What if your kid brought home a letter from the school saying your kid was "FAT"?

[witch_e_woman]

 http://todaynews.today.com/_news/2013/02/27/17119287-fat-letters-sent-home-to-students-cause-a-stir?lite

What would you do ?

[canadianmom1974]

Are they using a wildly inaccurate method to test for all those? Because BMI is not an accurate measure and should, in my opinion, be done away with completely. As an example, my hubby was told that at 0% body fat, he'd still weigh 245lbs because of his musculature and bone density. However according to the BMI charts at 6'1" and 245lbs he'd be obese.

Quoting Woodbabe:

Do you ladies get this upset when they check your kid's vision and hearing at school? Do you opt of out scoliosis checks too? Should you also forbid them from screening for learning disabilities and child abuse at home? These are commonly done in elementary schools, why should weight be any different?

To answer the OP, if my child brought home this letter, I would make an appt with their pedi to get them checked out. If everything was okay, I'd be relieved. On the offchance that my blowing my kids' obesity off as baby weight was wrong and this helped me understand there was a medical issue impacting my child's health, then it would have been worth it.

[mamalusbear]

Their observations are based strictly on BMI.  It's not a great system or very accurate....a lot of kids have higher BMI's because they are athletes.

[Debmomto2girls]

Childhood obesity is alarmingly high and dangerous. Obviously parents are not taking this issue seriously or there wouldn't be so many overweight kids. If the school wants to screen for this like they do eyes and hearing..
Oh well

[OHgirlinCA]

 I'd laugh...

If I had a child where this would be a cause for concern, I'd consult their doctor. 

[KKmommy3]

I would think to myself that they should fuck off.

[TranquilMind]

 Right.  My trainer at the gym had like a 4% body fat.  The stupid insurance rep said he was obese because his weight was high relative to his height.  Yeah, that happens when you bodybuild!  He had a 50 inch chest and a 28 inch waist...obese?  I think not.   He had to get his doctor to sign off on it to get his insurance coverage.

Quoting canadianmom1974:

I'd be pissed! And even more so that they're basing their 'diagnosis' off the BMI charts. I feel those should be completely done away with.

 

[somuchlove4U]

They should stop looking at numbers and start looking at the person. BMI scale isn't accurate at all.

[AdellesMom]

Those things aren't done in my kids school.

Growing up, the school needed permission to test us. I think it's absurd to do this without permission from the parents.

If my kid came home with this letter, I'd be highly pissed. It's joke of the school's business.

Quoting Woodbabe:

Do you ladies get this upset when they check your kid's vision and hearing at school? Do you opt of out scoliosis checks too? Should you also forbid them from screening for learning disabilities and child abuse at home? These are commonly done in elementary schools, why should weight be any different?

To answer the OP, if my child brought home this letter, I would make an appt with their pedi to get them checked out. If everything was okay, I'd be relieved. On the offchance that my blowing my kids' obesity off as baby weight was wrong and this helped me understand there was a medical issue impacting my child's health, then it would have been worth it.

[AdellesMom]

I'd be very upset. The school has no right to do this without a parent's permission, and they certainly shouldn't use an out of date method to make these so called "diagnosis'."

[futureshock]

Are there really people who are very overweight and do not know it?