YOU GET AN “F” FOR FAT
How would you feel if your child was regularly weighed at school, as part of a national plan to combat childhood obesity?
That is the proposal from a team of researchers at Melbourne’s Deakin University. In an article in the journal Pediatric Obesity, the researchers argue that a national weight database is important because: “The absence of a uniform approach to monitoring height and weight of children puts Australia behind other countries in tracking the epidemic and evaluating the effectiveness of strategies to reduce population prevalence.”
Put simply – something we academics are not great at doing – we need to create a national dataset to monitor the weight of all Australian children as part of a national initiative to prevent childhood obesity.
Children would be routinely weighed to collect this data, unless a parent or guardian explicitly withdrew consent.
This is not the first time such a proposal has been raised by academics and health experts. In some countries, weight-based ‘report cards’ are sent home to parents. The rationale for this is that many parents simply don’t realise that their children are overweight or obese.
Personally, I find that hard to believe.
Nevertheless, in places such as the United Kingdom, the US, some parts of Europe and Malaysia, ‘Body Mass Index Report Cards’ are sent home alongside educational achievement. As the Huffington Post reported: Forget the familiar A, B and C on your child’s report card – the new letters to look out for could be B, M and I.
If YOUR kids were ‘failing’ Weight as well as English and Maths, would you want to know?
While there is no suggestion that this would happen in Australia – this additional measuring of height and weight will simply be added to other types of developmental data that is already collected in schools – initiatives aimed at weighing children have been met with concerns.
These include:
- Whether or not it is appropriate to collect this data in schools;
- Whether these initiatives would lead to children being teased or bullied by their peers – obese children already report the highest rates of being bullied of all children; or
- Whether more children would end up developing disordered patterns of weight loss or body dissatisfaction as a result.
We already know that body image is a major concern of young people in Australia, so would this type of data collection merely amplify those concerns?
There are many sides to this debate.
Firstly, some rightly argue that childhood obesity is a growing national and international ‘problem’. Those of you who saw the terrific doco on the ABC recently about Globesity you will have seen that obesity is indeed a big challenge for the health of many nations.
But unsurprisingly, and as outlined in the documentary, much of that challenge lies less in getting individuals to ‘behave’ in the right way, and more in tackling the very big interests of the Big Food Industry and how they market their products particularly towards children.
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46 Responses to this article
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Samantha August 27, 2012
Just an update.
I have been so interested to hear from many people this morning about their often very negative experience of being weighed at school.Many have said that experience has stayed with them for life.
Did any of you get weighed at school as a kid? What was your experience?
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Amy August 27, 2012
I just posted this on FB: I still remember being publicly weighed in front of class in year six – I was overweight & bullied at school over it and it was a devastating experience for me. 20 or so years later, and only now just beating my weight issues, it still makes me anxious to get on a set of scales, which is why I don’t have any.
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Nothing shocks me August 27, 2012
We were weighed and had our height measured at school in the 70s. I think it was every year. We also had dental checks at school. My children, boy 15 and girl 12, weigh more than many of their friends but there is not an ounce of fat to be seen. They are active and eat well. My body shape has changed since changing my diet and doing more exercise and everyone comments that I’ve lost weight…but the scales have hardly budged. Must have heavy bones.
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Tim August 27, 2012
I can understand people’s concerns about this issue, but there are ways in which it can be done without the negative consequences people fear. First, kids would not be weighed publicly, but privately. They, or their schools, need not be told their weight. Weight can be recorded by the measurer without the child knowing. Weighing could be part of a larger “health check”, including things such as eyesight, dental, and vaccinations. There really is no evidence that doing it in this way has detrimental effects on the child – on the contrary, studies in Arkansas and the UK show no ill effects. Being weighed could be an opt-out procedure – parents (or older kids) simply need to tick a box on the consent form if they don’t want them weighed. And by the way, there are many studies showing that parents really are not good at jiudging the weight status of their kids.
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Space Kidette August 27, 2012
My guess is that being weight, for those that fell in the overweight band, would have one of two effects. The first would be that those overweight would fall into a self-fulfilling prophecy of self hate and loathing that would see their weight increase. The second is that they become so paranoid they become anorexic.
