You get an "F" for Fat...

Willow Rosenberg

Willow Rosenberg

I might be just like you!
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I saw a story on the news last night about how children in Texas will be weighed quaterly and the results will be posted on their report cards. This is being done in an effort to combat the rise of obesity in children today.

I don't know what anyone else thinks of this, but I think it's a great thing. I think kids and parents alike should be held accountable for their children's eating and exercising habits. Too many parents don't encourage their children to participate in sports or other activities that would provide their children with the exercise they need. And as far as eating properly goes, movies such as "Supersize Me" demonstrate the lack of concern for a proper diet in America today.
 
I suppose it depends on how they determine that... My sis has been overweight for some time, despite what efforts she has made to curb her weight gain (although she's not going to the gym or anything). While I consider the body to be a temple, I know that for some people ---(I have a friend who is overweight that works out at a gym, seemingly to no avail)--- having a Britney Spears body is nigh unto impossible.

So if the criteria allows for varying "body types," then I won't be worried.
 
C
Cordelia
[No message]
I think the sentiment behind this is good, but this will be devastating to many children. I don't know if anyone else had to go through "President's Physical Fitness Tests" in elementary school, but they made you do all this stuff that was supposed to make you 'fit' (meanwhile, they never attempted to actually help you train for the tests ie practicing climbing a rope before they test you on whether you can or not but anyway). They also publically weighed everyone each year. Also in my college gym class they measured everyone's body fat publically. Now though they weren't grading you on how you did, but if you don't have a perfect body (or maybe even if you do) it was a humiliating experience. That's the sort of thing that can make a child give up on fitness, figuring there's nothing they can do about it and that they will always be that way.

It would be much more useful imo to teach kids about eating a sensible diet (more than spending one class talking about it) and how to make exercise a part of their lives. As Chasing Charisma said, weight has a lot to do with genetics, and not everyone who is overweight sits around eating chocolate cake all day (actually had a college gym teacher make that statement about overweight people). I work out three hours a day, but it's not going to make me look like Britney Spears age 18.
 
That's horrible Buffy about the weighing and body fat tests in front of everyone. I think the report cards seem to be a more discreet way to do it.

Also, I don't think kids today get enough education about what's a healthy diet. Sure, we see those Food Pyramid things, but if the parents aren't aware as well, I don't think the kids have a fair shot. When have you ever heard a kid say, "Mom, instead of Pizza tonight, let's have a salad?"

As far as I remember, the news story was on elementary school kids and not high schoolers who have more control over what they eat. I believe the reasoning was to get them started as young as possible.
 
Well, elementary school kids can still be self concious about weight - they don't have to be high schoolers 🙂

I do think the reasoning behind it is good, but if it was me there, I would be very upset going through it.

Strangely, kids who are given healthy snacks actually will choose them. I still cannot believe it when my nieces and nephews ask for apples instead of ice cream. It's weird lol.
 
My younger cousins, are the world's worst eaters. They live on Burger King, Chicken Fingers and Mac'N'Cheese no joke. It's not like my Aunt doesn't have money to go grocery shopping either, she's just lazy. I'm worried about them for later in life, because they're all great kids, but no one's ever taught them to eat right.

I'm hoping my sister doesn't pull that crap with my niece when she gets older.
 
Efforts to encourage children and parents have failed miserably before, so maybe this will actually encourage them to change their eating habits. Although we by no means have the right to force a lifestyle on someone, even if it is life saving.
 
I don't think of the program as forcing people to do something, rather making them aware a situation may exist.
 
But yet we are unable to do anything like this with smoking or drugs. People are going to live how they want to live.

And maybe it's better to have some state-sponsored thing like this, because certain people become quite angry when you tell them that they have an eating or drug habit.
 
But what about underweight kids, would they get an F? Or would it depend on the scale, so be like this:

Overweight..................|................Underweight
Very | Kinda | Just a bit | Average | Very | Kinda | Just a bit
F......|C.......|B.............|A...........|B......|C.......|F
 
Well if you want to get technical, children are given education on the dangers of smoking/drugs in order to prevent them from partaking. The government has no control over whether they choose to do drugs or smoke though. It should be along the same lines in regards to the reasons to eat healthy and/or exercise.

The states just need to provide people the information and let people make better educated choices.
 
Actually I think it would be graded on your progress on working towards a healthy life.

Because otherwise it would be extremely biased towards those who are already fit. But just because you are skinny, it doesn't mean that you're healthy.
 
Cordelia said:
Also, I don't think kids today get enough education about what's a healthy diet. Sure, we see those Food Pyramid things, but if the parents aren't aware as well, I don't think the kids have a fair shot. When have you ever heard a kid say, "Mom, instead of Pizza tonight, let's have a salad?"
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But at the same time the parents have a responsibility too. I would ask my parents for junk food, and when we were out i'd try and get them to stop at a take away. But the response was always the same, no. From time to time I did have pizza and burgers etc but it wasn't my staple diet and in high school I was even taking in carrot sticks instead of getting junk from the vending machines. Not on a concious part to be healthy, but it was just what I wanted to eat.

