weighing teenage girls in school

hindas

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 3:36 pm

As I only have one daughter who is now 13, im not familiar with what is the norm .
Today my daughter came home from school ( jerusalem ) and said that a nurse had been into school , given a lecture about nutrition and then weighed and measured every girl in the class.
I was thrilled about the lecture not so thrilled about the weighing and measuring. She told my daughter that for her age she is the right weight , but for her height ( she is very tall ) she is 2 kilo underweight. We had to laugh because all my kids are really tall and skinny.
However, my heart went out to the chubby kids as they got an extra lecture.
My feelings are that these girls talk enough nonsense about their weight and looks and this was just encouraging it.
I think the lecture would ahve been enough.
Does this happen anywhere else?
Hinda

justanothermother

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 3:41 pm

I feel so bad for the girls over the norm. Did they at least weigh everyone privately? I was an overweight adolescent and this would have mortified me at that age.

yo'ma

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 3:49 pm

I once saw a program (Strong Medicine) with that problem, except it was elementary. They were trying to "shock" the kids into eating healthy. In the end, they stopped doing it and changed the lunch menu and the candy machine to healthier snacks.

Ruchel

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 3:56 pm

It would be seen as borderline abuse to weigh kids and let others know! come on, kids aren't mean enough to fat kids?

right weight/height for age is weird... some kids are tall, short, thin, chubby... and all normal!!

manhattanmom

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 4:33 pm

Am I the only one so far who feels this is outright wrong? Teenagers (girls and boys) and even younger children should not be weighed and given lectures by anyone. Weight is always a sensitive topic and I unfortunately know too many stories (personally) about eating disorders.
Chances are, if a teenage girl is obese or even somewhat overweight she knows--nobody needs to point it out--not a parent, not a doctor. There are better ways of dealing with the problem such as changing the overall lifestyle of the entire family! (This won't single out a child if only one needs to lose weight.) Nobody should be compared to anyone else.
I also believe that weight isn't the be-all and end-all. There are many people who weigh A LOT more than they look and even wear small sizes (bones and muscle weigh a lot!!) You should make sure your children/teenagers realize this and keep up a positive body image of themselves.

MahPitom

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 4:53 pm

I feel that if it’s done privately ( a nursing room) then nobody knows who gets lectured. It’s important to monitor these things. And if 1 of 30 picks up proper nutrition, it has been worth it.

my dd learned the food pyramid in second grade. Since then, she races with me in the supermarket to find the cereal with the least calories and more fiber!

cassandra

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 4:57 pm

MahPitom wrote:

I feel that if it’s done privately ( a nursing room) then nobody knows who gets lectured. It’s important to monitor these things. And if 1 of 30 picks up proper nutrition, it has been worth it.

Isn't that what doctors are for? Don't these girls get regular checkups?

And let's say 1/30 learns nutrition and 1/30 also is terribly embarrassed and feels horrible about herself and goes home and binges because of it, or worse, develops an eating disorder. Is it still worth it?

montrealmommy

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 4:58 pm

I have to agree that this seems odd to me and quite cruel. Also, 13 year old gilrs are at diff. stages of puberty and that gorssly affects weigt /height, etc...

and c'mon, no one has to say what happened in the 'nurses room' but if 'shaindy' is the biggest girl in her class then it's really no secret she got the extra lecture. Also, this type of thing doesn't take into account who these girls are. May girl 'x' is diabetic and girl 'y' although still a little heavy has alrady lost 20 lbs, how demoralizeing can that be!

If this happened to my daughter (esp. if I wasn't given a heads up and she wasn't given the choice to decline) I would write a letter to the menahel expressing my concern and dislike of such 'lectures'

MahPitom

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 5:10 pm

Ladies, have your daughters’ heads ever been checked for nits publicly? Don’t you think it’s worse when the nurse shoves them to the corner and then they have to go home because they’re ‘contaminated’? imagine if they are checked in a private room one at a time, instead of a choo choo train in the classroom!

manhattanmom

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 5:15 pm

MahPitom wrote:

I think I'd rather have a daughter who's embarrassed for a day or week (by having lice) than one who has a constant problem with her self-image and develops a life-long eating disorder.

greenfire

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 5:50 pm

I find that absolutely horrifying ... while I think nutrition should be taught - the parents and pediatrician are in charge of that department ... although some parents can be just as bad for the teens self-image ... still it should be a private affair ...

you cannot embarrass someone into health !!!

Blossom

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 7:10 pm

I agree with Cassandra here.
They called this nurse down to put the girls on the right track about health. But the way it was done, makes me think that it can accomplish anything but health (hopefully not).
I think a lecture would've been sufficient and is actually a great idea, but then weighing each girl and giving them a private lecture is not very productive in my opinion.

waterbottle

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 7:15 pm

My friend was teaching at a school where one of the teachers brought a scale to the classroom. When a girl loses weight they get to add a chip to a jar and when the class fills up a jar they get to have a party. This is a high school. They are trying to encourage being thin, but I think this kind of mentality can have unhealthy results, such as causing eating disorders...

apple24

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 7:20 pm

MP, I really don't see how your analogy fits. When I was in school, people felt priveliged to get lice, as it meant missing school and you weren't even sick! I remember hoping to get lice just to miss school! (Obviously, as an adult, or parent it is VERY different... lice is my worst nightmare...)
Hindas, I think that weighing kids is one of the worst things a "school nurse" could do. Where do they think all these eating disorders come from? ITs from the attention given to weight. If it was my child, I would have a HUGE fir... but then again I live in America, not Israel things are different here, in terms of education...

cassandra

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 7:24 pm

apple24 wrote:

but then again I live in America, not Israel things are different here, in terms of education...

Don't be too sure. There was a front page article in the NYT 2-3 years ago that caused quite a stir about "weight report cards". In addition to grades, some public middle schools in the midwest were adding a spot on the report card for the child's weight and BMI and a stamp of "normal," "overweight," and "obese." The goal was to curb the tide of childhood obesity, and the article was pointing to the fact that many other school systems actually considered this a good idea.

And as is the case with most issues relating to obesity, the people who really know about the problem think it's a horrible idea and the people who have never dealt with weight in their life (or are always trying to lose five pounds) think it's wonderful.

peach

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 8:33 pm

That's what doctors are for.

Very nice to have a nutrition lecture. It can be very informative and beneficial. But weighing the kids and giving them individual lectures can turn all that positive into resentment, leading to more negative eating patterns.

So my vote is: Plus for the lecture, minus for the weighing.

louche

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 8:58 pm

peach wrote:

So my vote is: Plus for the lecture, minus for the weighing.

Ditto.
and to say a girl is the right weight for her age but underweight for her height is just plain bizarre!

Guess I'm the right height for my age but undertall for my weight.

hindas

Thu, Apr 03 2008, 1:48 am

realy appreciate the input here.
As you may know from perv posts, im a manager of a mental health rehab org, and a social worker. So im really familiar with the eating disorders. That is why a red flag went up and I was concerned.
Im also overweight so I thought maybe its just me being sensitive.
I was also concerned that we parents were not told nor consulted.

I think I will have a gentle and quiet word with the menahelet.

HooRYou

Thu, Apr 03 2008, 4:43 am

apple24, I don't know where you went to shcool, but in the school I went to in the US after the nurse found like 1-2 lice in my hair I was sent home and NO ONE would play with me for weeks since I was the "dirty" kid who had lice.

Now I live in E"Y and I see that just like mosquitos lice like some people more than others. I still get lice often. Even more often than DC who are like DH. Its ok, DH is the one who gets the mosquito bites.