For many, childhood and school is an endless period of insecurity, do we need to add to the burden?
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Valerie August 27, 2012
I think weighing the kids is the wrong place to shine the spotlight. Most people are eating badly, even with the best of intentions.
We could all wake up and smell the preservatives, numbers, useless fats, refined sugars etc etc in the foods we give our children. We could run useful campaigns about reading ingredients and NOT eating them if they sound like something other than food, not sacrificing nutrition for shelf life or reviving simple cooking for (and with) kids.
I think we have become alienated from good food, while simultaneously being seduced by competing ‘foodie’ and weight-loss messages.-
Joanne August 27, 2012
Couldn’t agree more Valerie.
What hope do most people have though, when the wrong information is being taught from a very young age? I walked into my daughters childcare centre last week to discover an enormous “Good food pyramid” on the wall and nearly fell over. Anyone who is informed about the current research findings regarding nutrition, knows this pyramid encourages the greatest amount of consumption, for the group with the least amount of nutritional value. To abide by this out-dated advice will lead to weight issues, because almost all grain products are processed in order to be consumed, and the real problem is the things that are lost (nutrients) and added during this processing (sugar, vegetable fat, msg in the form of ‘hydrolised protein’. and a myriad of other things that we would never naturally eat).
It disgusts me that the government continue to blame parents, when the govt. are still endorsing this piece of propaganda, released by a cereal company, somewhere in the USA, early 50′s I think.
If everybody had all the right nutritional information, with current farming and storage methods of fresh food changed (if it’s not in season, then most likely it’s imported or stored, so, nutritionally depleted, sprayed, and not fresh at all), food companies were not allowed to mislead by use of the word “goodness” etc. and if, after all that , we still had an obesity crisis, well then, yes, we would have a real problem.
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Zoe August 27, 2012
Firstly, I was weighed at school at it wasn’t great, in high school, twice a year from years 7-10 we were all weighed and measured and the results charted in PE. If its done privately and the results aren’t circulated I would feel differently about it, in fact my skinny sons have had this in kindergarten. I had friends’ kids sent home with notes that they were overweight in kindy after school assessment; they are both slim and figured their child would be too, eventually – and he is.
Secondly, absolutely dreadful image illustrating this article. A disembodied fat child’s stomach in too-small pants? I know it’s a stock photo, but some chubby kid model was put into clothes that didn’t fit. Hoopla really needs to pick up its game in that respect.
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Nat August 27, 2012
I have so many thoughts on this.
As someone for whom the BMI is a crap measure of fitness, I think other factors need to be looked at too. I can be 80kg, size 10, lean and very very fit and very strong but yet the BMI would say I was overweight – but my doctors were very happy with how I am.Secondly, perhaps this also links in with Wendy’s article about soft parents, I’m not sure what use it would be without support for the parents, especially in lower socio economic areas. Getting the information that your kid is fat may increase the parents disengagement with schools, and without education and support how do the parents know what to change? I guess I just think of some of Jamie olivers’ efforts in the us and uk to teach parents to cook.
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Nora August 27, 2012
1. Please get Hoopla to take off the dehumanising “disembodied fatty” picture and put someone with a face at least.
2. BMI is NEVER a good way to gauge somone’s health, least of all children, who have growth spurts and weight-height variation until adulthood. It was only ever intended to track populations in a general way, not as a marker of individual health. There are plenty of studies and information from scientists and doctors which confirm this.
3. I don’t think “preventing childhood obesity” is a good goal to have, especially due to the intense stigma attached to fat and the possible damage that anti-obesity campaigns can do to people. “Promoting childhood health” is a much better goal, as it includes ALL children. There are thin kids who eat a lot of junk food in front of the TV and there are fat kids who love veggies and sport. Encouraging a love of eating well (preferably using someone like Ellyn Satter’s techniques), and making fun physical activity accessible to all kids is going to work much better for the health of our kids than focusing on fatties. How about subsidised or free sports gear for underprivileged kids so they can join the school team too? (Any parent who has had to kit out little Gary for school cricket and boggled at the price of stuff will understand.) How about making sure parks and playgrounds are safe for everyone? How about plenty of separated bike paths? How about helping those who can’t afford much be able to get enough fresh veges and fruit and meat? And how about ending weight stigma once and for all? -
Ruth August 27, 2012
This is a terrible idea. Schools should educate about healthy eating and give students lots of opportunities to enjoy exercise. I think reducing the emphasis on competitive sport could help with this. Heath issues about the weight of individual children is however more complex than people seem to presume these days. I do not believe it would be in my child’s interest to expose him to the prejudices of non health professionals conducting this sort of program in a school environment. As school attendance is compulsory, I believe the state has an obligation to educate students in their own interests and not to exploit them as guinea pigs or captive audiences for research purposes which may not be beneficial and could even cause harm.
