Features

Practice: Health & Wellbeing - Weighing in

Amid the controversy around proposals to periodically weigh school children, what can early years settings do to help tackle the child obesity crisis, asks Caroline Vollans
The National Obesity Forum has called for children’s weight to be officially monitored
The National Obesity Forum has called for children’s weight to be officially monitored

The average child has gained almost half a stone during lockdown, according to a survey of parents by the health and fitness site Total Shape. Perhaps that’s why the chairman of the National Obesity Forum proposed weighing children on their return to school last September, and then weighing them again in the spring to monitor their progress.

Jeremy Vine debated it on his Channel 5 show in August 2020, following it up on Twitter: ‘Should schools weigh pupils to make sure they shift the pounds they’ve put on during the lockdown?’ The response was angry and heartfelt, especially among those with experience of eating disturbances.

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