To not understand how it would be possible for a toddler to be active for LESS than 3 hours a day?

[tory79]

NHS guidelines are here

So an under 5 should be active for at least 3 hours a day, and this includes standing..... I look at ds who has just turned 2 and all the other toddlers I know, and I literally can't understand how a toddler could be active for less than 3 hours a day. Ds barely sits still for 5 minutes even when we're reading his favourite books. Even if we have a day in the house (rare!) he just.....moves.... A lot!

Are there toddlers out there getting less than 3 hours 'exercise' a day?

oh having read your last post I think I'm getting confused with someone else

MrsDe Wellies are a waste of money! I paid £14 for some shitty bob the builder ones and je doesn't wear them as his hi top trainers do the same job!

It's when toddlers are strapped into car seats, prams, etc. for a significant portion of the day. Strapped in toddlers may also be parked in front of the TV for most of the day.

I'm loving the 'strapped into a buggy' judgements here. DD is 3.5 and goes in the buggy. She gets very tired walking, I have a bad back and cannot carry her, she does not listen, will not hold hands, and will not entertain reins.

I'm one of 'those' parents who doesn't make their toddlers walk. On the other hand, they are a pair of whirling dervishes and can happily spend an hour running from one end of the living room to the other and back again, laughing like maniacs. If they don't get to go to the park, they bang on the front door or bring their shoes to you with pleading looks in their little eyes. Or break out when we're not looking. In fact the only time they're not in perpetual motion is when I actually want them to walk somewhere, at which point they inexplicably lose the ability to walk in a straight line.

yanbu, mine sits still only for meals. Every other second is spent running, jumping, climbing or walking. She walks two miles into town with me every morning for shopping/park/cafe and will need the stroller for the last mile back home. She's not two yet but can out run/walk all of her older cousins because they don't get the same opportunity to move.

I understand that every child is different and just as some are super energetic, others are very lazy but the majority are somewhere in between and the problems lie with parents who strap their kids into buggies and plonk them in front of the television, don't take them out for walks so they never get used to walking any distance and don't give them the space to play.

I find it very hard to imagine many toddlers being happy with not moving at all for 21 hours or more a day If a child chose that, I'd have them straight to the doctors to make sure there was nothing wrong with them.

BuskersCat please don't misunderstand: I lived in London until last year and I could not have functioned without my buggy. I loved my buggy, I still love my buggy.

However there is a HUGE difference between using your buggy to get places without your 18mo getting run over, and strapping your child in place to watch TV or while at a baby group, or going to visit friends and not letting your child out even then. I assume you don't do this?

MrsDeVere ah I get you.

Can't believe you still have an entire house in your neighbour's garden. I spent many hours when I should have been working trying to figure out how to get it torn down for you

Zatya- how long does the 2 mile walk take you when your DD walks?

Sometimes not being able to drive is a godsend because we have no option but to walk if we want to go any where.

No, of course not. If I tried to strap DD to anything in the house all hell would break loose though I have been tempted

Fifi; about 35-40 minutes, I usually walk fast but if she's walking with me I slow down a bit but not too much, she walks a good pace for her size and runs/hops most of it.

Buskers I live in London too and think it is easier to be buggy free in the city. I don't think parents encourage children to walk enough. I used to be a nanny and parents were always trying to get me to take their 2 and 3 year olds around in the buggy when I knew they could walk fine. you start with small distances and build up slowly to longer distances over time.

Zatya- oh my goodness that is good going for such little legs! If I made my son (just 2) walk 2 miles it would take about 3 hours with every leaf,stone bit of fluff he stops at and every time a car or bus passes we stop for a few minutes saying goodbye to it! A 10 walk with him in the pushchair to the park takes 50 mins minimum if he walks by himself! I don't have enough hours in the day to make him walk everywhere! Never get anywhere on time or in daylight

I have three who have varying levels of energy but none were still for long. But I do see some children who just sit in their pushchairs without saying a word at restaurants/ shows/ I. The shops and I jealously wonder how some people manage to have children like that.

I can't understand how anyone could get an eighteen month old + to sit still for hours. My little girl seems to constantly be moving around and has on occasion walked back from the childminders with me, which has got to be about two miles.

You wellie haters, what do you wear to splash in puddles?! And when you get back muddy you can hose wellies down and wear them the next day- trainers need time to dry! My dc don't like wellies but they still need them as teenagers! (Tbf we do dog walk and it is countryside)

I can see how it can happen if playing with toys doesn't count as being physically active. My ds as a toddler would spend hours playing with toys, building stuff, puzzles, etc, but had no interest in more sporty activities. If we went to the shops or a toddler group, we walked (I don't drive) but he'd probably spend some of the time in the pushchair to get there or back. We continued to use a buggy til he was 4 because otherwise I'd be spending hours doing the half hour walk to carry heavy shopping home accompanied by a toddler walking slowly and stopping for everything. If you only counted time spent walking outdoors or using a sports toy like a climbing frame, then maybe he wouldn't have had 3 hours physical activity some days. At nurseries he'd have always chosen toys rather than climbing frames and footballs. Most of my friends had kids who seemed to run around more but were driven everywhere.

He's now a tall slim 20 year old and still hates sport.

I should say that I plonk ds in the buggy all the time if we are going somewhere, I am not a buggy hater at all! Like everyone else, if I had the time for a 15m walk to take an hour then great, but mostly I don't, plus ds' current favourite game is running. Just running. Anywhere, but generally in the opposite direction to me and usually towards some moving cars! I also keep him in the buggy or trolley for shopping, as frankly he would destroy the supermarket. So I'm certainly not brilliant at letting him walk at every possible opportunity, but even allowing for all that ds must get way more than 3 hours activity time per day (although ironically probably not today as I we have been really rather lazy)

I suppose it was more not being able to comprehend how if something as basic as standing is included as activity, it would be possible for a toddler to not be active for at least 3 hours a day, but sadly it sounds like that does happen relatively frequently