At Risk for Being Overweight

[aprilgail2]

Well, when your DD falls on the playground and breaks her leg, I am sure the nurse will leave her there until you can get the time off of work to come take care of her then.

I wish that would be the case! I would prefer them just calling an ambulance and not touching her. I can be there in 5 minutes from my job to her school so I would very happily leave work to take care of it myself. I don't trust the nurse to check her eyes never mind anything serious.

 

[Marseeya]

I wish that would be the case! I would prefer them just calling an ambulance and not touching her. I can be there in 5 minutes from my job to her school so I would very happily leave work to take care of it myself. I don't trust the nurse to check her eyes never mind anything serious.

That's a shame! School nurses should have much higher standards than the ones in your school.

I'm very happy with the nurses in my kids' schools. At the high school, the same nurse is there that was there when I was a kid! My mom was an RN for 40+ years and had a lot of respect for her, so it rubbed off on me.

 

[aprilgail2]

That's a shame! School nurses should have much higher standards than the ones in your school.

I'm very happy with the nurses in my kids' schools. At the high school, the same nurse is there that was there when I was a kid! My mom was an RN for 40+ years and had a lot of respect for her, so it rubbed off on me.

My cousin has been a school nurse for years and is a good one...our real school nurse went on maternity leave mid year last year and hasn't been back since. For the first few months of school they didn't have any there!

 

[disney junky]

My friend is a schol nurse, and she HATES when they have to send those letters. It's a district requirement that she has to comply with, and all they go on is weight and height. She has a chart, again, from the district, that suposedly "calculates" the BMI. It doesn't matter if she thinks the child looks perfectly fine she's required to do this for every child in her school. Then when parents are understandably upset she's the one to take the heat, not the folks who designed the chart or determined that this is something the school should be doing in the first place. She'd be the first to say do what is right for your child and your family.

Right. This is part of the new regulations. Don't blame the school nurse, don't blame the school. Call your legislators. Same reason kids parents can't send cupcakes for birthdays and all bread is now whole wheat.

 

[Disneyrsh]

Wow, I find this comment to be extremely offensive.

Pea-n-me, I worded it wrong-check my next post!

 

[Disney Doll]

Oops, I don't want to turn this into a nurse flame post, that wasn't my intention. MIL is a retired NICU nurse. What I'm trying to say is let the nurses be nurses, not pencil pushers.

I am annoyed that they're making nurses do silly parental-replacement type stuff when most parents are capable of assessing their kids' weight, along with making sure their teeth are clean and their eyes are checked. It's when public school starts getting all Big Brother that I start to get really annoyed.

It must be nice to live in an area where parents are so overwhelmingly concerned with every aspect of their children's health and behavior.

I live in a very urban area, and some of the kids are lucky if they know from day to day where their parents are, let alone that they'd be taking them to a doctor or dentist. Often, a school nurse is the only person who takes any interest at all in a child's heatlh or well-being.

BTW, the "boo-boo" remark...very condescending and demeaning. Your ignorance is showing. For someone with a relative who's a nurse, you have very little actual knowledge of the scope of a nurse's repsonsibilties in today's world. So make you "clever" little "boo-boo" remarks, and thank God your children are lucky enough to have parents who give a damn about them. Many children don't have that luxury.

To the OP--sounds like this nurse is probably doing something required by some government agency somewhere. You state you have "had problems" with her in the past, so my guess is that anything she does will rub you the wrong way. I would echo the advice that as long as your pediatrician isn't concerned about your son's height/weight, then don't worry about it.

 

[Disney Doll]

Schools have taken on too many roles that should be left up to the parents.

I agree. Unfortunately, in many areas of the country, parents do not assume thier role in relation to their responsibilities to their children. What do you suggest we do for these children?

 

[Disney Doll]

I do not want the school nurse touching my child for any reason. I dont know WHERE our district gets their school nurses from! Last time I went in to give my daughter a breathing treatment at lunchtime I used the nurses office and she says "wow, I have never seen a machine like that before, back when I went to school we used a glass tube and a bulb"!!!! Thats "machine" was just a standard nebulizer!!! I do NOT need them weighing my child. checking her eyes (she goes to the eye Dr once a year for a full exam) checking her teeth (she goes to the dentist twice a year) her hearing she gets checked yearly at a real Dr, she gets a full physical from her Dr once a year..that is sufficient, I do not need the school sticking their nose into my childs health. If they start doing BMI counts I am going to get the letter home saying my child is to skinny yet her Dr says she is just perfect! One time they said I could leave the nebulizer and the nurse would do the breathing treatments....No thanks, I will run over during lunch from work and do it myself.

Your child is fortunate to have such a concerned and involved parent. Not all children are as fortunate.

 

[CheshireVal]

Judging by the increasing number of overweight kids in this country, I'd say that school nurses need to be doing this sort of thing more often.

Editing to add that I really don't think this is anything new or groundbreaking. I remember getting the little arm pinching fat test back in school!

 

[GEM]

I agree. Unfortunately, in many areas of the country, parents do not assume thier role in relation to their responsibilities to their children.

