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.

*shitinmyhandsandclap

To the parents of kids being schooled at home, do they not get a lunch break where they could go out (obvs if they wanted to) when it's not dark?*

I not even going to pretend my kids are in school "all day" and it's too dark when they finish. they get break time , lunch time, pe lessons and probably 1.5 hours of daylight when they finish school at 3/3.15. And we dont live "very rurally" so theres nothing to stop them from going on an evening walk or run.
They are just not interested/motivated to get out and exercise. I can bear staying in all day and encourage them to go out or at least find a youtube workout they enjoy but it falls on deaf ears, unfortunately.

Out of lockdown my eldest two get 60min a day just from the walk to secondary school. My eldest is sporty and wore an activity monitor when at primary school and was averaging 2h vigorous exercise and over 20000 steps (steps don't include her swimming) a day, at secondary she increased that because she could do sport before and after school. In lockdown she's doing very little and does not like it. Roll on the lifting of lockdown so she can play football again.

I don’t think they mean a dance class or a swimming lesson - I think they mean running and playing and cycling outside etc. For which 60mins a day is very easy in non lockdown. Harder in lockdown because you can only go out once a day and limited time with friends.

But we head out for about 2 hours walks in the wood / parks etc each day for both of our own mental health! And DC rarely walks, he runs and plays.

It's tricky at the moment - we are both working full time, and trying to juggle that with home learning. My eldest gets out most days, as we have started heading out first thing most mornings, and then getting back in time for school / work. But I can't take my youngest as well, because he would slow us down too much to allow us to get to the park and back in time. Plus, he doesn't want to leave the house. Then again, he is incapable of sitting still, and is always bouncing around the place, whereas my daughter is very sedentary at home. We have no garden, so can't throw them outside at any point during the day. Like a PP, he is definitely developing a vampiric tinge!

But no, I wouldn't say that either of them were getting 60 minutes of what I would consider to be exercise. My daughter and I are usually out for more than that, but even so, I think of exercise as being more intense.

My daughters swim for a swim club. One would usually do 10 hours, the other 6. They also play football which is 1 hour training, plus a match each week, and they do an hour of fitness class once a week. Added to that is school PE which is a couple of sessions a week and family dog walks.
Obviously it is less at the moment but they still do the fitness class online, a swim club fitness class online once a week, family walks and then running or cycling on an adhoc basis - maybe 2 or 3 times a week.

School break time, school p.e lessons, walking to and from school etc normally count, aswell as after school activities. My lot are booted out most days to play as they get cabin fever otherwise, not sure they're racking up 60 minutes every day though currently.

We try to get out for 30-60mins a day walking at the least in lockdown

I have two boys. One will do more than one hour exercise a day. Even now. Table tennis, kicking a ball about. He just is naturally active. The other needs to be pushed. So I believe the statistic. Before lockdown both had more than that with the walk to school and after school sports.

We probably struggle to get to 60 minutes a day (age 10,12 and 14). I don't drag them out for a walk obsessively every day, partly because the older two have online school all day and only 50 minutes break at lunchtime, plus I work several days 'after school'. But we do a few bike rides a week, plus the occasional walk, plus playing on just dance or ringfit on the Nintendo Switch. They are definitely doing a lot less exercise than normal as usually walking to and from school, PE at school and karate, trampolining and dance classes.

Yes the walk to school and back would be 40mins alone and then they usually had break time play so that would tick off 60 mins. In lockdown however we've kept up with daily walks and the occasional fitness video and running up and down so we're good.

Pre Covid DS(10) rarely went on walks but did 3+ hours of Taekwondo inc sparring a week, plus swimming lessons and cub scouts. During lockdown 1 we got a puppy after he learnt to enjoy rural walks. We’ve just got back from a 3 hour walk. We do a similar amount most days. Although DS would just slob in front of Xbox if I allowed him.

My 3 yo does more than 60 mins a day, a long dog walk, out on bike or scooter, playing in garden (even if weather's crap) she loves it!

DS (9) and I walk around 50 miles a week. He gets plenty of exercise, at least an hour a day. He has no choice in the matter as it's non negotiable and I'm a single parent 🤷🏻‍♀️

My 11 year Daughter probably does during a normal school day but not during lockdown as she is required to sit at a computer screen doing live lessons from 8.50-3 plus homework / catch up some days and doesn’t want to engage after that . I managed to get her out last Saturday and Sunday but she wasn’t happy and I haven’t heard the last of it all week!

No. DS13 has never been sporty at all and his walk to school is all he did pre Covid. DS10 plays football but without that he's doing very little. I'm wfh and suggest they go for a lunchtime walk but falls on deaf ears. It's cold, dark and wet so chance.

Today my two primary aged children have spent about 2 hours doing exercise. 90 minutes of active play together (running, climbing, jumping etc) and they each spent 30 minutes doing a sporting activity with me and my husband.

Well go for a walk / scoot/ skate for an hour most days/ or playground if weather ok . But they won’t play in the garden at this time of year and are on their screens the rest of the time ( and that’s why I force them out!) Mine are younger though and I can’t see myself forcing teenagers out for a walk!

shitinmyhandsandclap

To the parents of kids being schooled at home, do they not get a lunch break where they could go out (obvs if they wanted to) when it's not dark?*

Mine gets 30 mins and barely eats lunch in that time .

Up until last year, both my girls did something every night. Dance, swimming, gymnastics etc, plus PE in school - would easily add up to 60 mins.

We also walk the dog every day... rain or shine & mostly in the dark atm!

Mine runs for half an hour, cycles for 3 hours, walks for 10 hours, yoga for a couple of hours and zumba just for two or three hours. I wish she would get off her lazy arse.

These threads always go exactly the same way (see the ‘can 13 month olds really say 106 words thread?’), with everyone coming out to say their 4YO runs marathons every day without fail - so predictable.

My two would probably get an hour a day, but we’re not in lockdown, and life is normal.

@SquirrelFan

I've only read the first 2 pages, but I'm astonished at the responses! My children never wanted to do anything physical, had to be pushed into after-school activities like gymnastics or football. Now as teens they barely leave their bedrooms much less the house.

Thing with these threads is that the parents with very active lifestyles and children are v. quick to jump in with responses, understandably. The folk like me, with a teen in a vampire pit of darkness upstairs are less keen....

6 year old does about what the research is saying, but only because she has to come with me on dog walks at the moment. On a shit weather day I'll stick on Joe Wicks or a dancing fitness video and she'll maybe do 20 mins before losing interest. My teen is out walking a lot when the weather is better, hanging about with her mates and they walk about endlessly. But now (lockdown in Scotland in Winter) she's hardly moving. She is however accidentally doing "intermittent fasting" due to not being arsed to eat breakfast until the middle of the day.

Exercise? My DS (11) won’t even go outside into the garden and we live in a beautiful place surrounded by fields and a wood on the far side.

To be fair, he didn’t attend any sports or after school clubs before lockdown, so I suppose it’s not really surprising. His school friends are definitely far more outdoorsy than he is though.