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.

Dogs help. My two do a morning workout with me (about twenty minutes), then take the dogs out in the afternoon with DH.

DD is off school so we do two twenty min walks per day (nursery drop off and pick up) as well as usually something during the day (Zoom PE/gymnastics/dance etc) and we have various fun things she can play on indoors like a mini trampoline. So yes, even in lockdown I think she gets at least 60 mins per day.

I'd consider my ds a bit lazy and he still does 60 mins exercise a day.

Often our daily walk takes an hour, plus running and climbing in the playground, bouncing on the trampoline, running in the garden, doing a Joe Wicks workout, dancing along to music etc.

I admit I had to re-read your op a couple of times. Are you thinking of "exercise" only in quite a formal sense? IE they have to be doing an organised sport or part of a group or something?

Some very interesting responses!

To me it sounds like there are lots of primary aged children who are getting lots of exercise if they have a garden, access to a playground and parents who take them out for a walk!! So typical mumsnet children!!

So not exactly representative of the general population...

Among teens, the ones getting lots of exercise are probably the ones that do club sport usually And trying to keep fit now... (like me dd)

@Notcontent

Some very interesting responses!

To me it sounds like there are lots of primary aged children who are getting lots of exercise if they have a garden, access to a playground and parents who take them out for a walk!! So typical mumsnet children!!

So not exactly representative of the general population...

Among teens, the ones getting lots of exercise are probably the ones that do club sport usually And trying to keep fit now... (like me dd)

Typical mn children? I'm a single mum of 3, previously working full time and now unemployed, not sure if that makes us 'typical mn', but you don't need to be wealthy or privileged to go out for an hour, in fact it's more important if you're all stuck together in a tiny flat. You don't need a back garden nor 'access to a playground' (what does that even mean? the vast majority of city children and most.children in villages in my family will be close to some kind of playground). Yes, there are some deprived families where gang links, disability or chaotic lifestyles make a trip outside per day impossible, but they are the minority. As the research you quoted said, the majority of children ARE getting 60 mins exercise.

To me it sounds like there are lots of primary aged children who are getting lots of exercise if they have a garden, access to a playground and parents who take them out for a walk!!

I've a teen & 2 primary school children.

The younger two (boys) are always out, even now. I'm working full-time, so I don't take them, we do walks at weekends but not during the week.

But they go outside & kick a ball before online school, at breaks & after it. Easily a couple of hours through the day.

No input needed from me, thankfully.

Teen does less but goes for a decent walk every day & sometimes a run, sometimes she'll play with the boys.

I exercise daily too so they know it's expected.

In normal life we are run ragged with sports training 6 days a week 😁

But I don't necessarily agree with your statement - they do it themselves, really, I'm not taking them anywhere (at the moment).

Ours do but thats because it’s expected they will help in the family business when not at school

I asked my teen to take some stuff to the food bank collection (same road as us, less than 100m away) it was too much effort because she was wearing the wrong clothes to go outside (allegedly! ...she wasnt wearing pjs!)

And she cant go for a walk if her hair is greasy or needs a wash!!

@ChocOrange1

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.

We didnt do yoga in the rain 🙈 I mean it was raining so we did those things indoors instead.

10 year old DD spends about an hour walking or biking to and from school each day and at the moment spends at least an hour each day sliding down snow hills after school which is pretty active exercise (you get really sweaty and out of breath!) but weekends are another matter, it wasn't for circus school on sundays she would stay in her pyjamas and do very little all weekend.

Nil during the week here. Work ft, don’t have a lunch hour as busy, more like a lunch 15 mins, and it’s been dark and wet outside of 9-6pm. It’s shit. We all look a bit vampire-ey.

I did put the bins out today. Does that count?