Disney Doll, first of all, I usually find myself standing and applauding everything that you say, but I'm not sure how I feel about this statement. Neglectful parents can be found all across the country - in all 50 states, I'm sure. To imply that there are "many areas of the country" where parents aren't doing their job seems a bit much. I don't think the area of the country that a child lives in has any direct correlation to the amount of care and attention their parents give them. Maybe that isn't what you meant, at all, but that's how I perceived it. I could you see your point if you were talking about students in low income school disctricts, etc. who might not have as much access to medical and dental care, but those types of districts can sadly be found anywhere in the US. Maybe I totally misunderstood your point, though.

 

[RitaZ.]

I agree. Unfortunately, in many areas of the country, parents do not assume thier role in relation to their responsibilities to their children. What do you suggest we do for these children?

What is the probability that these children, whose parents aren't caring for them the way that they should, will get the proper medical care when the parents get the note from the school's nurse? In theory, it's better than nothing, but if the child doesn't get a thorough examination as recommended, then what are the benefits of the preliminary screening? Other than to make the schools and government feel/look like they are doing something, I'm not seeing the long term benefits for the children whose lives are truly affected.

 

[caitycaity]

I agree. Unfortunately, in many areas of the country, parents do not assume thier role in relation to their responsibilities to their children. What do you suggest we do for these children?

legislating common sense never works. if the situation at home is so bad then cps should get involved. schools shouldn't be in the business of parenting.

i am a huge fan of and a product of public schools, however these days, it seems like more and more schools are focusing on things that should be done at home. it really has made me think about what we will do for our children's education when the time comes.

 

[RUDisney]

To the OP--sounds like this nurse is probably doing something required by some government agency somewhere. You state you have "had problems" with her in the past, so my guess is that anything she does will rub you the wrong way. I would echo the advice that as long as your pediatrician isn't concerned about your son's height/weight, then don't worry about it.

You've hit the nail on the head. She's, IMO, a moron and anything that she sends home to me will be dealt with the same way as anything else I get from a self-perceived moron.

IMO, if our school had a concerned mother in the nurse's office, it would be handled as well as, or better, than having an RN in that position. I'd trust someone else's mother to see if my child is really sick enough to go home, or if it's something else. I'd trust someone else's mother to hand out an aspirin or bandaid. Heck, if one of them fell in the playground, I'd trust someone else's mother to make sure they remain still until the ambulance or I arrived. I just literally have no respect or trust for the nurse that is in our school.

Please note: There are other school nurses for whom I've had considerable respect. Just not this one.

 

[Wonderlandmom]

As muscle weighs more than fat.

Actually 1 lb muscle=1 lb fat.

However, muscle is denser than fat, so one pound of muscle will take up less space than one pound of fat.

We can opt out of any of these screening in our county.

 

[maroney495]

Here it is state law that BMI be done on all kids at school. At first it was to be placed on their report cards but was later amended to a seperate report. I personally do not like this. My son gets the "in danger of" each year and our MD says he is FAR from being over weight even leaning toward being underweight. I really worry about this letter going out to those girls especially in jr high and high school who are borderline for eating disorders. The parent receives a letter stating child is in danger of being overweight and that is the final straw for that child and causes them to have bigger problems. It seems that our legislatures have starting making the schools responsible for so many things that they no longer have time to devote to educating our children "in the 3 R's". School nurses can only go by the "scale" that the state sends for them to make this determination and everyone knows that every child is different and they do not fit into a standard mold. (Sorry for the mini rant. As you can tell this is a touchy subject with me)

 

[Mskanga]

I still think that at the very least people should be given the option to opt out and have the family physician to take care of it , nobody better than the doctor knows the person.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

Has anyone noticed the title of this thread says her son is at risk, not that he is overweight?

 

[MAKmom]

Has anyone noticed the title of this thread says her son is at risk, not that he is overweight?

That's what I've been thinking. The note did not say he is over weight.

Most parents take good care of their kids. Teeth are cleaned 2 x a year,check-ups & they do not allow thier kids to be obese. Some do not take good care of them. I think the schools need to step in...thats the only outside contact some kids have.

 

[mannasn]

BTW, the "boo-boo" remark...very condescending and demeaning. Your ignorance is showing. For someone with a relative who's a nurse, you have very little actual knowledge of the scope of a nurse's repsonsibilties in today's world.

Glad to see I'm not the only one who felt this way. I'll admit - before I began nursing school - I drastically underestimated nurses as well.

I'm sure the OP may not have meant that comment to be hurtful. Nevertheless, it was rather insensitive to nurses as a whole.

Or maybe, nurses as a group, are sensitive - so used to being maligned in the press and misunderstood by the public.

Sorry. Off my soapbox now.

 

[aprilgail2]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who felt this way. I'll admit - before I began nursing school - I drastically underestimated nurses as well.

I'm sure the OP may not have meant that comment to be hurtful. Nevertheless, it was rather insensitive to nurses as a whole.

Or maybe, nurses as a group, are sensitive - so used to being maligned in the press and misunderstood by the public.

Sorry. Off my soapbox now.

I don't underestimate nurses in general...its just SCHOOL nurses that I do...nurses in the hospitals dont earn enough as far as I am concerned! The ones in the hospitals know more than some of the Dr's there!