Posted on 05/21/2006 5:41:21 PM PDT by FairOpinion
Primary schoolchildren are to be weighed regularly and their parents told if they are too fat under a Government drive to reduce obesity.
Children aged four to 10 in England will be put on the scales this term to help prepare an obesity "map". From next year, parents of any obese four- to 10-year-old can expect a letter telling them that their child faces long-term health problems unless they live a healthier life.
Yesterday, the Department of Health rejected suggestions that the Government was "policing" the size of children and increasing the risk that some children could be stigmatised or bullied if they were identified as being obese. A spokesman said tackling childhood obesity needed to be taken very seriously.
According to current trends, it is set to become the greatest cause of death in the UK. Obesity has trebled over the last 20 years, and a health survey in England in 2001 found that around 24 million adults in England were overweight.
It is rising among children too. In the past 10 years it has doubled in six-year-olds (to 8.5 per cent) and trebled among 15-year-olds (to 15 per cent).
The National Audit Office says that by 2010 the cost of treating obesity and related illnesses in England will be £3.6 billion. The tests will be carried out with children wearing "light clothes".
Parents can refuse permission for their child to be tested and can ask not to be sent the results next year.
Caroline Flint, the junior health minister, believes that parents are the "first and foremost" influence on their children and have a key role to play in tackling obesity.
It already has.
>>>>But what do you do about, say, a third grader who weighs 40 lbs.?
Bring back Gym as being daily.
Yes, I think this is why it is a difficult issue. There's a wide variation in kids, but people who see them often (like teachers) do know which ones are in trouble. I don't trust all teachers, of course. But who else sees the kids so often?
BTW, I'm past the age of feeding young children. I was always lazy about it, but the kids were always happy with the bowls of vegs in ice water (to keep them crispy) - carrots and celery, sure. But also cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, mushrooms. And bite sized fruits like apple slices, grapes, berries, pineapple chunks, etc. in a fruit bowl.
As long as they didn't need a plate or a utensil, they ate it. :-)
Why did we decide that recess and gym no longer were important? Drugging kids so they don't have any energy is the current solution. Bad idea, I think.
Exactly.
It's from the ACLU website, but it has some good points anyway.
Already has - in Pennsylvania, school children bring home a cautionary letter with their report card that talks about their weight - they now get weighed around report card time.
Thanks for the ping!
I agree with you on the teachers being able to pick the ones in trouble - or at least they should be.
My daughter is a little bit of nothing......but she is actually both taller and heavier than I was at her age. I'm not worried about her in the least. She'll be 8 in July, I was 13 before my height really started showing and my husband grew more than an inch AFTER he was OUT of high school.
As to the vegghie bowls, I only mentioned the celery and carrots because they can be had all year round and I don't bother growing them (too much work).
I keep junk food snacks around here, and won't deny them to my child or her friends when they ask for them, because more times than not they will raid the veggie bin in the fridge before they head for chips or cookies. There has been more than once that I reach into the bin to pull out stuff to make a salad and basically find a head of lettuce in there, the kids have eaten me out of all other fresh veggies :)
Tuesday my daughter and her friend are going to really learn just what it means to want somethings in the garden. They both want watermelons and pumpkins (neither really interest me) and so after they do their homework they will be out in the field getting rid of the weeds and preparing the area to plant those seeds on Thursday.
I've got 10,000 sqaure feet tilled up and can till up more - but these girls are going to learn that if they want it planted and harvested and it is not on my plans for my goals, they are going to have to deal with it themselves.
I'm a hard taskmaster - but I'm a lot better than the Nanny State so many wish to put these girls into. If nothing else, they will both learn self sufficiency at an early age.
Don't you wonder how our parents and grandparents raised kids without all this "help".
Evwry time I read about more of this nanny state stuff I fume.
Maybe within a generation the state will have all those schools and camps with regulated diets and exercise as they had in Nazi Germany. The kids can all wear little uniforms and the parents will have nothing to do with it.
It is absolutely frightening.
Ahhhh, the good old Mommy state. No doubt, Hitlery is licking her chops waiting for a chance to nationalize Health Care, Oil/Gas and many other industries as soon as she can wrest control away from those eeeeeevil Republicans.
Gas at $8/gallon? Well, it's good for the children. Gotta wait two years for a heart transplant? - it's good for the children. $5 for a bar of soap? - good for the children. Your child needs an emergency operation? It's not good for us at this time; try Canada.
You know what bothers me about this obesity frenzy,Gabz.
Overweight kids,who are often teased now,will be bullied even more.
I saw it when I taght school,I saw in the schools my kids attended, and it's really hard on those heavy kids.
I am slim for one simple reason---I had good genes.I eat like a longshoreman and never gain weight. Some of these kids are obese through no fault of their own. Their genes are calling the shots.
It's great that you are going to teach your daughter and friends to grow their own treats. I'm not big on gardening stuff (I hate worms!) but I love heirloom tomatoes and loathe supermarket ones. So I have to make some compromises. :-)
Why not just give the kids vegs instead of junk food? They like the vegs, and I have to say that I am happy that I never developed a taste for sugary things. Weight control is easier if you don't like cookies or donuts.
I have to disagree with you both here.
I graduated HS in 1978, my husband graduated in 73.............our daughter is in 2nd grade, she has more recess and gym classes than I did.
My children have gym once every six days.
I'm seriously considering homeschooling (I can't believe I just typed that) not because of the nannystate stuff, even though I know it will come about, but for various other reasons.
One of the main reasons we chose to move here was because of the school district, but with less than a month to go before the end of the school year I'm now having serious doubts. Even my most staunchest supporters at the school have now seemed to have turned on me.
Then do it !
I used to volunteer for Mass Audubon and the home-schooled kids came in one day a week for all their lessons on nature,animals,rocks,vernal pools etc. It was very hand-on and very nice to see.They spent a lot of time outside on the beautiful property being educated.
There were about 10 kids,of various ages,and they taught them according to their age. It was very nice to see.
So let's see, public schools are now for keeping "obesity stats" for kids, teaching them the homosexuality is not only normal, but healthy and good, and that results don't matter, efforts do.
Meanwhile, they leave school possessing only a fraction of what high school grads used to in terms of college preparation and ability to read and write with math skills qualifying them for internships within the DNC.
Why bother sending them to public schools.
Homeschool Ping!
(This article is about schools in England, but it's somewhat relevant).
Public schools are evil.
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