On a report card for the parents, I don't see this as humilation since it's private statistics for the parents.

My question is, what do they do once they determine an obese child needs help? Do they force them to take part in an additional recreation class during school? Are they walking around with a scarlet "O" on their chests and only allowed to buy healthy food?

I think if you attack some weight problems when you're young, then maybe it can set you up for a healthier lifestyle for when you're older. A person who's aware of the risks in their current eating habits might feel better about themselves if they see results.

I support new ideas and experiments to problems like these. I would be very interested in hearing the kids thoughts and comments if they have an opinion regarding this policy.

I don't know. I just don't see it making any kind of difference. If a kid is overweight, you know the kid is overweight. Parents can see it. How is putting the childs BMI on a report card (which by the way is not always accurate in determining health problems) going to help? Will it suddenly open the parents eyes on say "oh well I thought little Jimmy was just carrying around his baby weight, but now I see his BMI is at 32, he must be fat!"

And I still think it's pretty humilating for a child to go home and show his/her parents their BMI. No one likes going to home to show their parents a bade grade, what kid is going to want to go home and show their parents a bad BMI?

Aren't report cards mailed home (or emailed probably). I feel like I went to school in the stone ages and that I'm part of a breed of kids that had to bring papers home to mommy and daddy to sign, such as report cards...

Anyway, what age group are we talking about here? Because when I was a kid, up until middle school, I don't think anyone gave a crap about good looks or weight problems.

Sometimes parents, because they are around their child all the time, don't really compare them to skinny or fat kids and just may not realize how serious the problem is. Plus, if everybody in the school is fat, then you think your kid is normal:)

Fat american children are a growing problem, and apparently a serious enough problem to get a school board to make such a recommendation in Texas. I'm just not believing a child is going to be humilated by a body fat index on their report card. And I think until a kid grows up and is able to make decisions about their own body, the parents shouldn't stop trying to promote a good and healthy lifestyle.

Is there even a better idea to attack the chubby children problem because it would be nice to hear suggestions that you think are not humilating. To me, any recognition of a person's weight is going to be attached to some type of embarassment.

As a mother for over 23 years, I can guarantee you that unfortunately, the huge majority of parents whose kids register a high BMI will not care.

i don't think it's a school's business to have to monitor a child's weight. that is the job of the pediatirician and parents.

are schools then going to be responsible for making children lose weight? that's not what schools are for. they can teach about health and good habits, but enforcing them are the parents jobs!!

That's just it. We're older. Things are different. I'm not sure how old you are, and you don't have to tell me. But when I was in elementary school, body image and weight wasn't something that most people concerned themselves with, but I can remember being with my girlfriends in grade 2,3,4 and so on talking about our weight and how we didn't want to be fat. It's gotten worse. Kids are so concerned now with image it's disgusting. Young girls are dieting, they are concerned with what kinds of colthes they wear, etc. It's a much bigger issue than you think.

The solution has to start in the homes, and it's not. Some parents just don't give a crap anymore. I have to agree with Carnation.

I don't think it's the school's responsibility to control the weight of the students, but they are the only ones that seem to care. I think schools should make phys. ed. a mandatory class up untill graduation of highschool. Sometimes that is the only exercise children get. Their should only be healthy lunch options in the cafeteria, and healthy lunches can taste good too. They just shouldn't serve things like burgers and hotdogs and fries or pizza.

I don't know, this just doesn't sound like a plan that is going to work.

just curious, why should kids suffer if the parents are not smart enough to help them? I agree, the school is for learning, but this is technically on the educating side. Maybe a couple parents will learn a thing or two and the kids may be more aware of their bodies. Schools teach health classes, sex, and other subjects that you would consider a "parent's job." If a parent is doing his or her job, then the child wouldn't need help.

I think there really is a problem that in american society, more and more children are becoming fat and not enough is being done about it before it's too late. I think the first person that should be embarassed about an overweight child is the parent. And if the parents won't care or take responsibility to fix the problem, then why stop the school's from taking a shot at it?

I absolutely agree, and therein lies the problem. It's the parents fault and some parents just don't care. This is not going to solve the child obesity problem. Maybe there needs to be some kind of consequence for the parents if their child's weight is out of control?

it's rather simple really. if parents are dumb enough to not realize that 200 pounds is not a healthy weight for an 8 year old, it's their problem. teachers are there to teach. like i said already, they can teach about nutrition and exercise, etc. but the PARENTS are responsible for keeping their kids healthy! this is part of schools' problems now--parents don't want to take responsibility for their own families. don't put blame and responsiblilty on teachers if a child is fat. put it on the PARENTS; that's the only place it belongs.

