbish.

I found out that the BMI statistics used the Indians of India (as opposed to Native Indians). The problem is that they live at a Latitude where they can make Vitamin D virtually all year round.
The higher North and South you go, in Winter you can't make Vitamin D from the Sun, from about October to March.

So your body needs to store the calcium, magnesium and phosphate in your bones and muscles become denser the more north you are (think of the Eskimos-they are all Morbidly obese according to the BMI)
Arnold Schwarzenegger is also considered morbidly obese too.

I worked out that if you use this BMI calculation it works better for Northern Hemisphere inhabitants;
BMI = ( Weight in Pounds / ( Height in inches x Height in inches ) ) x 600

Then you can still use their graphs safely.
They are trying to get people to starve themselves to 'fit' the normal range so when th SHTF these 'normal weight ' people will die off quicker.

In fact there is more eveidence that people that are about a stone overweight tend to live longer than normal people and if you ar e astone underweight you are more likelier to die before your time.

So the moral is
1) Don't believe the Government (remember Spinach!!!)
2) Be slightly overweight, if you want to survive if famine or disease occurs.
3) Be more aware of your pH as this seems to be a better indicator of future disease, (more acid you are, the quicker that disease will be a problem). In fact those in the know, know that inflammation of the body is more indicative of early death!!!!!!

If you are having problems with a child who is on (their rubbish) BMI charts, adn you know they are athletic. Do this;

You can figure out your total body volume at home.
Step 1 Fill the bathtub with a measured amount of water to the point where you can fully submerge yourself. Record the amount of water in the bathtub.
Step 2 Submerge yourself completely under the water in the bathtub. Have someone mark the level of the water while you are completely submerged.
Step 3 Get out of the bathtub. Leave as much of the water on your body in the bathtub as possible to get the most accurate measurement.
Step 4 Add water in measured amounts until the water reaches the marked level. Keep track of the exact measurements added. This is your total body volume in gallons.
Step 5 Convert your volume to square feet by multiplying the total gallons of displacement by 0.122680556 ft^3. You now have your volume in cubic feet.

www.livestrong.com...

Remember it is the volume of water that you have to put back in that you are measuring.
Or ask to use body fat calipers, if you have more muscle than normal wimpy people LOL

Peace.