Schools Fight Childhood Obesity with BMI Report Cards

Obesity has always been a cause for ridicule and teasing in schools, especially from thinner framed children that are closed minded about larger bodied humans. Much of this is due to how society views overweight people in general, and how a child has been taught to deal with an obese person.

Statistics show that obesity in children has become a serious issue over the last decade, and that we casually blame the fast food industry for literally shoving the stuff down our children's throats with clever ads that entice them to eat this feel good, happy food. In reality, the blame should start with the parents and how they have taught their children to view food, eating, and bad habits that promote obesity. Many parents have a habit of handling their child as if they were a human garbage disposal by overloading their plates, and teaching the child that wasting food is almost a crime.

The fact is that the majority of parents are not monitoring their child's food intake, and they are allowing them to fill up on junk food in front of the television or while playing on the computer. Electronic toys and busy lifestyles have caused a serious decline in children making outdoor trips by foot or engaging in other outdoor sports and activities that would involve physical exertion.

Pennsylvania schools have jumped on the bandwagon in an effort to alert parents that their child may be at risk for health problems related to a high BMI. Most of these parents are outraged by the way the schools are handling the epidemic of obesity. A recently adopted tactic of sending home "fat kid report cards" with the child's regular report card on children in kindergarten through eighth grade is meant to aid in the war against childhood obesity, but parents are angered by this, and most of them disregarded the warning by tossing the BMI report into the trash.