Do your children get 60 mins of active time a day? Add your comment and you could win a £100 voucher - NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

We've been asked by the team at Seara to find out if (and how) your children (aged 5-18) (and other children you know) are getting the full recommended 60 minutes of physical activity a day?

For guidelines see the NHS Choices site

Please share your thoughts and experiences on this thread. Please also share your tips for what you do to encourage your DC's to be active - or what you do with your DC's to get them active?

Share your tips etc on this thread and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £100 Love2Shop voucher.

We do recognise that, for various reasons, not all children (or adults) are able to reach the target of 60 minutes of exercise per day - and that 'exercise' can mean different things for different people. If this is the case for your child, do also feel free to share your experiences about how you encourage physical activity in ways that are consistent with their capacities.

thanks and good luck
MNHQ

Also: Seara are running a "Grassroots To Greatness Competition" at the moment: enter your childs' football team into the competition for their chance to win a Seara football sponsorship for next season - worth £3,000! More details here www.seara.co.uk

My son is young, 21 months, but he definitely gets more than his 60 minutes (more like 5 or 6 hours)!

Besides the play at daycare, running around, dancing, going on the slide, etc.,when he comes home he is on his bike/trike or running around with us from room to room and the back garden or at the play park. He meets the recommendation on the NHS site for 3 hours active (light/energetic) with a good range of activity.

We honestly don't have to encourage him at this, he naturally is on the move as soon as he wakes up.

My girls are 3y 11m & 16 months old, and I make sure they get out every day. When my youngest was born we would walk 2 miles to the next town. I'd put baby in the sling, and it would sometimes take my then 2 & a half year old hours but it fostered brilliant habits. Since my little one has been on her feet we've been taking short trips out to the local playpark, etc, without her buggy. I let her push a dolls buggy, and she loves it. As a family we do not drive, so my kids need to be good walkers :o)

Dd1(13) walks to & from school, PE twice a week and pretty much sits the rest of the time. Her dad sometimes takes her to badminton but she's v reluctant.

Dd2(11) walks or scoots to school. She does sport after school 4/5 nights a week plus some running & swimming 1-2 time a week. Also likes hill walking

Dd3(2) hasn't used a buggy since before she was 2 (she's not a runner and is out every day walking to groups/shops/park plus playing in the house/garden

Ds(3m) rolls on the floor!

DS1 scoots to and from school every day - should be about 20 mins in total but by the time he's whizzed off ahead of us, raced his friends etc it ends up more like 30 I reckon! At playtime they run around and if the weather is OK we usually go to the park after school for half an hour or so.

I do drive but we live in the centre of a not-too-big town so most places we go, we walk - library, swimming pool, shops etc - well I walk & he scoots. At weekends we always try to get out & about too.

DS2 is harder work as he's 3.5 and prefers to take the buggy - I try to encourage him to use his scooter but he isn't keen and usually ends up wanting to be carried (which ain't happening!). He does the small child trick of walking agonisingly slowly examining every pebble and crack in the pavement so if we are on the school run or on our way somewhere it slows us down too much. He does run around at preschool though and in the playground after school pick up, and is generally very energetic.

It can be tricky with teenagers as they would sit in front of a computer for hours if you let them. However, mine walk to school and do some out of school competitive sports. That combined with the school PE schedule and the fact that as a family we are very keen walkers, ticks the box I think.

I think both my dses (7 and 4) get that. They both walk, cycle or scoot to school and back, they play outside in the garden after school. We spend weekends at the park, swimming or cycling. They play tennis, golf and rugby too.

We try to make being active a part of everyday life rather than focusing on doing exercise iyswim.

Now that the weather is nicer, yes probably. So good weather helps a lot to get them outside for exercise.
During colder months I'm not so sure. Soft play is good for rainy days but ds1 has outgrown it a bit now and tends to think it's for babies.

We walk to school and after that he either has a sports lesson - so an hour of rugby or karate and if not he's on his scooter or bike.

We live on a very quiet road so him and his friends go up and down the pavements for at least an hour.

He also likes going to a mountain centre to practice climbing - another good one for cold or rainy days.

my 4 are very active they ride or scoot to school and we have a trampoline in our garden and they on that all the time. We also have lots of trips to the park and local nature reserve

Mine walk or scoot to school and back, plus pe at school, plus swimming lessons, tennis lessons, karate and football. Most afternoon we are found riding or scooting at the area near our house. The toddler gets less formal active time but is constantly on the move! I would say it averages out although it is harder when the days are wet!

My ds2 is really active. He plays football at breaktimes at school then
Mon 1hrs football
Tues cycling club

I believe in walking whenever possible, so my two oldest children get 30 minutes walking to and from school per day. Added to their playgroup activities during their two school breaks and lunch time. I reckon my two oldest must get their full recommended 60 minutes of activity in an average school day.

Even my toddler (who is outside this thread age range) walks to and from school, totalling an hours walk a day most days (Ie there and back twice).

I find my 6 yo DD1 likes being active and often asks if we can go to the children's park on the way home from school, which we do 2 or 3 times a week if the weather is nice.

