These Cards Let Pediatricians Know Not To Mention Weight To Your Kids

We love these discreet cards that prevent your kids’ doctor from bringing up their weight

It’s extremely difficult to navigate things like body shame, healthy eating, and disordered eating with your kids — especially when they’re pummeled by outside social pressures, advertisements, bullies, social media, and other influences 24/7. And it can be extremely harmful if kids feel added pressure from their own pediatrician about what their body is supposed to look like and weigh.

That’s why we couldn’t love these cards from more-love.org more — which allow you to subtly remind your kids’ doctor that you don’t want weight-related issues to come up unless that’s what the visit is about.

The front simply says, “Please don’t talk about my child’s weight. If you have any questions, ask me when my child isn’t present.”

The back says: ” American Academy of Pediatrics: Providers should not talk about weight with children or adolescents. 2016.”

You can order five cards for $5—which is just basically the cost of making and shipping them. They ship internationally for $6. Medical providers can order a box of 100 cards for $35.

More-love.org is run by writer Ginny Jones as a resource for parents who want to raise kids who are free from body hate, disordered eating, and eating disorders. Her website is brimming with good info, all based in studies and science.

The cards are based on the fact that the AAP came to the conclusion that doctors shouldn’t bring up weight with kids at well child checks or at any other time that it’s not pertinent to do so — weight concerns in which the child’s health is in question should be discussed with parents first.

That conclusion came after a report showed that kids struggling with obesity and eating disorders hinged on three things: dieting, weight talk by others, and teasing. In other words: while it’s great to discuss how to live a healthy life with your kid, it’s counter-productive to talk about dieting and weight.

The website also makes cards for adults who don’t want to discuss their weight with their doctor.

We love these too! They are great if being weighed and possible weight shame prevents you from visiting the doctor; if you think your weight is distracting your doctor from your medical issues; or if you simply want to fight back against our fatphobic society in some small way.

You may also order five of these cards for for $5, or 100 for $35 if you’re a medical provider. These cards come in English, French, and Spanish.