Besides grade cards telling you how your child is doing in reading and math, now schools would like to send home a BMI grade card too.
Do you know what BMI is? It's short for Body Mass Index, a measure for body shapes based on your weight and height. This BMI report card is to let you know if your child is a healthy weight or overweight.
Can you imagine if you got one of these when you were a kid? Mine would have been covered in chocolately finger prints because I had to eat a pint of Ben & Jerry's just so I could deal with the utter shame.
It was embarrassing enough in school when I could never climb to the top of that stupid rope in gym class while my jackhole gym teacher in his awful stretchy "coach" shorts yelled at me to "Dig!" I felt fat and sluggish enough, thank you very much. I don't know what I would have done if I had to have my BMI calculated in front of my peers. The thought of it gives me the shakes.
Receiving one of these grade cards would have done nothing to help me lose weight. I joke about the Ben & Jerry's, but that's not far from the truth. I'm a sad eater. I eat when I feel lonely, sad, stupid, etc. Getting a grade card telling me that I'm an overweight little sloth would have been all I needed to down an entire bag of Lay's. A grade card like that would have sent me over the edge and as a preteen and teen, I was pretty damn close to the edge. The last thing I needed was another piece of paper telling me how disgusting I was. Because that's how I felt. I didn't need the school to tell me that.
I've got two kids who are both solidly built. Neither of them is fat or even close to obese. They are both high on the growth charts at the doctor's office, but well within the healthy range. They look around their classrooms and see their friends with their bony knees and their sharp elbows and their petite frames and ask me, "Mom, am I fat?"
They know how much they weigh and they compare their number with their friends and tell me, "Mom, I weigh five pounds more than Karsen! Am I fat?"
I have to explain to them that they are built differently. They are muscular and tall. Their pediatrician assures them they are healthy and that at this age everyone has different shapes and that's normal.
I do not want to give them another number to obsess over. I do not want them to start worrying about their BMI and how it compares to others.
Yes, childhood obesity is a problem and it typically starts at home. HOWEVER this what our doctors are for. My doctor is our medical professional and he is the one whose advice I take in regards to my children's health. He is the one who I trust to tell me if my kids are healthy or not.
I don't need the school to police this one for me. I really don't think they're the right person for the job. Especially when they start cutting down on gym and recess and serving absolute shit on a shingle my kid. Here is just an example of this month's actual menu at my children's school:
Chicken Nuggets
French Toast Sticks with Sausage Patties
Country Breaded Steak
Beef & Cheese Nachos
Pepperoni Stuffed Sandwich
Fish Treasures
Now, there is always a "healthy" option of Uncrustable Sandwich with Pretzel Nugget & Dipping Yogurt or Yogurt & String Cheese with a Muffin. However, when my son is met with the choice of a chicken nugget of any kind or a yogurt and muffin, he will always choose the nugget. Plus, I'm not sure an "Uncrustable" or a muffin is much better than a nugget.
Schools: heal thyself.
I'm not saying my kid is going to enjoy eating kale and spinach salad, but we have some sort of chicken patty/nugget/stick product twice a week. If schools are so worried about kids' BMIs then maybe stop serving this crap. It's so bad that I limit the number of times each week my kids can buy.
Let me make a prediction. The more widespread this new grade card becomes, the more we'll see headlines freaking out about how the numbers of young children with anorexia and bulimia are on the rise.
And then what will the solution be for that?
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