Is this child overweight?

My son told me a story about a new program at school last year where he had to get on a scale in front of his entire class because his BMI was being measured.  I asked him if it the weighing in occurred away from other children in a semi-private area, and he told me that it did not.  He mentioned to me that when he stepped on the scale, other children made fun of him because he weighed more than most children in his class. My son was teased because of his weight. 

Now, this weigh-in obviously leads somewhere.  At the end of school year, my son was handed a sheet of paper with statistics for his physical fitness comparing the beginning of the school year to the end of the school year.  It compared sit ups, pulls ups, running, and lastly, BMI.  BMI? Wait, what?! 

My son came home without this sheet of paper.  I’m telling you this based on hearsay. Why, you ask?  Because my son was so upset that this sheet of paper called him OVERWEIGHT that he crumpled it up and threw it away. 

Now for damage control.  I had to figure out how to convince my son that he was a healthy 10-year-old that made good decisions when it came to his life.  My son plays soccer at least four days a week, participates in as many 5K races as he can, and is cognizant of healthy food items available to him.  One piece of paper had somehow undone several years of parenting decisions my husband and I had made.  While our household struggles with making good eating choices (pizza is always good!), and we try to keep moving (do we have to work out this morning?!?), we also try not to obsess with weight goals and try to avoid using the terms “losing weight” and “go on a diet.” 

I was incredibly disappointed that my son was given this information without me having seen it first.  I didn’t have a chance to shield him from it.  He should have never seen this.  While I understand the need to address the epidemic of childhood obesity, is the solution to swing the pendulum towards eating disorders in children?  Obviously, I am not the only parent who feels this way as there was recently an article that was written about this by ABC News called Fat Letters Worry Students.

Now, look at the picture of this child and tell me, is this child overweight?

Janet Fragle works in customer engagement for innovative technology solutions at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano and is Mom to a 10-month-old girl and 10-year-old boy with a 22:58 5K personal record.

Janet Fragle works in customer engagement for innovative technology solutions at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano and is Mom to a 10-year-old boy and 9-month-old girl. - See more at: http://texashealthmoms.blogspot.com/2013/08/from-homemade-to-everyday.html#sthash.l3lgMsvX.dpuf