Where as 4 yo DS just wants to get home and chill out in front of a screen (TV or computer).

I have an arrangement for my DS that for every minute he plays without moaning at the children's park, I'll let him have a similar length of time on the computer.

I also exchange time on our trampoline at home for screen time too.

We have recently borrowed/bought enough pedal bikes for our family and have started cycling around our local country park, with the youngest two in a bike trailer and carrying a food treat or picnic to encourage DS to bike.

Left to their own devices I am sure that DD1 and DD2 would always find a way to be active and burn off energy but DS needs encouragement and gentle nagging to make sure he does the same.

We hope to find more active hobbies we can share with the children, as they grow up.

playgroup playground

We always walk/bike/scoot to and from school(we don't have a car) and that's 20mins either way. Plays in the park after school plus the PE and running around at school on breaks.

DD used to get a good hour of exercise a day, out on her bike, scooter, running around the garden - but now she's 15 she's a typical teen, home from school and vanishes into her room, homework then playing music and on the computer, phone etc.

She walks to & from school, which is about 20 minutes each way at a fairly fast pace. So that's 40 minutes a day. That is really the only 'regular' exercise she gets - apart from PE which is only once a week, and swimming, again once a week.

My 9 y.o DS has an hour of swimming at school on one day a week, plus an hour of school sport on another weekday; then once at home he'll bounce on his trampoline for at least 30 mins (or more) depending on weather. If it's fine, he will also have half an hour or more outside playing golf with his Dad after supper, or kicking a ball. Or they'll go to the local park for some exercise on a zip wire there. Sometimes they will also go out on bikes for a ride to the next village, when it's fine - this takes around an hour. I think it's largely down to the weather really - the better the weather, the more he'll do outside. Oh, and every fortnight he goes for an extra 1 to 1 swimming lesson on a Saturday (half an hour). His Dad might later take him to a driving range later on a Saturday too (another hour). - So all in all, he's probably getting quite a good amount of exercise.

We walk to school and back daily so in the winter they still get exercise. In the summer is it significantly more than that they play out for hours.

Mine are too young officially, but at 4 and 2, I'd settle for sitting still for 10 mins!
They rough and tumble with each other, use me as a climbing frame, play football, jump on the trampoline, chase the cat, and ask to go to the park. Bike or walk there.

I think building it into normal life helps - walk when you can, and make it fun, not a chore.

My DD2 16 dances 6 days a week for at least 2 hours somedays 4/6 hours.
DD3 14 doesn't do ANYTHING, apart from compulsory sport at school, and walking from the bus stop to school,and she even moans about that

mine do, but we pay a fair bit for after school sports clubs

Well I didn't think my children lacked exercise but they certainly get less than others on this thread.

10 minutes walk in total to school and back each day.

Errrr. Sports club each once a week.

Ad hoc park visits or country walk, maybe one a fortnight, goodness sounds terrible.

Best tip is group classes which children find to be fun, or the park where kids will always find a way to run around

My Lo is only 1 year old but we plan to encourage him by getting out and about in the outdoors with him. We all have bikes and have a baby Croozer pod so he can come with us. We walk the dog with him each day and take him out in his trike. We also take him swimming.

My 9 year old cousin gets enough exercise by cycling to and from school every day which he is able to do now the school have provided a bike shed. He uses his scooter or bike every day after school and at the weekend goes walking with his Grandpa.

We walk to the school bus every day and usually stop off at the park on our way there or back.

I have noticed a lot of school clubs are lunch clubs, rather than after school, and have for this reason not signed up for them; I don't think it's good for primary aged children to be inside rather than having an outdoor play time.

The best tip for getting them active is to make everything into a game, we are walking to shop who can spot a squirrell, count the such a thing, collect enough for a nature picture.

sports they love doing and would never say no to are trampoline, swimming and frisbee chasing.

dd and ds get 2x 15 minute play times, and half an hour at lunch time.

they go to and from school in the car, but walk further than some of the locals to get to the car and to the school. we go to the park after school. we have walked it before, when ds napped after nursery. he is in reception now and needs to be in bed earlier, so a drive to the park, play there and drive home is the only way we can fit everything in (2x ot 1x speech therapy and 1x physio) as well as reading, spellings, homework. they do gymnstics after school one day nd 3 days of wither park, scootering in the garden or running arround the grden (shared garden, big area. sometimes we go a walk after school to de-stress ds (asd) and help with the physio (dd)

I have a 16 and 18 year old. They don't do 60 min a day but are active. They walk to school which is about 20 mins with big hills. They fast.

The 18 year old always goes for a walk everyday if he is not at school. He goes for an hour or so and listens to music on his head phones. He plays badminton with his friends.

My 16 year old plays tennis once a week and runs every day or so. She runs in the street for quite short runs. Maybe 20 or 30 minutes but comes home red faced and sweaty .

I play sports or do exercise every single day and I think this has been a huge factor in helping the kids see that exercise should be an normal daily activity. I have never made the do activities they didn't want to do but I have exposed them to lots of different things. They are happy to do sports that they don't excel in.

They are healthy weights and are aware of eating healthily.