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the*sparrow August 27, 2012
I was one who was weighed at school, in my early high school years, just when it was guaranteed to do the most harm. I was also a girl who put on a bit of weight when I entered puberty., and I was very self conscious. Perhaps it was unrelated, but by 15/16 I was anorexic (although no-one seemed to notice), and only after losing over 20kg (17 of which I did not need to lose), a lot of hair and my periods for a year did I pull myself together and start eating normally again.
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Janelle August 27, 2012
I don’t often fell the need to comment but this issue resonates with me.
My 12 yr old, year 6 daughter was weighed in school as part of a maths activity in class. This was done in full view of all of the other students to really add to the humiliation factor for some.
Now, don’t get me wrong, Miss 12 is a slender girl, but she also happens to be the tallest child in the class by far and her weight reflects that.
She came home agonising over the fact that she weighs more than her substantially shorter friends and wondering if she’s too fat!!
I was really saddened that she is now so body concious at such a tender age even though she is slim, beautiful and healthy and it breaks my heart when she now asks if I think she should eat a muffin because it might be fattening. No amount of reassurance seems to make a difference to her perception of herself and I am hoping, when she goes to high school next year, she will see that there is such a wide range of shapes and sizes at a bigger school and she is no better, or worse than anyone else. She’s just her perfect self. -
sam August 27, 2012
This is a terrible idea.
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Danielle August 27, 2012
Hmmm, I don’t object if the data is collected in a private and discreet manner and used for population purposes. Given that BMI which is useful for measuring the health of populations but not very useful for individuals, you’d hope it never ended up being used as report card type thing here. Also, would they be using different BMI charts for different ethnicities etc. My understanding is that we are still lacking BMI data for various population groups, so it’s not always a useful measure even at a population level if the wrong BMI data is applied…
Also there’d need to be some though put into peer pressure amongst kids – how do you manage the discussion afterwards re what do you way etc, even if it’s done in the most discreet manner.
If they do collect this data, I’m really hoping it’s not used for the usual finger pointing and focus on personal responsibility. Whilst there of course a component of personal responsibility, there’s a huge influence from socio/cultural/industry/economic/environmental influences in this area… -
Leesa August 27, 2012
no no no no and no!
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jane August 27, 2012
I would be appalled if they started weighing my children at school. I am a parent, and well aware of how much my children weigh and am dealing with it in a way I deem suitable.
They are actually, shock horror, in the Obese BMI range on the children’s chart, but to look at them you would not know it as they are fit, active looking children with not a roll of fat on them. They are taller than most of their peers I read all the time that ‘the parents can’t see it’ but I am well aware of their stature. It is other adults are shocked to hear this is where they weigh in…and the girls themselves have no idea THANK GOD! I am fully aware of where they sit on the scale and have been aware of their weight since they were born. Both have tracked along the centile scales consistently in the same position and I am always on the lookout for any unusual spike in weight that would cause additional concern.
My eldest was seen by Pediatricians for the first 6 years of her life at the Children’s Hospital for a non weight related reason (allergy) and she was weighed and measured by them every 6 months and even when I expressed my concern that they were heavier children, they ALL told me she was perfect and that she was in proportion, healthy and fit.
