Do you think that schools weighing children and supplying the information to parents is a solution to the problem of childhood obesity?
Read the following article below and write a thoughtful response.
http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/12/is-bmi-ever-tmi/?hpt=hp_bn1
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18 comments:
I do think monitoring children's weight is helpful because most kids don't get to spend enough time with their parents at home, however i think weighing their BMI is so inaccurate. Instead of weighing their BMI, they should keep kids more active and only serve healthy food in cafeterias. They should just make gym classes longer, and actually make you run around rather than doing nothing. The BMI measurement is so unfair because some kids are just build where they are heavier than others.
No, I don’t believe that schools weighing children and supplying their child’s BMI results to the parents is a solution to the problem of childhood obesity. Rather than recording information that I’m sure some parents will disregard, schools and the state should be more focused on improving their school lunches and physical education programs. The school telling a parent that their child is overweight or obese is not going to solve the problem. If seems like all the schools would be doing is making the parents aware of the problem and are passing it off to them. I believe that the schools should take a more active role in stopping obesity by first changing the school lunch menus. Schools should incorporate more healthy options that kids would want to eat. Yes, most schools do provide some sort of vegetable; however, it usually looks disgusting, unappealing and unappetizing. If the school cannot afford fresh vegetables, maybe the school should create a garden in which the students could work in that would provide fresh produce. This would make the kids want to eat the vegetables more and would save the school money. In addition, when I say the school should add more vegetables and more healthy options, I was not including the tomato sauce on the pizza that Congress now believes counts as a vegetable.
In addition to changing the lunch menu, I believe that schools should include a better physical education program. Schools should encourage students to get more active and include activities that are more fun. Some students don’t like to play football or baseball or Ultimate Frisbee. Maybe schools should include more step aerobics or spin classes or Wii Athletic Games. Maybe then, students would be more interested in physical education and would be in better health. In addition, schools should think about requiring students to participate in some sort of sport, whether it is in school or out of school.
Overall, I don’t think that the schools reporting a child’s BMI to their parents is going to solve the obesity problem.
I think that schools weighing children and supplying the information to parents does nothing to solve the problem of child obesity unless the parents stop feeding their children junk food. Just because everyone is aware of their childrens obesity doesn't mean it will just stop it. There needs to be a drastic change in food health and what kids eat. There needs to be a change in what school provides the children to eat. It is not the childrens fault, we must blame the adults or parents. Don't be astonished that your kids are fat if you are feeding them mcdonalds for breakfast.
I do not think any of this is okay. While I understand the want of the schools to help children become healthy, this is not the way to go about doing this. This may embarass kids and make things worse for them instead of better. Instead of this, schools should put more attention into giving students healthier food choices, teaching them about being healthy, and keeping them more active because as of now our gym classes don't actually do much. There is also no need to supply the BMI results to their parents because it is just causing more trouble than good. The parents supply the students with their food so they know the problems that exist already. I think this is all very unfair and shouldn't be an option for schools.
This is definitely not the right way to handle childhood obesity. This is could just make all the kids feel worse about themselves and start eating even more. The schools need to stop serving junk to the kids. It needs to start at the elementary level because if you get kids eating healthy at an early age then they won’t have such cravings to eat junk when they are older. As for schools weighing kids and telling the parents, that is not the way it should be handled. Schools should tell all parents to make healthier meals and agree to do the same at school. The parents don’t have total control of what their kids eat. Usually when kids aren’t at home they are at school which is the biggest influence of their life. If you can convince kids in school to eat healthy it will bounce to eating healthy at home as well. The schools need to make the first move.
I feel that schools weighing children and supplying the information to parents would definitely help the problem of childhood obesity. Some parents just aren't aware of healthy BMIs and weights of children, so if the schools ere to send home the information it would act as wake-up calls to the parents to help their children become more fit. There is no way that informing parents of this information could hurt the problem in anyway. My personal is that it is 100% the responsibilities of parents to keep their children healthy. The schools can have a major impact in this just by supplying simple information. When they do this, they are not necessarily telling the children straight up that they Re fat. They would just be giving a wake-up call to the fact that they are not healthy and that a serious change to their diet and exercise is needed.
I personally feel like this is a great idea. Children are coddled way too much today and this has only further contributed to obesity. Nowadays, if your child says no physical activity, no vegetables, and no fitness, it seems to be no problem. Childhood obesity is a major problem in America and these tests could help parents to be more inclined to force their child to engage in physical activity so that he or she gets into shape. Although BMI measurements aren’t always a way to see how 'fat' your child is, they are informative and if nothing else, give nothing more than harmless knowledge that you as a parents can choose what to do with.
I think it's important for parents to be aware of their children's health. Obviously, they aren't if 1 in 3 children in Georgia are overweight. It seems that they've had their chance, and now it's important for schools to take charge. Parents and students may be complaining, but in the long run, it's going to help. The BMI test doesn't just judge people on their weight, but also incorporates height and physical ability. I think even more exams besides the BMI should be taken on students in areas where child obesity is a problem.
I think that students are entitled to be the size they want regardless of the health factor. Students may not like the size they are, so they do not need to be reminded our they state by a scale in school; it's just embarassing for them most likely. I do think however, that providing parents with information about their son or daughter's health and weight is beneficial. If the parents are educated about health, then maybe they can help their adolescent by providing healthy alternatives for junk food, or any food that makes them heavier than advised. Weight is murky subject, especially for children as they are in their developing stages. If they are self-concious about their weight, then that could provoke problems later in life.
i think that sending the parents their own childs weight and data regarding where they really should be. it begins to start to make them realize that is unhealthy for kids to be overweight and eating unhealthy all the time. while your young you pick up bad habits. children should be active while they can and getting parents invovled in their own childs health to create a better life for themself.
I don't think schools weighing children and supplying their weight to the parents is helpful. Although this raises parents' awareness of their child's health, it does not have a dramatic enough effect to cause a change. With all the television commercials, billboards,and fast and unhealthy food in movies it is almost impossible for children to not crave "junk food". In addition to all the advertizing by the fast food restaurants, the fast paced society we live in only further promotes fast/junk food.
I think it would be much more important to monitor what someone eats rather than what their weight is. If they serve healthier foods for lunch at school obesity wouldnt be as big of a problem in the first place.I believe it is more important to promote excersize than criticize someones weight. Although everybodies metabolism is different, it still partly also comes down to parents making sure their kids eat healthy
I believe that watching children's weight is a good thing. Not all children have parents who can serve as role models on how to stay fit or be heathy. By keeping track of children's weight and showing them their progress you can encourage children to start living healthier lives. However, i don't think simply showing children numbers they may not understand will solve the problem. School should step up and help by giving their children heather food options and placing a larger emphasis on being healthy.
This is deffinately not helping. There are so many overweight children, when kids get weighed there still so young, they don't even realize. Parents dont really say anything, hoping as they get older they get healthier. Maybe they should just have kids run and play more endurance sports in gym to make them feel healthier
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