This NYT articlethe other day about childhood obesity made me so sad. The author of the article, Jodi Kantor, wrote about a school district in PA where they have begun sending children's BMI scores home with report cards. I guess the idea is that "the powers that be" would like for parents to become aware of how their children compare with national standards.
This is such a loaded topic as people tend do be very private and defensive about both their weight and their parenting, and by sending these scores home with the report cards, people will naturally associate their BMI scores with being "graded" on their weight (and by extention, perhaps for some, their parenting).
I felt somewhat put off by the underlying tone of the article which I felt was condescending. It seemed as though there was a veiled sense of "look at these poor, uneducated, fat people who refuse to admit that their children have a problem that needs to be dealt with." Quotes such as
"On a recent school trip to New York, the girls felt like visitors from a different, chubbier planet, they said.
'They’re all this big,” said Cassie Chase, holding her arms close together, “and we’re all this big,” she said, flinging them wide open.'"
left me feeling like there was an "Us (healthy) vs Them (unhealthy)" divide.
Nevertheless, this is concerning:
The farmers and foundry workers here in north-central Pennsylvania have different ideas about weight than those of the medical authorities who set the standards (the percentiles are based on pre-1980 measurements because the current population of children is too heavy to use as a reference). Here, the local pizza chain is called Pudgie’s. Nearby Mansfield’s fanciest restaurant serves its grilled chicken salad piled with fries.
Nearly 60 percent of eighth graders in the district scored in the 85th percentile or higher in 2003-4; more than a quarter had scores in the 95th percentile or higher, meaning they were officially overweight.
Kantor mentions the disparity between the food choices children are offered at school (funnel cakes and pizza for breakfast for example) and alerting parents to BMI numbers. The school district is clearly sending a mixed message. How are children, or parents for that matter, supposed to excersize healthy choices and adjust their sense of normalcy when no healthy modeling is provided?
I don't know what the answers are, but I am certain that they lie in education. Parents need to be educated, and then the children. Are the parents really surpised to see that their children have a high BMI? How about redirecting some of the money that goes to reporting these scores to educating parents? Could healthier choices be added in the cafeteria menu if the number of choices were pared down?
I think this mother says it best:
"Christina Bové is the mother of three children who attend the Blossburg schools. She clutched a picture of her 9-year-old son, Christian, in a bathing suit, to prove that he was not “at risk of overweight,” as his 92nd percentile score had indicated.
The letter was inaccurate — and useless, Ms. Bové said. “The school provides us with this information with no education about how to use it or what it means,” she said."
Isn't it possible to inform, educate and empower people without belittling them and making them feel defensive?
Sometime during all my Christmas baking and preparation, I came to the realization that I need more than one set of measuring cups, so the next time the opportunity presented itself, I bought a set of black, Oxo ones. Upon unstacking them for washing when I reached home, I discovered that this particular set includes separate cups for 2/3 and 3/4 cups. This was new to me. In the past (the dark ages?), when I needed 2/3 of a cup of something, I would fill my 1/3 cup twice, or if I needed 3/4 cup of something, I even had a choice! I could use the 1/4 cup three times, or use it only once, and also dirty the 1/2 cup. Or, if I was really lazy/pressed for time, I would eye-ball it in my 1C measuring cup. Not so anymore. Now I can be P.R.E.C.I.S.E.