The lunch idea simply does not work. As many, many people who work in the field of education understand, if pizza, etc. is not available, kids don't buy lunch, they just bring trashy stuff from home or go off campus if they're allowed to. Offering healthy options at the expense of junk food is not, at many schools, financially feasible. If it was, it would have been done a long time ago. In some schools, mandatory phys. ed is not financially feasible either. Even in those where it is, it's usually not a class that gets anyone except the most dedicated going enough to burn a significant amount of calories. At my school, gym was fifty minutes. Take off ten-fifteen for changing clothes, attendance, etc. That leaves 35-40 minutes for actual activity, which probably will not be high-calorie burning. I might burn MAYBE (a generous estimate) 150 calories in a gym class, which will burn off, oh, half a slice of pizza.

I think people need to think this through instead of just spouting off some opinion with no research behind it. All of these suggestions take money. Our schools are underfunded as they are. Our district got a couple million dollars from Coke every year to keep vending machines in the school. Why the hell should they pull that contract and lose out on the money when, if there's no soda machines in the school, kids will just bring their own from home or go down the street to buy some?

but then the problem is who enforces it. police? the health department? and then what would they do--fine them? take the kids away? i can only imagine the controversy and craziness that would ensue. (it would be kind of nice though if it could work!)

obesity is a MAJOR problem. parents need to cook healthy food and stop going to mcdonald's 5 times a week.

There are parents who don't even care what their kids' grades are--in elementary school. Do we think that they're going to care about their kids' BMI, if they even know what "BMI" stands for?

Plus, so many parents are in denial about their kids being fat anyway, passing it off as "baby fat." There are even some who think that it's a sign that they're "healthy," and that it's GOOD that their child has "meat on their bones." (Of course, they're completely oblivious of the differences between being too thin, maintaining a healthy weight, and being fat.) Until we get rid of these ignorant attitudes, we will continue to have generations of unhealthy kids.

I was trained to be an evaluator for the Consolidated School Health Index/Program. It is a program that takes an overall approach to helping students stay healthy. It even involves the parents. It also teaches children about choices they can make for themselves in cases where they are left to feed themselves.

Some staples of the program include allowing students to drink water during school, removing unhealthy foods from vending machines, offering counseling to identify problems they might be facing, making parents aware that only healthy foods are options for snacks they bring for the entire class, increasing physical activity in and out of school hours, making cafeteria food healthier, etc.

It really brings the parents into the process. It makes them aware of simple choices they can make to improve the health of their families.

I will admit that I was extremely skeptical of the program. But, after seeing the test results from my hometown's schools increase and truancy decrease, I was impressed. There are only a few schools in the nation that are pilots for the program. My hometown is one of them.

I believe this would be much better than simply putting a percentage on a piece of paper.

Why give someone information that they have a problem and not help them to find a solution? If they are going to give that info out, them they should also give out some info on how to become healthier/reduce their percentage. The CSHI would do that.

/rant

Edited b/c I can't spell.

I realize that some of the suggestions require money. I also said that I didn't have any of the answers and these were just my personal opinions. I know it's going to take a lot more than an uneducated opinion to help solve the issue of overweight children.

But by the same token, not every activity requires a lot of money. How much money do you need to have the children go outside for half an hour and complete a fitness program? Say, jumping jacks, push ups, some running/jogging? There are activites that don't require equipment. Have the kids run or walk for half an hour. I've seen the kids at my local elementary school running and walking along the sidewalk as part of their phys. ed program. That's all they do. How much money do you need to get a kid to do that?

I also don't think it's a bad thing to offer healthy choices in a cafeteria. I also think it's easier to control at the elementary level, maybe not at the highschool level. Some schools already tell parents their children can't bring foods containing peanuts into the school, why can't they say some thing like "no chips, no sugary sodas, no cookies, etc"?

If people are going to lay the responsibility on the schools then the schools need to come up with something. Anything.

But like others have said, it's not the school's job to do it, and I personally think they should leave well enough alone. If they don't do anything parents will eventaully have to take some responsibility.

How much money does it take to have kids complete a fitness program? Let's see. First you need to hire a gym teacher and make sure you have a gym, plus a variety of different equipment. Having kids run outside is a risk issue, because you can't watch them all at the same time, plus it's just not feasible in some climates to do it year-round. Most young kids, regardless of weight, are just not conditioned to run for long periods of time, plus (speaking from experience) most of them HATE it and get bored very easily, and would soon refuse to do it. Plus, with the limited time period that most gym classes allow (45 minutes to an hour, 2 to 5 days a week depending on the school) and the fact that they can't force kids to participate to maximum calorie-burning effect means . . . like I said, the actual calories burned are usually not enough to burn off a glass of milk, let alone counteract obesity.

As you said, "if the schools are going to be held accountable, they need to come up with something." Putting BMI on report cards is one thing they CAN do that requires minimal financial effort. I think it's hilarious that people don't care that schools can't get decent computers for our kids to use, yet they think they should be giving them personal trainers and diet assessments or something.