MASS can now tell you your kids are fat. How do you feel about this?

I just wonder how effectlve - if at all - this will be.

Schools still serve crap food.

Homes still still crap food.

And, now that nobody will be able to AFFORD a damn thing - it's going to get worse, I am willing to bet.

OH SIGH!

Seriously, who doesn't know their kid is overweight?  It is in our faces.  Daily.  We are fed the guilt of it.  It is out fault.  We know it.  

Back to the dollar menu.

(Kidding.)

Timely, MM, as I got my daughter's 'report card' yesterday. 

I have very mixed feelings about this; shouldn't be a surprise I guess with weight being such a loaded issue in my own life. My school-age daughter (4th grade, 9 years old) has between a 19 and 20 BMI so she's considered "at risk for overweight."  She has a fantastic body image and is very active in dance, soccer etc.  I am not worried about her, although we talk about eating habits a lot like not eating when you're bored etc.  It's always about health and never about weight. 

We got the Wii Fit for Christmas, and she did not like it when it told her she was at risk for overweight.  She also told me about when they got weighed in phys. ed. and about how she and her friends discussed that none of them would make fun of anyone's weight... or height, but she surely did know which girls were over 100 pounds, and I assume some of the kids could store that information away for inflicting future misery on other kids. 

We go to a great pediatric practice, and we talk about her health annually so I don't really need anyone to encourage me to bring this up with them, but maybe some do... 

How about more healthy school lunches (our district has made some progress there) or other initiatives...

I thought that is why parents bring their kid to the pediatrician.  Doesn't the school require documentation that the child has seen a doctor and had their shots and physical.  Let the parents work on it with the doctor.  Not the school when the other kids are around.  Overweight kids just want to hide their weight not have it brought up.  Standing in line and waiting to he weighed is horrible for them.  The school should concentrate on getting gym back in schools and having only healthy food choices at lunch. 

I was the fat kid forced onto the scale and into weigh****chers at age 10...In many years of hindsight, I think that was why I would buy food and binge when no one was around...Obviously as an adult I had more sense, but as a child, I really didn't know better, especially when the cabinets were full of junk food...Who is really to blame?

I agree with you.. there is no need for the schools to report this when the children need to see a physician annually.  At my kids pediatric office they have been charting the BMI for a while..and we always have the talks in our house. My son is in the "darker blue" zone which means he is overweight and it is a struggle for us...he menu of decent food is so limited for the rest of us. The only saving grace is that 9 mos of the year he is on ritalin for ADD so his weight stabalizes durign the school year,but he packs on 20 in the summer. This summer he might stay on the meds.  
The schools giving the report card is a joke...for they won't do anything to help the student...they won't have gym 5 days a week...or early morning exercise before school...and the food choices in public schools are not the best either.
It will only embarrass the children more...and like said...no skins and shirts for gym class...only pinney or non pinney teams.   When my son had to do the postural screening for scoliosis last year..he was wigged that he would need to be half naked in school!
time for the schools to teach ..and let the doctors be doctors!
Joan

In this society it is cheaper to feed ourselves and our kids crap then it is to buy healthy foods....so when is the gov't going to change that?  Making healthier food more obtainable by everyone.

I was thinking of this aspect as well, Shelly.  There are socioeconomic factors at play.

Lara

When my daughter was 4 or 5 the doctor chewed me out because she gained so much wieght in one year.  He also told me about stopping juices and regular milk.  Things that I knew but I didn't really see my daughter gaining weight.  Sometimes as parents you don't see certain things.  As a parent if my son/daughter BMI was 21 one year and 25 the next, I would be more mindful of what I bring home.   Everyone should know their BMI 

I did weigh****chers when I was a kid too, I can also remember my mother taking me to the family doctor and asking him for help with my weight loss.  He prescribed some wonderful black beauties as i recall, speed. I can remember telling my mother that i felt like i was dizzy and felt like i wasnt in "real time" as my brain was speeding and she flushed the pills down the toilet!  FYI my Mom's an RN. 
anyway..I also remember Sears had "girls chubby" clothes ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I dont have any children but my firstniece is a big girl and now she's 22, pear shaped and my heart goes out to her so much....She's a love.  Her sister, tall tnd thin...go figure.

this is quite insane i would think. A child has to have a physical every year to go to public school. shouldn't it be the providers that should take about this with the families. I was overweight all my life. I hate the way they do weigh ins at school. I would suck in my stomach thinking that it would make me weigh less and always walk out of the office crying cause i would hear everyone else say what they weighed. It's so distressing.

Thank you for mentioning schools serve crap food. THEY DO!  This weeks menu. chicken patt on a roll. mac. and veg. tuesday. hotdog or corn dog fries pickle. wed. grilled cheese and tom. soup with chips, thursday brunch, friday like every single friday Pizza. It disgusts me. My son knows that he has to have a salad once a week instead of something they normally serve. (they do have this option and always a sandwhich option but i wonder how many kids actually listen to mom and dad. I wouldn't have.

last year the doc. said zach was overweight. i told him what his diet normally consisted of and she said it doesn't sound to bad. maybe he'll just grow out of it. Well at his last appointment i asked how he was doing and what we could do. cause i don't want him to have the issues i do. (he has been in the 90% since conception lol. She said actually this year he was doing better.he hadn't gained any weight and got taller. well that was untill winter started and he's gained 3 lbs. I wasn't really paying attention to his exercising. and didn't really think much of it untill he got on my scale the other day. so now i make sure that when i'm exercising i have him doing something with me. I'm sure once spring comes he'll be doing better cause it's really hard to keep him inside once nice weather starts.  we have a trampoline. and a huge backyard and he makes the best of it possible. Unfortunatly both of my other two children are in the 90% also. My middle one loves junk food. so we are definetly monitoring that. but we live with my mother in law and she just DOESN"T GET IT. food labels and sugar and carbs and fat are nothing to her. it's he's a kid. he's a kid. well i don't want my kids to be 200lbs at 5 and on their death bed by 10.
Thank god nutrition i have become very aware of. and have started making very healthy meals for my family and my hubby is totally on board.