Andy Herdman said: "There are a lot of lazy parents out there giving junk food to their kids. Also kids don't play out like we did in the 70s. We played football all day on our days off and after school. Nowadays, they would rather sit in front of the TV eating crisps, chocolate, pizza and McDonald's."

Hannah-Jayne Irvine said: "Here’s all the incoming comments of 'parents these days are too lazy to cook a meal'. Don’t tar us all with the same brush. Weighing kids and using their BMI comes up with quite frankly ridiculous outcomes of a 4/5 year old being 'obese' when they’re perfectly healthy for their size (height etc). It's ridiculous to expect, using BMI, a three foot child or whatever height to be a 'perfect' weight next to BMI which would probably make them look ill were they that size. No need at all in my opinion."

Christina Howker-Fullard said: "What percentage of children are being weighed? It certainly isn't every child, so it's difficult to know how accurate and reflective these figures are without knowing. What are the target weights and how are they established? Who does the weighing? Do parents consent to the sharing of data? 1 in 3 reception aged children being overweight seems very high. Do people feel this is accurate for their own child's school / class?"

Tracy Silverton said: "Personally I don't give permission for my child to be weighed. I believe all children as they are growing will go through chunkier phases then lean out as they grow taller. To weigh a child is bad enough but to then class them as obese, write letters home branding them as such can lay foundations to lifetime of misery and obsession over weight."

Gemma Kershaw said: "If this is based on the BMI checks they do at school then I'm not surprised. Just about every kid that isn't skin stretched over bone is classed as overweight."

Barbara Stewart said: "There are some over weight kids but they seem to name the ones that are fine but let the obese ones carry on."