picture of 4 yr old of what the school calls "Obese"

nanainkent
nanainkent Posts: 350 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
There were many responses to my post that the school says my granddaughter is too fat. Here is a picture of her. Granted she is not a skinny little girl but I do not believe this is "Obese" (thier word). She weighs 44 pounds. But I think it is because she is solid and not fat. I checked her height myself and she is 3 foot 3 inches without shoes.

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Replies

  • allthesefeelings_reclaimed
    allthesefeelings_reclaimed Posts: 22
    Her BMI is 20.3. That is perfect. Not obese, or even overweight. What did her school say exactly?
  • umer76
    umer76 Posts: 1,272 Member
    She is absolutely fine and school is so wrong in declaring her obese. I am pretty sure it is not the doctor from the school who said it.
  • amy32lynn
    amy32lynn Posts: 157 Member
    she is so cute maybe a lil chubby but not fat and def. not obese .
  • CaitySins
    CaitySins Posts: 57 Member
    She is not even over weight. She's young so obviously has a baby face. What sort of school does she go to? Seems like they're trying to encourage anorexia from an early age.
  • MemphisKitten
    MemphisKitten Posts: 878 Member
    :noway: I would be filing a law suit against the school.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    You have an adorable grand-daughter and I'm sorry you're dealing with this nonsense.

    Aside: I bet the principal or the nurse are both more obese than this child. Just sayin.
  • heatherloveslifting
    heatherloveslifting Posts: 1,428 Member
    I think in your original thread you said she was 3 ft tall (so 36 inches or 3 inches shorter than you just measured her). That's a pretty big height difference, so maybe the school had the wrong height? She is very cute!
  • Alex_is_Hawks
    Alex_is_Hawks Posts: 3,499 Member
    at 3 foot 3, she's tall...my daughter is tall for her age too...

    so what did they do? plunk her on a scale and say *kitten*, she's 44 pounds that's obese...and not even take her height into account?

    that's what it sounds like to me.

    my daughter is 5'3 in a classroom full of kids that are a head shorter than her at LEAST....

    if they put her on a scale she would be obese too...

    jus sayin.
  • nanainkent
    nanainkent Posts: 350 Member
    They sent home a note saying she was" obese" and they wanted a home visit (not my home, her moms home) to disscuss nutrition to control her weight.
  • hellraisedfire
    hellraisedfire Posts: 403 Member
    I don't think that children should even count in these categories. :/ if she's active and is healthy (no diabetes, thyroid is good, etc), and she's a little over weight (and she isn't, so that's besides the point), then I really think it's irrelevant. in middle school, my ex-boyfriend was a super chubby kid that was made fun of constantly. but it wasn't because he sat inside and played videogames, he just didn't get taller until high school. then he grew, and was thin. there isn't a set time when kids grow, and as long as she eats healthy and develops good habits, I would ignore the crap out of the school. they may mean well, but it certainly didn't come off that way.
  • beautylovetruth
    beautylovetruth Posts: 130 Member
    I suggest that you or her parents bring this up with the school administration immediately. She is NOT overweight or obese. She is healthy and looks very happy. If they will not listen to your concerns, go to the school board. Make sure you have a written complaint prepared and record any interactions with the school (just inform them you are doing so before you begin). This not appropriate for your granddaughter's health or safety.

    ETA: Consider that if you ignore this that there are likely other children getting the same treatment and hopefully bringing it to light will help someone.
  • eatathome
    eatathome Posts: 81 Member
    Normal. Don't worry about it.

    And even if she were a bit bigger, she's only 4. She'd grow out of it.
  • cmcorn26
    cmcorn26 Posts: 253 Member
    The school said my son was obese too...they did his bmi and it fell in the high end of normal range. They didn't take into account muscle mass, they used ht and wt. I took him to the school had the gym teacher look at his stomach, legs, arms....they changed the label. At that school it was going on his "permanent record" as being obese. Your granddaughter is NOT obese. Et the school know how you feel about it.

    She is sure cute!
  • amann1976
    amann1976 Posts: 742 Member
    why are we labeling children?????

    no matter if you are dealing with children of with adults that is why BMI is not a true or good indicator.

    not suggesting that one does skin fold test on a child but that is a better indicator of how fit someone is. plenty of football players with nothing but lean muscle are considered obese using BMII calculations
  • jenniferinfl
    jenniferinfl Posts: 456 Member
    You can thank the CDC for that BMI calculator the school is using:

    http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/dnpabmi/Result.aspx?&dob=11/22/2008&dom=11/23/2012&age=48&ht=39&wt=44.25&gender=2&method=0&inchtext=0&wttext=1/4
  • cmcorn26
    cmcorn26 Posts: 253 Member
    She looks like she is ready for a growing spurt!
  • FunkyGranolaTree
    FunkyGranolaTree Posts: 363 Member
    Boy.. what would they say about my 2.5 year old that is already 38 inches and 38 pounds?!?!?! (yes.. his numbers are the same).... I saw that you need to take what ever they told you with a grain of salt and continue teaching her to live a healthy life.
  • oregonzoo
    oregonzoo Posts: 4,251 Member
    She's a doll, and nowhere near "obese".
    Now due to the epidemic obesity has become it pleases me they are paying attention to it.
    But with this little darling its not necessary or warranted.