We have been seeing a dietician at the suggestion from the MCHN after she weighted my then 4 year old. Even she said in her words “hmmm but she doesn’t look fat does she?” Umm no, no she doesn’t. The dietitian has been hopeless and completely patronising so far and I copme home in tears, but we are persisting (mainly because articles on childhood obesity guilt me into thinking I have done something somehow horrible to my children…I have even read articles that say ‘take obese children from their parents’). After studying our diet, the dietitian’s only suggestion was they were perhaps eating an extra serve of fruit…ie. 3 serves a day rather than 2 serves a day (ironically the extra serve of fruit was often being supplied by the school) but aside from that and keeping a close eye on portion sizes (which I do anyway) our diet looks seemingly healthy and appropriate and that it could take several years for their weight to come down into the healthy BMI. So far after 12 months with one less serve of fruit and small tweaks, nope…still tracking the same and in the same BMI range.
My 8 year old is blissfully unaware of all this drama going on behind the scenes. She is incredibly active, fit and happy in her own skin and has wonderful self esteem and confidence…and I want her to stay that way as long as possible! If she got whiff of even a suggestion that she was ‘fat’ then I hate to know what it could do to her self esteem and the potential unhealthy relationship with food. She knows all about healthy eating and being active so that you have a healthy body and energy to grow and play. Other kids would not pick her out as being ‘fat’ but if she were to be weighed in front and picked out as ‘the heaviest kid in class’ then it doesn’t really matter what she looks like for the bullying to hit to her self esteem.
Anyway I guess what the upshot is for me is that I can clearly see that all people are different, I don’t need the school to tell me how much my children weigh and what I need to do about it. I am doing all I can thank you. I stress a lot about keeping my kids diets healthy and varied. The BMI scale and the weight of my children has caused me a lot of misplaced guilt and sleepless nights over the last few years….but seriously I have no idea what I am doing ‘wrong’.
So no, weighing my child at school and then no doubt telling me my child is obese will NOT serve any positive purpose and could in fact have a negative impact on y children mentally and socially.
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Jim Hyde August 27, 2012
I was weighed as pasrt of our school health checks over 40 years ago with no negative consequences. It was fun, and at least the school and my parents got a health report thry could use if they had concerns. What do we want to have fat kids with diabetes, losing their limbs and sight as a result or heqalthy kids. Regulate the causes I say – the fast food industry anad the advertisers. use any fines to support healthy social marketting and and parent education resources.
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sami August 27, 2012
I don’t understand references to fast food companies marketing to children. How or why ANY food companies can market to children is beyond me. Don’t parents buy the food? Have things changed that much in the 20 years since I was a kid? If your kid wants mickey d’s don’t you just say ‘no’ and that is that? Goodness.
Anyway I don’t think data collection is that bad. I think making the results public (eg putting a chart on the classroom wall) is a bad idea but if each kid is weighed privately and the results just stored in a file it’s no big deal and could probably be helpful for schools in knowing uniform sizes that need to be stocked or if more sport classes are needed, or something.
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Janet August 27, 2012
This is a case of blaming the victim. A child cannot know the harm some ‘foods’ can do. Maybe the best idea to address the problem is to introduce a carbon tax type of program for junk food. Food will be audited by how many calories it has to how much nutrition. In that way, harmful foods will be too expensive for parents and children to buy and it will give a cost incentive to companies who make such food to make them nutritious.
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shehasathree August 27, 2012
I thought the point of the picture is that weighing children in the proposed manner is potentially dehumanising.
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Nick Perkins August 27, 2012
I would be appalled if anyone other than my chosen medical practitioner started to collect health statistics on my child without consulting me. And there is no way I would allow them to do it to my child. (No, I don’t have children. I still think I’m allowed an opinion though).
I started Weight Watchers when I was 12 because of the teasing I used to get at school. Being weighed each week was humiliating. The last thing we need is kids being told they are too this or too that. Let them be kids for crying out loud.
I was a lot fitter an healthier as a kid because I was always out playing and having fun. I used to run around because people didn’t tell me I couldn’t. It was when I was older that people kept reminding me that I was fat so I couldn’t do x,y, or z. We don’t need kids being told this when they are young.
BMI tells us nothing about a person’s health and well being. A dataset of weight and height can not tell you anything about the health or well being of the children measured. Even looking at a child’s build can’t tell you this stuff.
I’m utterly appalled at this suggestion.
