A young girl broke down in tears after her school gave her parents a letter saying she was 2lbs over the recommended weight for her age.
Her mother posted on Reddit and said that her third-grader daughter had refused to eat after taking part in a Fitnessgram test at school.
“They gave letters to all the parents whose children had overweight/obese BMIs. These letters were handed to the kids in front of the class and the kids were told not to open them, they were for the parents but the kids knew what the letters were for.”
The mom said her daughter broke down in tears and told her that she needed to lose weight because she was fat.
“My first thought is, who the f*** called my kid fat? I asked why she said that, and she handed me the letter from her backpack,” she wrote.
The letter stated that the young girl is 2lbs over a ‘healthy’ BMI, putting her at risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, and other health conditions.
The mother continued: “She was just at the doctor and he said nothing about her weight. He’s very blunt so he would say if her weight was a concern. My kid is fine – it’s 2lbs. I told her she’s perfectly healthy and does not need to lose weight.”
The young girl’s grandmother then took her to her favorite restaurant but she refused to eat.
“My daughter refused to order and cried saying her school says she needs to lose weight,” she wrote. “She went into the bathroom, hysterically crying saying she can’t eat ever again.
“I am so angry. My daughter, normally a great eater, won’t eat because of this letter. I don’t care if my daughter is 2lbs overweight or 50 – don’t make it the kid’s problem. Everyone knew that if you received a letter, you had a weight problem, absolutely humiliating the kid.”
Reddit users were quick to slam the school, with one person commenting: “My school did this too, but everyone got a letter with their results, not just the kids who were overweight.point 258 |
She needs to talk to the school because that’s how it should be.point 58 | You don’t single out kids.point 86 | If there is – which doesn’t seem like the case here – a problem with their weight, they already know!”point 189 | 1
Another said: “In our schools, they didn’t notify parents but the weighing part was done in front of all the students. The insecurities these weighing things ‘done to keep the health in check’ gave, still haunt me.”
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