Fat Kids Parents Get Letters from Schools

Fat Kids Parents Get Letters from Schools

Parents of fat children in California are receiving letters from their children’s schools informing them that little Johnny is not so little. Nine hundred students were reviewed by a nutritionist, and subsequently 200 of those students’ parents got the epistolary warnings. Nutritionist Lauren Schmitt told CBS Los Angeles.’We let the parents know in a gentle fashion, but we also send out a ton of handouts to try to help that family.” By growth charts and percentiles, the data showed which students were at or above the 95th percentile for their weight vis-à-vis their height or age.

Scmitt acknowledged some parents were not happy with the news. She said, “Every year there are a few phone calls from parents who are upset.” But she defended the practice, asserting, “It shouldn’t be a stigma, it’s not a way to categorize someone. It’s just showing that this child has increased risk to be obese as an adult, which then could lead to quite a few chronic diseases.”

19 other states also send such letters; some school districts go so far as to send body mass index test results to parents.

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