But I guess thats all cancelled out because I drink and smoke 😉
 
Here's the article:

(Austin-NBC) Jan. 21, 2005 - A lot of kids are growing out faster than they're growing up on play grounds across the country.

Texas Sen. Leticia Van De Putte says it's a serious problem where close to 40% of all school
aged children are overweight or obese, "We are at epidemic levels with childhood obesity."

So, along with reading, writing and arithmetic, Senator Van De Putte has introduced controversial legislation that would require Texas schools to list a student's body fat index on every report card, "We should be just as concerned about our kids' health as we are about their academic grades."

Parent Rosa Medellin isn't convinced that a new law is the best way to trim the fat, "They don't need to tell you that, you know, in order for you to realize that your child is overweight."

Many parents say it's just too much information from educators. Information that could be damaging if it made its way to the playground. While educators are also quick to point out there is only so much they can do on campus. A lot of schools are serving more nutritional meals and putting an
emphasis on physical education.

Arlington, Texas school superintendent Dr. Mac Bernd says the most important work, when it comes to a child's waistline, is done outside the classroom, "A lot of what happens to students and children dietarily happens at home."

Arkansas has a new law requiring schools to report a student's body fat index, but that information is mailed to parents at home and is not included on report cards.
Click to expand...

Source
 
Slayer said:
Efforts to encourage children and parents have failed miserably before, so maybe this will actually encourage them to change their eating habits. Although we by no means have the right to force a lifestyle on someone, even if it is life saving.
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It's not about forcing a life style on someone - if it actually made all kids the perfect weight, I'd be all for it. But most likely you'll just have a bunch of kids flunking 'weight class' and having lowe self esteem because of it.

Slayer said:
Actually I think it would be graded on your progress on working towards a healthy life.

Because otherwise it would be extremely biased towards those who are already fit. But just because you are skinny, it doesn't mean that you're healthy.
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Very true . 🙂
 
Thats the worst idea. Not everyone can be average. I for one am 18 and weight 100 lbs. It's been pointed out to me all my life that I'm skinny. I've had eating disorders for trying to GAIN weight. That system is going to be especially horrible for girls who will start to base their worth on their looks at a younger age. I don't know about you but I don't see kids dying everyday because of obesity and majority of the kids in school are not fat so this whole "America is fat" theory is getting blown out of proportion. Also, McDonald's doesn't cause people to be fat. Eating too much causes some people to gain weight because of genetics. Thus, scooping everyone into the slow metabolism category to make a sweeping statement that everyone needs to be in that average weight range goes against logic on their part. They can't devise a perfect weight that all people can work for.
Are they going to start measuring breast development and when a girl breasts are larger than her peers they will have a breast reduction in order to decrease the risk of breast cancer? No, because it's considered good in our soceity to be well endowed. But in our society where fat isn't considered attractice, they want to crack down on that. They put to much emphasis on fat people losing weight for health reasons when the fact is that there's just as good a chance they won't have any health reasons.
On a side note, can't the parents just buy a scale?
 
I think that this is a really good idea, for early grades. I believe that once a child has gone into grade school or atleast the 5th grade, theres not much that a report can do to help their eating habits. It really has to be something that is set early on in a childs life. I understand what the school boards nowadays are doing with the healthier choices in the cafeterias and such, but I dont see how it would help much. If it were me, and I wasnt getting the food I wanted while I was at school, I'd just eat more when I got home to compensate, or even bring my own lunch. You cant FORCE a kid to eat something they dont want to, especially in school environments.

I feel bad for the kids that grow up on food, then are going to be forced to eat things they wont like, and lose all that weight. Its going to be hell for them, and its really not their faults. Its all the parents to blame.
 
How many overweight people do you know that voluntarily step on the scale?

And America is getting fatter...there is statistical proof. In the article I quoted over 40% of school age children are overweight/obese.
 
I think aesthetics have nothing to do with this.

"On a side note, can't the parents just buy a scale?"

That is the whole reason for this: to alert parents of the dangers of improper eating habits.

Most parents won't take the initiative.

I know a lot of parents who just throw more candy to their already overweight child. And at an age where you really can't dictate you're eating habits due to monetary concerns and such, these kids are sometimes forced unhealthy food like McDonalds on a daily basis.

It's a heck of a lot easier to go through the Drive-Thru at Wendy's than to sit down and have a healthy meal while teaching healthy eating habits.
 
Totally agree Comma...

This doesn't have anything to do looks, it's about being healthy. There are people in this world who are above the normal weight for their height/age that are healthier than skinny people. It's making people aware that there is cause for concern in the future should they not take action to ensure they teach their children good eating/exercise habits at an early age.
 
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