WaPo - Reality Check: The Fat Won't Just Disappear

I will say at the outset, that sometimes your BMI is not reflective of your true health. Anyone who has a lot of muscle knows their BMI says they are fat, but they aren't.

BUT, wow, parents don't know their kid is fat? Most of the comments are worth reading though.

Reality Check: The Fat Won't Just Disappear

via On Parenting on 1/3/08

We've talked about the issue before: A significant percentage of children in the United States -- 35 percent according to national figures -- are obese. But who would have thought that their parents don't know it? That's the crux of research out of the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. The hospital's poll states that 15 percent of kids ages 6 to 11 are obese, as classified by their parent-reported height, weight and age, which was then calculated into their Body Mass Index. But 43 percent of their parents said their child was "about the right weight." Parent perception changed as their children aged. Of overweight kids ages 12-17 (they number 10 percent), many more of their parents classified them as "slightly overweight" (56 percent) and "very overweight" (31 percent). "It suggests to me that parents of younger kids believe that their children will grow out of their obesity,