Thursday, October 02, 2008

Step on the scale

by teresa


It's been a bit boring around here this week. Lots of rain, canceling a soccer practice and a baseball game. Just kinda stuck at home doing nothing most nights. It did forced me to clean out mine and the boys closets though, so I guess that's good. Tonight we are back on for soccer practice and a high school football game. It will be in the low 60's, which is perfect football watching weather. Today I have to run by Nick's school and drop off some PTA stuff and then head back over for day three (and the final day) of helping the nurse at Ben's school. She is required to record the height and weight of every student in the school (close to 500 kids). I remember this as a child. Our P.E. teacher did it in front of the whole class. How humiliating. My first day there we had a girl hide in the bathroom to avoid having this done. I felt so bad for her. I know how she feels, cause if someone required the same of me now I would poke them in the eye and run. I asked the nurse what is her purpose in doing this. She told me it is a state mandate, she HAS to do it. I asked her what would happen if someone refused. She said,"it is done in private (there is a curtain drawn behind each child)...no one but us knows the weight...so there is no reason not to do it." They use the results to track overweight children through the years. they check their blood pressure and keep a close eye on them. I feel like this is a parents job. If I got a call from school that my kid was overweight, I would be a bit irked. I would just hate for some kids to get stressed out at school about having this done. A boy cried yesterday. The chubby girls linger in the back of the line, trying to be last. And by the way, there is no such thing as "private" when you're in a tiny room with 20 kids. They are trying to peek a look at your chart, listen to us whisper results to each other, they yell out if they think they heard you say 100-something. Good grief. It's not just about the weights either. The short boys were being taunted about heights too.

What are your thoughts on this? Should schools require this? What would you do if your child said "no".

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Teresa,
This was a great article, and such a tough topic. We live in NC now, and living down here I have seen some CRAZY things. The way we were raised and taught is not the way everyone is taught. Some parents drive Escalades, wear gold rings on every finger (this is not an ethnic sterotype, these are not any particular race or ethnic group it stretches across the board, white parents too :( ) and yet their kids come to school in ragged clothes, no lunch and they do not have health insurance. Some parents allow the children to be unhealthy, We have a child here that is 6 years old and weighs 100 lbs, that poor child is going to have alot of health problems. By tracking these treads the public health department and other health organization develop educational programs to try educate and help these problems. The height is also helpful to identify possible developmental problems, if they find a male child that is not growing from year to year they can alert the parents that there is a potential problem. If addressed they can interven and correct a problem before it is a permanent condition. But as with any mandated program alittle human touch and common sense could used to make this a better process. The kids should be taken in the nurses office or a conference room alone, and the information could simply be recorded or use cards to signal the helper without uttering the numbers and the information should not be shared or posted in any public setting.

Anonymous said...

I think the public schools would do so much more for the kids if they took that time and really used it for education...hmmm the thing they are truly there for. I feel strongly that the government is slowly but surely trying to reduce the parents roll. We wonder why so many kids can barely read and write. If they stuck to the basics, reading, writing, math and science perhaps the literate population would increase and they would not need to do the role of parenting. So many kids are ill equipped through our educational system. We continue to produce the same results...Stay involved. It makes a difference. Kids need love, and no matter how hard a school tries, they will never replace the tender love family brings to a growing child.
It is the parents responsibiliy, but they (parents) are so used to having things done for them and done for free...if the school doesn't track some of the kids...the parents would sue the school if one of their kids were injured or dropped dead of a weight related issue. Unfortunately we have created this need.
Sorry Teresa, you must have hit a tender spot. Thanks for sticking your neck out on this issue. It is only the beginning. God Bless!!
Love, Brenda M.

Anonymous said...

I guess collecting this data allows public health tracking and planning on a macro level. I have never heard of an individual intervention from these things though. In fact, as one who knows the data on this, as the weights have gone up, there has been a simultaneous decrease in sanctioned physical activity (recess and p.e.)in schools. There has been some increase innutrition education, which is less effective than actually getting kids to move (they don't shop for the family food or prepare their meals in most cases). Also simultaneously going up: "diagnosed" ADHD little boys (who need to run around!). If we were serious about the data and the problem, Virginia would have a more serious Standard Of Learning on physical activity. Otherwise, what's the point?

Chris

christincherie said...

Unfortunately, some parents don't keep track of, or don't care about the state of their child's physical health. I guess that's one reason they do it. I do agree that it should always be done in private. You have to remember that not everyone is supermom like you ;o)

Anonymous said...

I agree that more attention needs to be paid to nutrition and physical activity. However, I don't think this is the way to do it. Parents who are not attentive to these things already will most likely not change as a result of a call or letter from school I don't think the kids should be subjected to this type of humiliation in front of their peers. It just gives kids another forum for being cruel. Perhaps they should take the money they spend on this and put it towards parent and kid education about nutritian and physical activity. And ... c'mon people ... let's give them recess! It would relieve stress and get kids moving which would take off the pounds.

Anonymous said...

That last post was from MIL