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Rosie August 27, 2012
Weighing kids at school moves responsibility of looking after the child even more onto the school. It is parents responsibility to look after their children and therefore what is needed is education for parents on nutrition. Schools and teachers have already taken on too much responsibility as it is. And it would be a humiliating experience for overweight kids, almost like institutionalised bullying.
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Amacamchumps Sarah August 27, 2012
My partner has an islander body (think Samoan rugby player) in Singapore where everyone has mainland Chinese bodies (think tiny). He still laughs at being a national athlete but having to do the ‘fatty runs’ at high school, because his BMI didn’t match the national norm. He doesn’t seem to worried by it all, but I can imagine anyone with slight sensitivity would be mortified at being forced to do the ‘fatty runs’ in front of their class mates.
I’m not saying that this is what would happen in Australia, but the collection of data and setting ‘norms’ is a great way to get on a path towards it.
We’re such a diverse nation, how do we even know what the norms are for each child’s background and ethnicity? Numbers are numbers, and they are easy to measure and collect. The real difference is lifestyle… but how would a school easily and accurately measure that?
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Lydia August 27, 2012
Oh, yes, I was weighed at school – with everyone standing around – this was the mid 70s. It was awful, and I shudder to think of any school doing this again. Unless it’s done in a very tactful and careful way, to prevent other kids knowing etc, it will be a disaster. But, can you trust anything re. schools to be done properly like that? For every child? In every school, public and private? I can’t! So, the answer really has to be ‘no thanks’!
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Seana Smith August 27, 2012
I was an overweight child and teen and would have HATED being weighed at school. There are plenty of ways to collect these stats and they are being collected.
So hard to stem the flood of advertising of junk food… which does have a lot of taste cos of all the fat and salt etc… but… it all starts with breakfast. I try to make it huge and filling for the kids, easier for me as they are very early risers.
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Alice Shaw August 27, 2012
The girls in my daughter’s year 4 class are currently being fitted for their costumes for a dance performance. They are all comparing and obsessing over what size each of them have been allocated and my perfectly normal healthy weight little girl is frantically telling everyone that she is in a large because she is tall.
If weighing in becomes part of school curriculum I hope they will also do a longitudinal study on the psychological effects of the weigh in and how many children (particularly girls) develop an eating disorder as a result. I’d be interested to see if these things balance out the apparent good to be done by weighing in at school.
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Annie Also August 27, 2012
Like Nat I think one day the BMI will be disproved. It was formed during the 1940′s and is not appropriate. I think this is dangerous territory for children…
I think a raise in depression and bullying will result.
My sister is three years older than me and takes after my tiny grandmother…(5’3″) … I take after my mum’s side and am a rollicking (5′ 10″). I never fitted into her castoffs…How can you judge children within a family as being ‘fit’ let alone a whole school/state/country? This is for a family doctor NOT for public display in schools.-
:Louisa August 28, 2012
Even earlier than the 1940s…the BMI was invented by Adolphe Quetelet in the 1830s. His hypothesis was that, other than after birth and at adolescence, “the weight increases as the square of the height”. We know that this is not true, but scientists in the 19th century were heavily focused on the idea of “normal”, or the “average man” and forming health policy and medical practice around the idea that this was where health lay – in “normality”. This Victorian paradigm of health is still with us: we use the BMI to demarcate “normal”, “overweight” and “obese” and idealise “normal” as necessarily healthy and Other as not despite a large amount of scientific evidence that this is not the case. A recent analysis of contemporary BMI data (instead of historic) found that “After adjusting for diabetes and hypertension, severe obesity was no longer associated with mortality, and milder obesity (BMI 30-<35) was associated with decreased mortality" and that even amongst those with diabetes and CVD, mortality decreases as BMI increases.
Gerant, A. & Franks, P. (2012). Body Mass Index, Diabetes, Hypertension, and Short-Term Mortality: A Population-Based Observational Study, 2000–2006. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 25(4), 422-431.
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Rhoda August 27, 2012
The mind boggles at the very idea. Would an adult accept being weighed and checked into a weight loss program at their place of work? There you go then. Children are humans too.
So who exactly is worried about obesity? Please direct them to the food corporations.
