Now they want to tell me how fat my kid is....

[mommymushbrain]

Urgh... I got a letter home from the school system here in Arkansas today. It's about the BMI screenings they have passed into law. This letter was basically a permission slip to let them weigh and check height. You only sign and return it if you DON'T want them doing this. I am signing it and hand returning it to school to make sure it doesn't accidentally get lost and my kiddo get this crap done at school.

Maybe this should be in activism, but this is the stupidest crap I have heard of.... but then I think about the kids that are obese and have health problems and maybe it's not such a bad thing.

However, my kiddos won't be participating in this... I know they aren't obese!

[daylily]

They're doing something similar in Virginia.

I can see why you object...childhood obesity is a serious problem, but this seems invasive of children's privacy. And I don't at all agree with the nutrition advice given out at public schools.

[Greaseball]

I think school physicals are demeaning. Especially the kind where they have all the kids line up in the gym to get weighed and measured and then yell out how much the weight is, so everyone around can hear.

If it were me, I'd tell them that my child's doctor will be handling all health concerns in our family and that the school can stick to education.

[mommymushbrain]

Heh... in the letter, it states "Every effort will be taken to ensure your child's privacy in this matter." :

I am very surprised that you have to return the letter to NOT participate... usually it's the other way around, you have to sign a slip saying it's okay to participate in various things. That alone gets me thinking it's a ploy to get more parents to 'allow' their children to go through this.

If the school wants to get involved in my child's health issues, then they need to start by serving healthier lunches and quit providing all kinds of junky snacks....

[lab]

FYI - My kids school does this every year!

Parents volunteer so that the teachers and assistants don't have to do it.

I jump on it every year and make sure I am there everyday. It's takes about a week. You wouldn't believe some of the horror stories I can tell. I especially make sure I am there when they do the 4th and 5th grade girls. It is just pitiful to see these girls taking off shoes and sweaters before they get on the scales. I make sure there is nobody calling out numbers and I got the chair person to agree to use screens last year so we can really separate the kids.

Last year a little girl (3rd grade) asked me (as she got on the scale) if she had eaten too much chocolate She was so slender and petite, it was so sad. I told her (practically through tears) No honey, you can never eat too much chocolate....

Or the dolt teacher who stood outside the room during head checks (yep! head checks - lice that is) and asked EACH child if she needed to call terminex!!??!?!? Then she would say - Got bugs? WHAT? She was actually trying to be funny, but these kids were in second grade and they KNEW what was going on.

OH! And our school sends nothing home in the way of permission. We check height, weight, hearing, eyes, and lice. Every October.

[momto l&a]

I dont see that its any bussiness of the schools about your child's health. That between you and your Dr. When did schools start getting to play god about your childs health!

[momsgotmilk4two]

I remember them doing this in jr. high. Our nurse was very good about it and didn't let anyone else see how much you weighed. Also, the way I found out I needed glasses was at my school eye screening in 3rd grade. I did have regular checkups with the Dr., but we found out about my eyes at school, and by that time they were actually pretty bad. So I can't see this as being *all* bad.

[lilyka]

If you don't know that your child is over weight, sending home a note stating it isn't going to change things.

We got checked for scholiosis evrey year (of all things) and lice constantly. It was awful, and unnessecary. It was private though. Althoug since all the kids with lice got sent home in the middle of the day, everyone knew. :

[Greaseball]

Eye checkups don't often happen at the pediatrician - they may not even be suggested unless you have a concern - so the school may be a source of free eye exams.

However, I found them hurried, and nowhere near like the "real" exam I got from a real eye doctor.

If you were to have a real concern about a child's vision, I don't think the school exam would be enough. If you just want the note that says he's normal, no harm there.

[lab]

Greaseball - I am sure that probably 99% of the time eye and ear checks at school aren't very accurate. But I can promise you the ones I do are dead on! I actually attended a class on using an audiometer and got a certificate so that I could administer the hearing tests at school. I am very careful and thorough on all the exams (lice too - yuk). I can also vouch for the ladies (volunteer moms) that I work with.

Of course I do know that we are an abnormality!

[Shantimama]

I was checked for scoliosis every year at school and never heard a thing. Three years after graduating I found out I had scoliosis but that I was past the age of having effective curative therapy. As a result, I just pay, year after year, for chiropractic and massage to keep comfortable. So what good did all of those checks do?

[Marsupialmom]

mommymushbrain said what I wanted. They need to be more concern with lunches and breakfasts they serve. They also need more physcial activities.

[EFmom]

I'll bet this kind of thing is done according to state law--not the whim of the public school district. Our kids get vision and hearing screenings, which I'm not in favor of. I don't have a problem with the school requiring that they be done--but you should be able to get the requirement met with by visiting your own doctor, rather than at the school.

BTW--they are just screenings and are not meant to be nearly as thorough as what you would get at your doctor's. If they identify a possible problem, the assumption is then that the parents would follow up.

If we get notified beforehand about the weight screenings, no way would I sign a permission slip. But in my state, I'd bet they'd just do it without parental permission.

I wonder if people who object to medical care can get a waiver for these screenings on religious grounds.