I’m all for getting kids active, but I don’t agree with weighing kids at school.

From what I’ve heard some of the breakfasts given to children at school are not that healthy. A lot of the cereals they supply have excessively high sugar and some also have high salt levels, not just one of the excesses. It’s better than no breakfast at all but choices need to be better. A lot pf people don’t read the nutritional contents. Some don’t even know what ingredients are in them. They only look at the picture on the box.

Anything that helps the obesity problem has got to be a good thing.

You don’t have to be Einstein to know that children who may be overweight don’t need anymore pressure from an external source about their weight! Parents should be asked in for a parent teacher conference if the school is very concerned and suggested that they seek input from their GP.

I think this is outrageous children have enough to deal with already, there is so much in the media about low self asteem and body image. I cannot think how this will help also children can be so cruel to their peers. I certainly agree teaching healthy eating and exercise but weighing in at school will cause more problems than it will solve

Nobody is putting my child on a set of scales. My mother did this when we left of daughter with her for the weekend when she was about 7/8 . When we got back she jydt said tell your mothet how much you weigh. We werent worried as she was a bit overweight after spending 18mths in a wheelchair. She came home and hardly ate a thing for a week. She never spent another night with my mother. Our daughter now attends a gym and walks everywhere and still eats healthily and is well proportioned but just has larger thighs. So never would I let the school put her on scales its asking for problems with eating disorders. They have enough problems and stress without that.

I agree with endorsing more activity but not at the expense of the children’s self esteem. This will just create more bullying. Activity at school but not weighing them at school. Teachers need to teach. Kids will grow up thinking that you need to be skinny to be liked.

I agree with MoM – I like the idea of encouraging the physical activity, heaven knows they need to crack down somehow, but weigh ins could be very humiliating for students and most often it is easily identifiable which students are overweight without the need to put a number on it. Perhaps, discreetly encourage them to partake in more physical activity. Build them up instead of breaking them down. They could also introduce breakfast clubs or lunch clubs where healthy options are provided to teach kids to make good food choices.

Scales don’t belong at schools ! None of their business what my kids weight is.

Um, no, not a good idea at all.

Not all of us are equal in what is an idea weight. My youngest are boy/girl twins and their weights vary by 15 kg due to medical conditions with of them. Does this make one over weight and the other under weight? No but other children would not know this as both look the same weight. School is not the idea place for this and it should not be done there.

This is another bad idea in a long line of bad ideas from our government!

Obesity is not about the number you see on the scale but about the amount of physical activity and the kinds of nutrition or lack there of we are putting into our bodies. Having a weigh-in will only further work to bring negative mindsets to our youth when we should be helping to lift them up.

If the government really wants to help, how about educating kids on nutrition, taking a good hard look at the junk sold in our school canteens and get the kids moving more!

How can they think this is a good idea? It will crush the kids, humiliate them and make them the targets of bullying. It could also trigger anorexia, and other eating disorders. I’m just so shocked this could happen.

I agree with teaching children guidelines for being healthy and active and the results it can achieve in general. Putting children on the scales will only lead to problems like increased bullying in the school ground not to mention the mental health issues that is already widely associated with obesity.
I was weighed as a primary school child in the classroom and although the other children never saw the weights that were being recorded, you could hear the snickering and sneering amongst the class.

shame kids into eating disorders, well done

I don’t this is a good idea at all. All it will do is shame children. If a child has weight issues, it is something that needs to be handled at home and with the family GP.

Absolutely not. I was weighed in my Grade 6 class and although it was supposed to be quiet and discreet, class members heard my weight. I was shocked, horrified, upset and I wasn’t obese. Just heavier than all the extremely skinny girls in my class. If I’m honest, that moment has stayed with me forever. It’s not OK.

Not sure. My daughter doesn’t have weight problems, but I am sure that some kids wouldn’t be happy to be “exposed” this way!!

I don’t think weighing kids is very helpful. Kids know if they have fat or not. Putting a number on it achieves nothing. The focus needs to be educating parents to get them healthy and active from well before they start school.