Who are all these children that exercise for 60 minutes a day?

[Notcontent]

I was reading an article today that there has been a decline in the number of children and teens who exercise for the recommended 60 minutes per day - no surprise there! But what was surprising is that research from Sports England shows that normally over 50 per cent of children do get 60 min of exercise per day, and even now, during the pandemic, it’s still over 50 per cent.

I was quite surprised by that research. It made me think that lots of people must be overestimating how much exercise their children get. In normal times, yes, I guess lots of primary school kids run around in the playground and walk to school, but now?

My dd is 14 and among her friends there is only one that actively exercises. All the other ones might go for a short walk if that. Even my dd who is really sporty is not getting 60 min daily at the moment. She spends all day doing school work and then homework in her room. She does go for a run most days but that’s only 30 min and she is literally sitting around for the rest of the time.

When school was on my two walked/scootered 40 mins a day there and back, once you add in running about at playtime and after school that's easily 60 minutes.

Mine easily do an hour a day. It wouldn't feel like enough if they only did an hour

On top of school PE and walking on the school run they also

• go for long walks or scoots at the weekd /during lockdown
• play out in the garden on the trampoline or football

Outside lockdown they also

• swim at least once a week
• football/dance at least twice a week
• go somewhere like climbing or ice skating or kayaking

I would say even in lockdown we are out for 90mins - 2 hours (on a walk or in the garden)

Mine do.... teen cycling for hours at the moment
7yr old out with me in the woods dog walking he runs I walk for at least an hour
Then we might go out to the park for a couple of hours

At the moment ds walks the dog with me twice a day, and does another quick dog walk by himself last thing at night (I do the early morning one). That's more than 2 hrs brisk walking every day. More at the weekend.

Probably easier with younger ones but mine must get at least 3-4 hours a day when not at nursery or pre school. Maybe even 4-5 on the weekend. They would scooter/cycle/climb/trampoline/ run all day long if they could.

when i was a kid (in the 90s) i would walk to and from school for primary every day, which was probably 20 mins a day, plus lunch and breaktime at school (hour total if you leave time to eat), usually running about or skipping ro playing games or whatever, and then two or three or four PE/games/"country dancing" (anyone else?!?!) lessons a week... and then probably a couple of afternoons playing at a friends or at home or at the local park... that's probably 11-12 hours of activity a week without even trying.

Secondary school was a bit different -- walking to and from the bus stop, often lots of standing around waiting for the bus. walking between lessons at school. So maybe 40mins a day, conservatively speaking. Plus 90 mins of PE and 45 mins of dance IIRC. Wandering about/loitering at lunchtimes didn't really add much. But then after school we'd wander round town or walk around the village or whatever... hang about in the woods getting up to nothing.

My daughter dances. She’s on a full time college dance course now so not indicative but back in year 10/11 she did at least 2-3 hours a day. The online covid timetable shed have been doing if she was still that she would be 45-90 mins per day.

Nope. We used to have all sorts of sports clubs and lots of swimming training.
Now, either they’re doing schoolwork, or I’m working.

Eldest could go out alone but is a lazy teen so averages an hour walk every couple of days when nagged. I send the younger ones into the garden to play after lunch but tiny garden and the trampoline is always soaking so it’s not much fun for them beyond about half an hour.

It’s crap and I know their friends are doing no better. Doesn’t help that we’re mentally exhausted from juggling school and work so can’t face the battle to get them off screens 😟

My DS (11) would probably have done 60 min of exercise 5 days a week pre covid but now I'm lucky if its 60 min a week!
My DD (teen) does as little as she possibly can as well, maybe 1 walk a week, if that.

DH and I go for a walk or run probably every other day and would gladly take them but neither are interested.

My DC is walking to school and back (we're not in the UK) and plays football in the break. That alone is more than 60 minutes of exercise a day but he also does PE and other activities.

I force my teen dc out for a bike everyday unless its raining. They've still put on weight during this lockdown as I have I. Both of them refused their zoom marshal arts classes and have turned into lazy lumps apart from when forced out...

12 year old moves from sofa to computer and back again. Absolutely refuses to go for a walk or do any exercise. She's really skinny and I worry about her muscles wasting away. Normally walks each day between bus, school and home plus PE lessons.

My children are 14, 12 and 9. They play 2 x a day in the garden kicking a ball about etc. For about 20 mins. We walk for at least 40 mins a day. They younger two spend at least an hour a day wrestling 🙄 they don’t sleep if they don’t have enough exercise in the day.

My ds usually swims for 11 hours a week and that's still with cut down times due to covid (obviously not swimming atm!)

That's over 5 days and some days he does 3 hours swimming a day!

Currently he is doing 60 minutes minimum 5 times a week (treadmill, tower gym, walking etc)

My DS is still attending all his dance classes via zoom. He currently does 12.5 hours a week.

My daughter does horse riding 60 mins everyday plus mucking out stable etc, which is pretty labour-intensive

@chloworm I told our 13 year old that I wasn't going to make her go for a walk but her phone would be coming on the walk she comes every day now and quite enjoys it

It's great a lot of children are managing over an hour. I think, though, posters need to be sensitive to the fact it will be more difficult for some.

On weekends DS childminder takes the children out for at least an hour each day - park or walk. Plus they walk to and from the preschool and DS is constantly on the go. On weekends we go for a walk/bike ride of at least 1 hour per day as a family. We have good weather clothes and go out rain or shine

Some children definately are. My 6 year old spent well over an hour today jumping up and down on the sofa while singing loudly AND watching a youtube video whilst I worked. It depends on the child. He watches way too much youtube/netflix at the moment but he never sits still while doing so. Even eating he is moving about on his chair.

(our sofa converts into a bed so it has very bouncy mattresses. I have resigned myself to the fact I will need to replace them when all this is over because the springs area absolutely wrecked by now)

Depends what they count. My daughter is 4 and goes to forest school 2 full days a week. They're pretty much constantly outdoors, running, walking, climbing etc. At home we don't do as much obviously but walk to the park, so if walking and climbing counts then she probably does do an hour. Today in the rain we did yoga and dancing.

Mine is 15. In normal times, she is v active. Last week she didn't do 5000 steps across the whole week.

DD age (almost) 4 does at least an hour a day, scootering, running after the ball etc

blimey im impressed...

usually 40 mins walk to and fromschool and 5 x a week hour and a half footy (and pe x 2)

now, 20-40 min walk every other day. :(