BMI on Report Cards

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #1 01-11-2007, 01:54 PM

Some schools include Body Mass Index on report cards.

If nothing else, they need to explain to the kids and parents what, exactly, the BMI is (and isn't):

Quote:

Six-year-old Karlind Dunbar barely touched her dinner, but not for time-honored 6-year-old reasons... The problem was the letter Karlind discovered, tucked inside her report card, saying that she had a body mass index in the 80th percentile. The first grader did not know what “index” or “percentile” meant, or that children scoring in the 5th through 85th percentiles are considered normal, while those scoring higher are at risk of being or already overweight.

Yet she became convinced that her teachers were chastising her for overeating.

Athletic kids can have a higher BMI from muscle mass instead of fat. Percentiles can be tricky numbers for people to understand. Is the BMI the best way for schools to give parents a head's up on where their kids stand vis a vis obesity?

cristina1 · #2 01-11-2007, 01:58 PM

I don't think schools should be involved in rating a child's risk for obesity at all. Leave that up to the pediatricians to determine!

frazzledspice · #3 01-11-2007, 02:02 PM

Arkansas puts BMI on report cards, too (I think they were the first state to do so, after our former governor got diabetes and lost 100 pounds...)

Parents can opt out for their children. I just got the opt out form. It says "no calipers are used--height and weight are taken and the BMI is figured out in Little Rock."

Gosh, that's unscientific. Everyone knows that, depending on bone structure, muscle mass, body type--ectomorph, endomorph, mesomorph--BMI can be completely different for two people of identical height and weight.

Beyond a certain height/weight ratio, I suppose, it's probably fairly certain that BMI would high, even if the unscientific way of computing it was off a few percentage points one way or the other.

And yes, in my daughter's high school, there are girls who throw up their lunches in the rest room. Anorexics, bulimics....she's known some of both.

I have never made a fuss about the BMI, because my daughter is slender, and I didn't think she would develop a negative self-image over the number on her report card...

But I really don't think it's that helpful, and I think it can cause anxiety, stress, and eating disorders.....although it could also be motivational for some students.

**mtomm**[$] · #4 01-11-2007, 02:26 PM

I'm sorry but parents really can't tell if their children are fat?

My middle son when through a short period where he had some serious love handles. I didn't sweat it because I knew he was active enough.

He is now the tallest boy in his grade and wouldn't know a love handle if it hit him in the face. I think his body was gearing up for the big jump he would have in height. What if I'd have restricted his calories during that time or chided him for being fat? It could have turned out to be something very bad!

Report cards should be about academics. Schools are not in a position to determine whether a child's BMI is healthy. I'm not even sure how accurate a BMI would be for children???? They aren't done growing!

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #5 01-11-2007, 02:31 PM

I'm afraid I would have to say some parents don't know their children are fat. Especially when their (overweight) kid is standing next to her (equally overweight) classmates. Hubby is regularly amazed at the girth of some of the kids in the class, and then he sees what their parents pack for their lunches and he sees where it comes from. But for whatever reason, the parents don't seem to realize that they are creating a health problem for their kids; some see it as evidence of how "healthy" their kids are that they've got a roll or two over their waistbands.

**pippadaisy**[$] · #6 01-11-2007, 02:42 PM

Absolutely NOT.

Our ped was informed in no uncertain terms that I didn't want to hear it and sure as hell didn't want it discussed in front of my kids at an appointment. I sure as HELL don't want BMI on their report cards.

It's a totally inaccurate way to determine whether or not someone is obsese, and I still can't believe they use it for kids. If the school is so concerned about obesity (like our district CLAIMS to be), they can start educating kids on nutrition rather than weight or BMI. We have to meet all these stringent guidelines for party treats, and yet Beanie came home the other day and informed me that she had a bacon cheeseburger and tater tots for lunch. WTF? Instead of teaching kids how to eat and BE healthy, they seem to keep getting caught up in numbers and not what should be BEHIND the numbers.

