WTFBMI

Layla just went for a well checkup to get her hearing and vision tested and get one more shot she needed to be up to date. We are doing this because she is going to start in a public Pre-K program next week and to register you need a vision/hearing/dental/nutrition screening.

As I was faxing the paperwork I noticed something weird on the boxes the doctor had checked and signed off on:

Um, what?! Her BMI is in the 97 percentile?! and NEEDS FURTHER EVALUATION!? I couldn't believe it so I went to the dot gov site for kids' BMI and typed in the info.

Ok so that escalated things. "Obese?!" THEM'S FIGHTING WORDS! You are calling this child OBESE? This child?!?!:

She looks like Ronda Rousey's Mini Me.

Ok, so, talk me down. I do know that BMI is a pretty crappy measurement in adults with a lot of muscle. When I was cut and working out all the time during my volleyball years at Tech, a BMI calculator said I was overweight, but a Georgia Tech's Bod Pod told me I actually had 13% body fat.  So I know that BMI is definitely not the end-all, be-all.

But in kids?! All I could find talked about BMI being faulty for giving false normal results in children who are, in actuality, obese. Um, okay, I am looking for a false-obese flaw though.

But even if BMI is a problematic tool, why is the school system, and my doctor, using this as a screening for her nutritional health?! I feel like no doctor would examine her and ever pronounce her obese.

She is certainly NOT the kind of kid who is a whippet-thin, string bean (her brother is). Girl has fabulous muscles and a booty for jumping. She's 4.75 years old, super active, eats a balanced and varied diet and wears store-bought clothes that are mass produced for 4-5 year olds. Are we really okay branding her with the Scarlet "O?!"

I want to shrug this off because I know that her heart is so perceptive and would notice the subtlest shift in my attitude toward her in terms of what she eats, how her clothes fit, or her body. I knew with girls that I might have to battle some body image stuff in their tween years and beyond, but just didn't predict this in Pre-K. I also didn't realize that the judgements and pressures from "the world" on my daughters' bodies could hurt me deeper than those I  receive about my own figure!

Go home, BMI, you are drunk.

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