...according to the report on his height/weight I've just got following him being measured at school. They didn't quite put it like that - however checking the charts, had he been 0.1cm taller he'd have been in the normal range.
Do I need to get him shoes with bigger heels, a Jedward haircut, or get him to hang by his arms with weights on his ankles every night?
The last one. Then he'll be able to pick stuff up without hurting his back.
Wait a couple of weeks and measure again.
Measure him in the morning.
How accurately are they measuring that 1mm makes any difference ?
chop his legs off
fit longer ones
I've a chimney that needs sweeping 😉
Surely you can stretch him a bit?
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Mackem - Member
Measure him in the morning.
True enough. You're at your tallest first thing in the morning, and get shorter throughout the day...
Thicker socks
Who wants to be normal anyway!
Whats wrong with being short? ****g school idiots.
Is growing now an achievement that can be measured in some sort of test?
Another of Gove's genius policies..
Always bargains to be had on small frames.
edit: + think of the weight saving.
Brace yourself for a rejection letter from the Harlem globe trotters (and I volunteer to come frown at his teachers).
hobbit
I have a "fat friend" who insists she is not overweight - just under-tall...
I don't know if all schools do this but our little girl was measured last year and they sent her BMI out as something like 47. Now, forgetting that BMI is a bollox measure anyway, you'd think that if someone is going to use it, they'd at least get it right. They had a foot shorter than she actually is..!
mistakes happen, hardly a big deal...
We had similar with my son when he was a toddler,
Health Visitor: "he's on the negative standard deviation for his height, we're a bit concerned"
Us: "Er... I'm 5'9" and his mother is 4'11"
HV: "but it's still cause for concern, we need to investigate this"
Us: "non of our respective blood relatives going back 2 generations has been over 5'10!"
HV: "er....."
Us: "you do understand genetics?"
HV: "yes of course"
Us: "hmmmm .... You haven't got kids have you?"
HV: "no, but it's not relevant, I'm fully trained and I've been to university"
At follow up appt the next week with his supervisor in attendance resulted in this gem from her,
"Look at the height of the parents! The wee laddie isn't going to be the jolly green giant is he!"
For those who've misunderstood (clearly "They didn't quite put it like that" was far too subtle), I should point out that the letter suggested an issue with his weight, not his height. 😉 Though thanks for all the responses from those who did and didn't understand!
mistakes happen, hardly a big deal...
That's a terrible thing to say about the OP's sub-normal son.
I should point out that the letter suggested an issue with his weight, not his height.
Did they use BMI as a beating stick or not go down that line and hint at it?
Tweet it to the local newspaper as a form of oppression and bullying, trying to force young children on to a diet. That will soon shut them up and give you and your son a good chuckle in the mean time.
If the height difference to hit his target BMI would be so small I suspect they've had a lot of kids to process in one go and not really taken into account the general well being and diet of the children. Just a numbers exercise.
jock-muttley - Member
"Look at the height of the parents! The wee laddie isn't going to be the jolly green giant is he!"
😆
Don't buy him a 29er or any more pies
BMI is just a number exercise. Your kid may be borderine overweight. Now you know whats te problem?
What's to discuss here? They called stick a stick. They have a range of normal height, measured your son and wrote down his height. Would you rather they invented his height just to make him feel better?
I'm waiting for the letter for my 2nd who is in reception. Last time we checked, she was below the 0.3 percentile line, ie 99.7% of children her age are taller than her.
Yup. Similar experience here.
We received a letter saying my Son was "Obese". The measurement was taken by weight vs height. He is averagely tall, but really stocky - and as fit as a butchers dog (loads of muscle and runs [u]everywhere[/u]). They suggested we change his diet.
We eat only organic veg (veg box delivered is cheaper than the supermarket). Chicken and fish 4 times per week and vegetarian the rest. He has never had a McDonalds/Burger King and we make our own pizzas once a month.
One of his class-mates (who is considered normal) is really, really skinny. We are friends with his parents and know his mother will not allow anything remotely fatty in their diet. When he comes to dinner at ours, he eats like he's not seen food for a week!
My Son's is a happy, healthy, fit young lad. We threw the letter in the bin.
This is not school directed, it is part of government statistic gathering
How old are these kids they're checking?
My son got one, he's in reception. He's apparently "overweight" as his BMI is on 90th percentile. He is very short for his age, but you wouldn't look at him and say he is fat or even chubby. I threw it in the bin. Funny thing is I was worried a year ago he was a bit chubby but it's all gone now!
I also saw a piccie of me about the same age, I would definitely have got one too, as I looked quite stocky. I am a normal weight now and have weighed almost the same since age 18.
You don't get a letter if they are just short!
The funny thing is I googled it, and there was daily mail article with a picture of a normal looking girl who had got one of these letters. Her mum was up in arms, apparently the girl was distraught and refusing to eat. The mum was adamant she was not fat. Well why not throw the letter in the bin, not tell your daughter (the children are not told at school or anything) and NOT CALL THE DAILY MAIL.
[quote=puppypower ]Well why not throw the letter in the bin, not tell your daughter (the children are not told at school or anything) and NOT CALL THE DAILY MAIL.
Or you could just start a silly thread on STW. TBH mrs aracer took it far too seriously in looking up the BMI chart to find out how overweight he is.
Haha, it's hardly the equivalent of having your daughter in a bikini aged 5 pictured in the daily fail though is it?
I looked it up to and my son also only needed to be a teeny bit taller or lighter to have been classified "normal".
My Son's is a happy, healthy, fit young lad. We threw the letter in the bin.
good work, many many people are not as sensible as you and need to be told.
My 2yo niece is tiny, always has been, but otherwise completely normal in appearance and behaviour. The parents aren't short but there are some very petite people on both sides including her older brother.
When she was a baby she had no end of hassle from paediatricians, even trying to get her mum to stop breast feeding her (3rd bf kid). After a couple of years they decided she was on after all 🙄
Our kids came with instruction manuals that have the height and weight centile charts in them....a high resolution one for the 1st 3 years I think, then a coarser one that takes them through teenage years. I thought everyone got them, maybe just in Scotland then...
Shoot him and start again. But try harder next time.
gwaelod: yeah we got the instruction manuals too (north England).
Though they are not exactly Haynes are they? Distinctly lacking in servicing instructions or basic fault finding.
We got those too Gwaelod. It was fun working out how far off the top of the chart our first was 🙂 I reckon at one point she was 99.999th percentile.
Never got any grief from the HVs about it though.
molgrips first born:
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[i]Our kids came with instruction manuals that have the height and weight centile charts in them....a high resolution one for the 1st 3 years I think, then a coarser one that takes them through teenage years. I thought everyone got them, maybe just in Scotland then...[/i]
Are these for those kids that are on their own all the time and never mix with other children? Makes it hard to compare then I spose.
Are these for those kids that are on their own all the time and never mix with other children?
Isn't it a standard section in the (red?) book they give you that records baby health, immunisations, oil levels, mileage, etc
We certainly had a similar chart in Spain, a series of bands showing normal height vs. age. I assumed the idea was to ensure children that were outside the range were detected early enough to do something about it - if of course anything actually needs to be done.
Comparing to other kids will fail in a lot of cases: my wife works with mentally disabled kids, and the amount of parents that don't accept their kid has a problem is incredible. I assume the same would happen with weight and height.
