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PROGRAM IN DANGER Kids' health crisis: Numbers don't lie
Kids are overweight and getting bigger, according to the 'body measurement' program in Spotsylvania schools
Date published: 2/22/2009
BY JIM HALL After three years of measuring the schoolchildren of Spotsylvania County, Nancy Farrell has concluded that an alarming number are overweight, with elevated cholesterol and adult-size waists. "We have a problem," Farrell said. "This is an issue that needs to be addressed." Farrell has found second-grade girls with 35-inch waists, fourth-grade boys who weighed 200 pounds, and dozens of children with weight gains of 20 pounds a year. Because of this, the students face an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and stroke. "What's so alarming is the young age of the kids that we're seeing," Farrell said. "And it's progressing." Farrell is dietitian for the school system and coordinator of its wellness program. With the encouragement of school officials and a grant from the Mary Washington Hospital Foundation, she has been chronicling the size and shape of more than 500 randomly selected children in a "body measurement" program. With parents' permission, Farrell pulls the kids from class for a few minutes each year to see how they've changed. Parents get a report card from her with the latest results. Nursing students at Germanna Community College help plumb the children's heights, weights, blood pressures, waistlines and hip circumferences. They draw blood from the middle school and high school students for a lipid, or fat, profile. The surveyors also interview students about what they eat and the exercise they get. The program is believed to be the only one of its kind in the region. In December, the surveyors completed the third year of a five-year effort. Their findings confirm what national surveys have discovered: Young people are heavy and getting heavier. For example, one boy whom Farrell measured weighed 145 pounds in the third grade. The next year, he weighed 159 pounds. This year, in the fifth grade, he weighed 173 pounds. The boy grew 2 inches during that time, so his body mass index, which combines height and weight, stayed in the obese range. Farrell has found that 40 percent of participating elementary and middle school students and 25 percent of participating high school students are overweight or obese. Nationally, 32 percent of children ages 2 to 19 are overweight or obese, according to a study published last year in the Journal of American Medical Association.
Date published: 2/22/2009
Get Real Folks
(posted by
swan29
, Feb. 22, 2009 6:01 pm)
We needed the data to show we have a serious issue of childhood obesity right in our back yard. The good news is at little cost to the taxpayers, we have a comprehesive effort to educate our kids on good nutrition and introduce sound practices in our schools on issues like fundraisers.and classroom celebrations.Parents are key as the article says. Let's stop the hand wringing and do something positive. The schools need to play a role.when it come to our kids. Build on what has been done. Not destroy it.
School Lunch Program
(posted by
Elloramom
, Feb. 22, 2009 4:34 pm)
The dietician at the school is concerned about kids getting
fat? HA! I did a breakdown of the school breakfast and
lunch programs when I started having serious concerns
about my own child's weight. Despite our efforts at home,
he was still gaining. I found that our kids are fed over 1600
calories a day at school- and very carb-heavy- before they
get home. Folks, that is MORE than my child's healthy "daily
allowance"... before dinner, at school! Please folks pack
your child's lunches & demand PE and recess!
Look, every parent knows when their kid is getting fat
(posted by
lifeisbeautiful
, Feb. 22, 2009 3:40 pm)
You see them getting bigger and bigger and do not need
the school to tell you something needs to be done. If you
see that your kid is packing on weight be a freakin parent
and take charge. When my son started putting on weight
(ironically after starting to eat school lunches instead of from
home) we did something about it. He changed his habits
and lost the weight. We did not wait until he was 20+++
LBS overweight. Now they need $$ to keep the program
going. Hello, buy a freakin ' tape measure & scale.
The schools want to raise your kids
(posted by
bostonteaparty
, Feb. 22, 2009 1:26 pm)
At some point the schools are going to want more tax money and will try to skinny down the children through “programs”
Just watch.
Parent wake up a raise your children.
In the mean time if the kids are around fat people at school-they will think
It is perfectly ok to be fat.
That’s just how it works.
There is not one school in Spotsylvania that has a robust physical program.
Nor do they ever want to bring up to the parents that they should slim down their children.
No Suprise Here...
(posted by
catawba1775
, Feb. 22, 2009 12:46 pm)
The surprising part is they actually needed a program to figure this out? Unbelievable. The problem is parents not teaching good dietary eating habits at home. A lot of parents do not understand good eating habits either so these bad habits get passed to the kids and grow up to be obese adults.
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