My teens are very sporty, but they are struggling to do very much at the moment because we love rurally and it’s dark when they aren’t in lessons and the weather is rubbish. Last lockdown they did over an hour every day this one not so much

12 and 15 here and not much exercise

Unfortunately school lessons all day and then darkness

It concerns me tbh

I keep seeing all the retired folks and others wandering past our windows and I am very envious

I can't speak for teens, but for primary DC 60 minutes a day would be far too little surely?!? We have 40 mins of school run walks (pre covid), playtimes and PE at school. Park, walks, bikes, scooting and playing in the garden on the trampoline for easily 2 hours a day at least on the weekend. An hour a day is achievable without even trying I think?
I'm expecting it to be more challenging once they're teens though potentially...

My 4 year old does not stop moving ever. Running, bouncing, climbing, wrestling, hanging off stuff, etc. Does that count? If so he's probably exercising about 12 hours a day. Bloody exhausting.

I suppose it depends on the family as a whole and how sporty/active they are. Young children are naturally very active so tend to run around quite a lot even if they’re just in the house.

I’d say my DC usually do get 60 mins exercise a day. We do Joe Wicks sometimes, yoga other times and we try to go for a walk every day. There’s a basketball court at the end of our street so we’ve been playing a lot of that too. We ordinarily tend to walk to school and back too which is a 60 minute round trip so an hour’s walk for them (2 for me with a pushchair!). They utilise the garden as much as possible too and play football together or other ball games, sometimes just chase each other around.

I reckon my 15yo dd does at least 60 mins on average each day, though probably not 60 mins every single day iyswim.

She runs 5k a few times each week, does YouTube aerobics/HIIT training most mornings, comes out for long 1.5-2hr walks with me on non-run days and is currently doing her normal dance classes via zoom, albeit on a somewhat reduced schedule.

However, she is one of the lucky ones who has realised that there is a very strong link between exercise and her mental health, so she is very proactive about doing it. I really wish that I had understood that at the same age!

@Thislittlefinger123
40 min school run?
Unless you went to a private school , where we live you basically dont get a primary school place unless you are within 5 min walk from school. So that only accounts for 10 min a day....
Conversely secondary schools have much larger catchment areas so teens might walk further even if they dont do any additional exercise.

Our 16yo tries to get out either for a walk or cycle for 30/60 mins a day. But being out in the dark is not an issue. I think I would have a job getting that in if he was younger

Two teens here. Coming up to 2 weeks that they haven't done any exercise. I've given up making them at the moment.

Do you include brisk-ish walking?

Back before all this my 16-17 yr old son was walking about 1.5 - 2 miles to school each day. And back. So that is already about an hour of walking a school day. Then football most of the year - school team and village team, so a good few hours a week. School PE/Games Some rowing (he wasn't a serious rower). And that before we get into cycling to meet friends, going swimming sometimes, bit of tennis, even a family walk/cycle. So more than 2 hours a day, definitely.

Sadly now lockdown plus a knee injury has made this much, much less.

DD 9 would generally do 40 mins scootering on school days, 2 hours martial arts a week, 2 hours dance a week, weekend walk, playtime etc.

Now, barely any. Does an hour martial arts on zoom and 1. 5 dance. Long walk at weekends but during the week fitting in a walk or bike ride between meetings, work, homeschooling isn't working at all. She has mentioned her flexibility is going.

I barely get out, and only do 4 hours Zoom a week in the evening.

Mine are 5 & 7 we go out for about an hours walk everyday , trampoline and then kids zumba/ Andy's workout etc everyday.

I am making the effort to take my teens for a 2-3mile walk/run every day at the end of their school day. That did take an hour but as we are getting fitter we are getting quicker. But we are trying to do star jumps/planks etc in the morning now too.
It does mean I have to work in the evening to make my work time back up, but it has made a positive difference to us.

@Stroppyshite

Two teens here. Coming up to 2 weeks that they haven't done any exercise. I've given up making them at the moment.

I think that is much more common and likely then the comments in this thread would let you believe, certainly the case for us too. I tried to get DD out on Sunday for a walk with me and she wouldn’t come, during the week we all work all day so no possibility of going out until weekends.