Kids should NOT be weighed in school

Lately I’ve been hearing some horror stories about well-intentioned teachers weighing kids in attempts to create a math lesson out of the resulting numbers on the scale.

There are some major problems with putting a spotlight on body size differences. There will, of course, be a heaviest kid and a lightest kid in class and it is inherently stigmatizing to highlight this fact. Kids will compare numbers and those that are biggest or smallest may be at risk for teasing from peers and internalized shame. Basically, no good can come from this.

Let’s leave the weighing and measuring to the annual pediatric appointment where it is simply meant to track one child’s growth over time rather than to serve as a comparison among peers (see previous post). Fortunately, inanimate objects make for excellent mass comparisons!

I’m curious to know - have you or your children had an experience around being weighed in school? ⠀
Please share this post with a parent or teacher🍎 to spread the word!⠀

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