This woman swore to herself that she would do everything in her power to allow her kids to enjoy their life free of eating disorders. She knows how much of a toll they can take; she had one.

So you can imagine how devastated the woman was when her 3rd grader stopped eating because the girl started thinking she was “too fat”. However, the mom’s emotions turned even rowdier when she learned that the little one got this ‘lesson’ at school.

This elementary school decided to measure its 3rd graders’ BMI

Image credits: Rawpixel (not the actual photo)

And everyone whose numbers were above the norm received an envelope

Image credits: valeriygoncharukphoto (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Prostock-studio (not the actual photo)

Image credits: defleppardfan94

The school may have had the best intentions

You can understand where the school is coming from. Childhood obesity has been called one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century.

Obesity can harm nearly every system in a kid’s body—heart and lungs, muscles and bones, kidneys and digestive tract, as well as the hormones that control blood sugar and puberty—and can also take a heavy social and emotional toll.

What’s even worse, youth who are overweight or obese have substantially higher odds of remaining overweight or obese into adulthood, increasing their risk of disease and disability later in life.

Obesity is a common problem among American kids

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This issue is especially bad in the United States. In the 1970s, 5 percent of U.S. children ages 2 to 19 were obese.

According to the CDC, for the same age group in 2017-2020:

• The prevalence of obesity was 19.7% and affected about 14.7 million children and adolescents;
• Obesity prevalence was 12.7% among 2- to 5-year-olds, 20.7% among 6- to 11-year-olds, and 22.2% among 12- to 19-year-olds;
• Obesity prevalence was 26.2% among Hispanic children, 24.8% among non-Hispanic Black children, 16.6% among non-Hispanic White children, and 9.0% among non-Hispanic Asian children.

(The organization defines obesity as a body mass index (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile of its sex-specific BMI-for-age growth charts.)

But the way the administration went about it is wrong and can cause even more trouble

Image credits: Yan Krukau (not the actual photo)

However, good intentions aren’t enough to find a solution. The way this school attacked the problem among its students may have only made it worse.

Many people assume that you should approach eating disorders just like you would any other topic that could impact kids or teens—by talking about it. After all, you’re encouraged to talk about everything from dating and sex to vaping and drinking.

But when it comes to general education about eating disorders, that may not be the best strategy.

Teaching kids or teens about eating disorders can lead to them  adopting these behaviors

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“Eating disorder education is tricky,” said Lauren Muhlheim, Psy.D., who is a psychologist and certified disordered eating specialist with Eating Disorder Therapy LA. “There is no research to support the idea that teaching children general information about eating disorders is helpful, and there is evidence to suggest it may be harmful.”

She explained that teaching a child or teen about eating disorders can lead to the adoption of these behaviors.

Instead, Dr. Muhlheim suggests that people instead teach kids about the dangers of dieting, a behavior that is the most common gateway into an eating disorder. She also thinks you also should not talk about healthy eating but try to express and model flexible eating with an “all foods fit” philosophy.

“Unlike most other mental disorders, eating disorders tend to be glorified in our culture,” Dr. Muhlheim added. “Thus, [talking about eating disorders] must be done with care not to describe eating disorder behaviors.”

After reading the story, people were fuming and many parents shared similar experiences

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