Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I just used the kids BMI calculator and apparently my VERY skinny 5 year old is in the 82nd percentile for BMI. (He is not tall). This is just below "overweight"
My average (certainly not chubby) 2.5 year old is in the 89th percentile for BMI.
I was firmly in the "your kid's fat" camp, until I looked at this. I can't believe that my 5 year old can be "close" to overweight. the only possible explanation I have is that they have huge heads (heavy perhaps?) They certainly aren't muscular or even stocky. the only descriptor for my 5 year old's body type would be skinny.
Parents are notoriously bad at realizing if their child is overweight. My husband tells me all the time that our 5 year old is so skinny, when in reality he is average (his BMI is in the 67th percentile rank). He is a muscular kid because he does gymnastics three times a week. His 8 year old brother is 2 pounds away from being in the overweight category, which my husband refuses to believe. He would never be called chubby, but young elementary kids should be lean. There is an epidemic of obesity in this country. I dug out a photo album when I was kid. I showed him pictures of pool parties we had as a kid and swim team pictures. Almost all the kids look so skinny compared to many kids now. When we were at my MIL's house I had her take out photo albums too. The same thing was found- lots of kids that look really skinny but were considered average back then . Since realizes the older ones BMI we have cut out some processed foods, made sure there was cut up fruits and veggies in the fridge, and stopped bringing snacks with us everywhere. I think it is the endless snacking that is leading the obesity epidemic.
It's not SOME parents in denial - it's most parents in this country. We can't even see it ourselves because we are so used to it and then we get defensive about it.
Maybe some parents are, but I'm certain that if you were to see my 5 year old, there is ZERO chance that you would think that he was close to being overweight, even though the calculator says that he's in the 82nd percentile.
This is a kid whose pants fall down around the waist. He is both short, and slim for his age. He is 43 inches and 44lbs (just measured/weighed yesterday). We don't eat processed food at home (at all). He doesn't eat a lot, in fact he's somewhat picky which is an issue. There is not a gram of fat on him -- his stomach so flat it is concave and you can see his ribs. he is not "muscular" or "stocky" he's thin. If he lost weight he would be emaciated. The only explanation I can come up with to throw off his percentile is his adult size head.
My 2.5 year old is another story entirely. He has a typical toddler's physique which includes a tummy. He eats about twice what his brother eats and fills up on a wide variety of fruit and veg. He's both taller and heavier than average, but I wouldn't say he was fat at all. If he had a tummy like that at 4 or 5 then yes, he'd likely qualify as slightly overweight. So, 89 percent? Surprising, but not shocking like suggesting that my healthy thin 5 year old is close to overweight.
So I'm questioning that calculator, particularly as it applies to my older child. I even plugged in different dates of birth and found out that it doesn't relate to weight and height but that age is taken into account too.
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