Ok so I've agreed to go on breakfast TV tomorrow to talk about this - can you plse tell me what you think?

[JustineMumsnet]

Fewer than 3% of 11-year-olds get enough exercise, according to new study about to be published (they are sposed to get an hour a day).
Would be very grateful if you could post why you think that is, and what could help?

My children have been issued with free swimming passes, they regularly arrange to meet their friends there and they swim for around two hours. We also have a dog, so we're having more exercise now as a family since getting her. I think that better use could be made of school gymnasiums and sports equipment after school hours, but I realise that this would involve costs for staffing etc.

parents are too damned cosseting imho
my children walk to and from school- or the school bus
all of them - MOST of m friends drive their kids even 5 mins to the bus or bus station
exercise in our town is all structured sport - not natural - hanging out with mates - running jumping etc
forget PE at school - its 'home time' when the exercise should happen
parents moan that the kids don get enough PE and games at school - then sit in there 4x4 at the school gates before taking Hector and Helena straight ome to a bag of crisps and 3 hours screen time

And it's all very well bleating about kids walking to school but WHO IS SUPPOSED TO WALK WTIH THEM? Well, given house prices and needing 2 parents to work, it very likely isn't going to be mummy or daddy.

I think it's a cultural thing within the family too - if the entire family is not interested in sport or exercise, how would the kids get the idea that it's a good thing to do.

If mum goes out for a walk every day and dad takes the bike to work, the idea that exercise can be fun is instilled from an early age. We all know families that are 'sporty' and families that are 'lardy' but they are seldom the same folks.

where do they get this statistic-that's what I would ask?

agree about the walking to school.also we need to get more pe at school and cheaper sports clubs after school.

Maybe we should start a chinese like mass exercise thing for kids before the schoolday.

Has this got something to do with the Olympics?

Oh yes, affordable sporty clubs would be fantastic!

but lol at Colditz re "You are like the kid who pipes up at 10 30 at night "Oh, and I need a pilgrim costume for tomorrow. Night mum!"

At 11 why can't they walk by themselves?

www how many 11 year olds need mum or dad

they walk alone

do kids 'play out' anymore?

We were never in the house. There was ONE tots programme a day (my personal favourite was The Woodentops) that lasted about 15 minutes, if that, now its wall to wall programmes on umpteen different channels, there are play stations et al. What incentive is there to get outside?

Justine I have a particular bugbear about this - I think there is a problem with the current trend to promote exercise as a means to an end - ie there seems to be too much emphasis on exercise as a means to be healthy, as being good for you, as something you ought to do. surely this is an approach that will turn kids off. they couldn't give a flying banana about the risk of heart disease or stroke or diabetes when they're 40. but kids do enjoy exercise in its own right - for its immediate benefits, because it's fun. engender a love of sport or physical activity in a child (not because it'll make them healthy, but as an end in its own right) and you'll hopefully set a pattern for the rest of their lives. make them do Freddy Fit (I have ranted about him before) and a lot of them will give up.

And we have what many would consider a high income but something's got to go and it's walking to school. Because earnign a living comes before govt walking to school initiatives.

WWW - you have a point and I agree that it's hard when both parents are working. We're working on a community plan so we all muck in.

Also at 11, are they not big enough to walk with their mates?

Treadmill operated Xboxes.
More importantly what are you going to wear?

people just wont let go...
think they are 'looking after' kids by not letting them out of their sight
you need to teach them self sufficiency

At 11 my ds MAY walk to school. But not if we end up buying a house in a village, then he'll have to be driven.

I agree hatwoman, good post.

We don't live where we work anymore either. or live where we go to school.

most kids around here walk with mates from 11,senior school kids rarely walk with a parent.

Nadine, my children are always out playing, we're lucky having two lovely parks within walking distance, they always go in a large group and have strict instructions to stay together and come home at an agreed time. They came home at tea time telling me all about the brilliant den that they'd made in a friend's garden!

Our PE teacher worked out we were lazy arses at school and instigated a game of sharks (convoluted offground tig if you like with bars and ropes and stuff) which had us running round like mad things for hours.

Which is a lot more fun that some of the activities passed off as 'suitable exercise' for school pupils.

So I guess I'd suggest more interactive exercise - dance perhaps, self defence, things that get your heart going without you realising that you are working out.

Or as I mentioned before wait a few years and they start the exercise routines that could have the girls posting here

I am really going to piss my neighbours off by letting my DD chalk some beds (hopscotch for the non-Scottish folk) on the pavement. I will then commandeed the road and get a really long skipping rope and have every kid in the neighbourhood cawing each other in whilst others look out for cars. They shall then play at kerby, then skush (a progressive game of tag), kick the can, chap door run away and elastics before finally calling them in from my front door because my voice will be just like my mother's and carry for about 2 miles on a still evening.

my ds3 has been walking alone or with mates since year 4
thats schools policy
he is nearly 11 and walks up and down a lot of hills everyday!

We are both working full time and I walk my daughter to school every morning, then cycle to work. I am only 5-10 minutes past late, and I offer to work that off in my lunch hour.

I agree with the importance of parents and family life. Finding an activity that can be done as a family is a great boon. we have a great new council leisure complex near us with a climbing wall - and we all have a go (and anyone who thinks climbing can't really be exercise has never done it - it is unbelievably knackering).

I spent most of my school career dodging PE but I walked to school etc and played out after/weekends/all summer. I think if they're not keen on organised sport a lot of kids are pretty stymied these days.

Televisions with dynamos attached would definitely be a plus "you want email.....climb aboard....if you hit 15MPH you can get broadband speeds!"