    I'm very sorry your family is going through this.
  • bouncy1920
    bouncy1920 Posts: 1 Member
    She's very cute.

    I was curious, so I searched and according to online, BMI for children is used to calculate percentile for other age-matched kids. So you can't go by BMI alone. (my source: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/childrens_bmi/about_childrens_bmi.html)

    If this labeling hurt your or your granddaughter's feelings, I would definitely let them know (in an appropriate manner, of course). But I would only take medical/nutritional/fitness advise from a respective professional in this case.

    Wish you the best!
  • helyg
    helyg Posts: 675 Member
    I haven't read your other thread, but will look for it.

    I just ran those figures through the NHS BMI calculator (with her age too) and it says that she is on the 99th centile for weight for her age and is obese.

    Just for reference my almost 7 year old weighs 38lbs and is 3'8" tall.

    Your granddaughter is gorgeous, but I think her parents need to be mindful of what she eats and how much exercise she gets. It might just be toddler chubbiness hanging on, or she might be due a growth spurt (mine always get chubby and then suddenly shoot up in height) which are making the figures look worse. In which case it is nothing to worry about. But we all as parents have a responsibility to help our children grow up as healthily as they can.
  • Mads1997
    Mads1997 Posts: 1,494 Member
    Geeze just incredible. The schools gone nuts. She is not skinny but i wouldn't call her obese in the slightest.
  • Celeigh12
    Celeigh12 Posts: 763 Member
    Labeling a healthy, very normal weight for her height child as obese and talking to her about weight is a great way to create an eating disorder. Shame on them.
  • EricNCSU
    EricNCSU Posts: 699 Member
    BMI charts and words like "Obese" do not even apply to children of this age.

    I can understand "overweight" but not in the same way as it means for adults, and more seriously for kids would be "underweight"...

    She looks perfectly healthy to me. Tell the school to shove it. She's a GROWING GIRL for goodness sake.
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
    at 3 foot 3, she's tall...my daughter is tall for her age too...

    so what did they do? plunk her on a scale and say *kitten*, she's 44 pounds that's obese...and not even take her height into account?

    that's what it sounds like to me.

    my daughter is 5'3 in a classroom full of kids that are a head shorter than her at LEAST....

    if they put her on a scale she would be obese too...

    jus sayin.

    I think they didn't take her height into account. If height and weight correlate it's fine. She certainly doesn't look fat or even chubby to be honest.

    My 3 year old son is taller than that though and around 35lbs. I'll probably get told he's too skinny when he's at school!
  • tairaven
    tairaven Posts: 72 Member
    They probably just went by the typical "growth charts" for weight only for her age and didn't cross reference it against her height. School needs to stay out of it. (What are they doing weighing and measuring the children in school anyway??) You and your doctor know what's best.
  • Cranktastic
    Cranktastic Posts: 1,517 Member
    adorable:flowerforyou:
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    They sent home a note saying she was" obese" and they wanted a home visit (not my home, her moms home) to disscuss nutrition to control her weight.

    My mother would have thrown a royal fit if my school did something like that! I don't know what I would have done if it were my daughter, but I would tell them exactly where to stick it.
  • dare2love81
    dare2love81 Posts: 928 Member
    You have an adorable grand-daughter and I'm sorry you're dealing with this nonsense.

    Aside: I bet the principal or the nurse are both more obese than this child. Just sayin.

    ^^THIS
  • chubbygirl253
    chubbygirl253 Posts: 1,309 Member
    And we wonder why girls are growing up with self esteem issues and body issues! I think if you can afford it (maybe through the ymca where its affordable) get this child involved in some physical activity she enjoys, whether it's a sport like gymnastics or dance classes. You can teach her at home about healthy eating and exercise and tell the school to butt out before they take her down a road that is more damaging to her psychologically than it is helpful. She isn't a fat kid but since you describe her as solid it isnt a bad idea to work toward building lean muscle through something like gymnastics.

    I think the kid looks like a happy, healthy, normal child. Don't let anyone make this kid feel like she has weight issues. You can monitor her diet without her even knowing it.

    I personally wish I could go back to the weight when I was actually at a healthy weight but yet people around me were acting as if I were fat. Because it made me feel fat and then depressed and had low self-esteem and it snowballs. And soon I wasn't at a healthy weight anymore. Too bad we can't all go back and talk to our inner child and explain what we've learned. Look out for this child, not just physically but emotionally. That being said, if I could go back and prevent myself from ever getting fat in the first place I would start very young. Nutrition and exercise. Teach those good habits now, don't wait!
  • beekuzz
    beekuzz Posts: 428 Member
    I suggest that you or her parents bring this up with the school administration immediately. She is NOT overweight or obese. She is healthy and looks very happy. If they will not listen to your concerns, go to the school board. Make sure you have a written complaint prepared and record any interactions with the school (just inform them you are doing so before you begin). This not appropriate for your granddaughter's health or safety.

    ETA: Consider that if you ignore this that there are likely other children getting the same treatment and hopefully bringing it to light will help someone.

    Totally agree. She's adorable and not overweight. Do not let this pass by ignoring it. Labeling anyone much less children like this is going to create even more insecure body images. And we wonder where this kind of thinking ever starts when we work so hard at home to give security and love. That is very frustrating, but I would also be curious how many other kids are being treated this way. This is probably the time I would personally turn into BIG MAMA BEAR and they would not like me much.

    Keep us posted.

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