**thinkerlady**[$] · #7 01-11-2007, 05:44 PM

Our district sent letters home in the mail, addressed to parents. Well, some of our pre-teen girls got the letters before the parents, and you guessed it, opened them. Regardless of family rules about opening mail, these girls now think they are fat, and do not eat. It is a huge isssue for us. I DO NOT thik schools, school districts or school nurses should even be going there. It is an issue to be dealt with privately with the child's doctor.

**Prepoia**[$] · #8 01-11-2007, 08:30 PM

Quote:

thinkerlady said

Our district sent letters home in the mail, addressed to parents. Well, some of our pre-teen girls got the letters before the parents, and you guessed it, opened them. Regardless of family rules about opening mail, these girls now think they are fat, and do not eat. It is a huge isssue for us. I DO NOT thik schools, school districts or school nurses should even be going there. It is an issue to be dealt with privately with the child's doctor.

Yep. I'm a teacher too and it is not my job or my business to determine this and relay it to a parent. Academics and socialization is my business. We don't even have a school nurse.....so who is going to be the "expert" on this subject? The gym teacher or an office worker?

I'm glad to say that we haven't even heard of this practice yet and I sure hope we never do. In middle school there are more than enough things to distress kids as it is. The issue of weight belongs with parents, kids, and doctors. I don't need to add this to my day and kids don't need to add this public type information to their issues.

magenta321 · #9 01-11-2007, 08:34 PM

We have a serious problem in our country. People have ideas about how to eat healthy, but, then the media tells them that each new fad is the best, and then worst thing. This leaves people unsure of what to eat.

Parents don't know how to eat right. Kids don't know how to eat right. This is why there is so much eating disorder (and I'm talking about obesity as well as annorexia and bulemia).

Nutrition is something both parents and children should be educated on. BMI has no place in a school, however. I can't even believe it would be.

We were trying to be annorexic when I was in school. Some succeeded, and others (like me) did not. There was already waaaaaaay too much pressure on girls to be skinny by not eating back in 1996 when I graduated. I would imagine it's just as bad if not worse now.

I know I was praying to God in HS that I would be strong enough to make myself annorexic. How could governments and schools not realize that girls are already putting enough pressure on themselves to be skinny? Damn. Everyone wants to be skinny. Show them the right way to do it, however. And teach them all of the benefits of eating right, not just the weight aspect.

**Joubert**[$] · #10 01-20-2007, 12:41 AM

Has anyone looked at an elementary school lunch menu lately? Forget the vending machines in the high schools, worry about the younger kids first.

And then there are the great seminars marketers can attend like "Making Toddlers Brand Loyal". Yes, it's that, "Daddy, daddy, stop, it's McDonalds, wanna go to McDonaldddddds!" piercing scream from the back seat.

As for BMI on report cards, that is one of the silliest wastes of resources I have ever heard of. What is the purpose? To make parents aware? Terrific. Change the schools first. To record the child's vital statistics? Schools have no business taking height and weight measurements unless the child is participating in athletics.

When will government get out of our lives? Yes, I know there is an obesity epidemic. Smoking rates climbed for nearly two generations before people had had enough. Diabetes is going to strike 10% of the American population before that epidemic peaks. Anyone wanna buy a pancreas from Peru? They're on sale this week if you fly down to Dr. X's clinic in Lima. As the economy gets hammered by diabetes and its rippling effects, enough resources will either be channeled into finding a cure or mitigating complications or people will begin to change. Not before.

While the schools are adding BMI to the report card, could they also indicate how many children of other ethnicities your child is friendly with?

I'm still astounded.

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #11 01-20-2007, 07:57 AM

FWIW, they've been recording height and weight for a while now, at least in elementary schools. I remember the annual march to the school nurse to step on the scale and all that.

frazzledspice · #12 01-20-2007, 11:42 AM

Well, we have a new governor this month, and he has announced that he wants to take off the BMI's from report cards because of so many parental complaints.

He believes that schools should provide healthy lunch choices and keep soda and candy machines off premises, but he says that monitoring a child's weight is a responsibility of the parents, not the school.

The outgoing governor (who had lost 100 pounds a few years ago) is predicting all sorts of dire outcomes if the new governor goes through with his plans.