And have to agree that the food pyramid is outdated and promotes weight gain not weight loss. I suggest we lose it.
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Glenis August 27, 2012
I agree with Leesa …no, no, no, no!
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Samantha August 27, 2012
I agree with @Tim and @JimHyde and @Danielle
At a population level, this type of data collection occurs all the time. We need to get that data to help look at patterns of change in the population. If we saw a massive spike in childhood obesity OR underweight, wouldn’t we want to know?
That said, I think we have known about the impact of the Food Industry (and advertising) for a long time. And yet we (well governments) refuse to act. That is about the short and long term health of our kids – fat or thin.
I would hope we didn’t need to wait for these population type surveys before we make a commitment to tackle this seriously.
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Emily August 27, 2012
Noooooo! I have such an unhealthy body image and am too caught up on numbers. My daughter is gorgeous and tall for her age which means that she would weigh more than other kids her age. It’s not the height or the BMI that sticks in their head or is compared, it’s the number. I wouldn’t let my daughter take part in this : (
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Rhoda August 28, 2012
That’s a good point, gogirl, can’t have fat teachers if we’re not having fat students.
I agree we’re losing the plot when it comes to weighty matters like this – really I do.
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shelleyrae August 28, 2012
I would not support it, at 12 I was already 5ft7 and 2 years into puberty when we were weighed and measured during the first year at high school. Already a B cup, with hips and being so tall I was way out of the outdated charts of healthy range and my 5ft2 tiny PE teacher took great delight in announcing it to the class. At the time I played district representative basketball and was very active and fit but I was humiliated beyond belief and it began a cycle of self image issues that are still in play.
The current modes of measurement are outdated and the focus should be on health for all , not numbers – that’s what I try to instill in my children. -
Beth August 28, 2012
This is horrific. My daughter is as skinny as a rake now. the last thing she needs is to have an excuse to compete with her friends to get skinnier!
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Jo-Anne August 28, 2012
Why do they need to “weigh” children? Couldn’t the “health worker” use her eyes?????? It’s obvious when a child is overweight – It would be way fairer and less humiliating for an overweight child to eliminate this “Measure” we all have to come up to! This really annoys me – the NORM. OK being healthy is such a wonderful thing but it is about balance. How much fruit is ok, how many slices of bread in one sitting is ok for you, when not to eat (before bed etc). Ensuring all kids get to join a team! For a lot of kids eating is emotional. Why does the system not recognise individuals? I liked Tim’s comments a lot… But I do think that what we are seeing is really a product of the times we live in. We are time poor… Too many biscuits in the cupboard… treats galore everyday instead of special times like birthdays & special festive occasions! Sensationalism on the telly with food shows… .. it has to be wizz bang – people give up trying to perform like that & reach for the freezer to provide their nutrition! ouuuu this topic is far reaching….
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Weasel September 3, 2012
My children would be weighed by anyone over my dead body. It will not happen. And anyone who thinks the “number” wouldn’t get around the school is dreaming. Little kids compare their “number” now. We don’t have scales in our house. Not a good indicator for any health condition. As someone earlier said, use your eyes.
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R September 3, 2012
Where is the common sense here. What purpose does it serve. Do the parents get sent weight loss advice? So who is the expert on weight loss?
And where will this mountain of collected data reside and who will have access to it.
It’s beyond ridiculous.
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Amanda September 16, 2012
No no no!
I was weighed as a child, it was mortifying, I was overweight, acutely aware of the fact without being measured by the school nurse, and teased and stigmatized anyway by my peers. Focussing on weight this way focussed attention on those of us who did not fit the norm. I never said anything to my parents either, but believe me, you do not want your kids feeling like I did after i was weighed- embarressed, shamed and depressed. Weight is a complex issue, my diet was identical to my 3 skinny siblings, and I played sport for 2 hours a day 5 days a week, so I was getting plenty of exercise, in fact more than my siblings, and yet I was still overweight. As the author states, obesity is a complex issue of genetics, epigenetics and environment. It is not an issue of one size fits all for the school to manage, but for the child, their family and their GP if necessary. This issue belongs in the home, not in the school. Let’s not go down the American road of naming and shaming children.
