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

[mummysbigsmiles]

My Daughter and I always go to our local park every morning 8am and walk around then run up and down the "rocky stairs" I call them, haha. I make it fun by singing the number of stairs as we are running up and down them!! Great fitness and it sets us up for the full day!! Energy galore!!

[Theimpossiblegirl]

I posted a week or so ago. Since then my eldest has rediscovered her bike so they both get an hour a day about 5 days a week on top of what they do at school. I feel better now.
:)

[charlieallred]

Absolutely! My twin daughters run around the house most of the day. Then we swim, play outside and go to splash pads (which usually have playgrounds too). Sometimes I'm the lazy one sitting around while they run.

[Lemonytrees]

Yes, easily. We often walk or scoot to and from school (20 mins each way). Both do tennis, hockey, cricket, rugby and swimming out of school and most of those more than 1x per week. If there isn't any sports club after school, they are playing cricket or football outside or riding bikes. They never stop!

[lissieloo]

Yes, easily. We walk to and from school, and always walk the dog after school. Usually for well over an hour. We also go swimming most Saturdays.

[serendipity1980]

My 5yr old DS gets lots of exercise, he cycles to school & back home which is 1 mile each way - he has to keep up with my electric wheelchair!. Then he often goes for bike rides along the canal with my husband, trampolining in the garden with his younger sister, running around, PE at school, gymnastics after school once a week, swimming lesson every weekend, play time at school. I think he gets 60mins most days!

He loves being active, which I'm really grateful for. We rarely let them watch TV, except when I'm having shower in morning, so they aren't used to sitting in front of it.

[sealight123]

We are very lucky (or perhaps not) that my daughter is a very very energetic child. She rarely sits still, so I can tell that she is definitely getting enough exercise. Our way of getting her to exercise in a focused manner though is by doing it with her- playing with the ball in the garden, all of us doing funny dances to music in the kitchen or simply just going on a family walk with our pooch Saffy. Don't make exercise seem like a chore...make it a game :)

[tully67]

I think both my sons get an hour day, the younger boys definitely. Walking to school, going to parks, playing in garden, trampolining, playing on bikes and scooters, running around at our allotment. bike rides when I'm not working, walks on the beach at the weekend.

[AllThatGlistens]

Yes easily, we walk back and forth from school every day, they scoot around the garden and are always on the trampoline.

[peronel]

Walk/scoot or cycle to school. then cubs/guides and run around when they get there. The garden is a godsend and weather permitting they are enticed out to play swingball, rounders or tag.

[ThirdTimesABrokenFanjo]

we don't get 60 minutes of still time a day.

does any one with toddlers?

[cather]

My 7 year son plays football at playtime and we go for walks and bike rides at weekends so he certainly get 60 mins a day.

I was worried that my eldest son who is 11 wasn't getting any exercise now he is at high school and whilst we generally went for a walk at weekends it wasn't enough exercise for him. He would rather play on the xbox than be outside! We recently started cycling as a family to try and encourage him to become more active and he is really enjoying it and we try to go out for longer rides at weekends and a shorter ride in the evening.

[ratbagcatbag]

I think my DSS (14) used to hit it, but is definitely hitting a lazy stage now, he competes in athletics, so trains twice a week for two hours a time and generally competes at the weekend. He plays out on his scooter if its nice, sometimes for five hours and is shattered when he comes in. We try and do walking at weekends and he is happy to hike for 10 miles at the weekends usually with a justified pub lunch at the end of it.

Only issue were having at the moment is he has stopped playing footy at dinner, instead walking to the chip shop for lunch which is worrying us somewhat and were struggling to get him to change this.

[Elainey1609]

To be honest im really not sure
They will do if you include there pe lessons and play times.
At least 4/5 days a week anyway.
I don't drive so we mainly walk to and from school
And we only get bus if its a longer journey or bad weather.

They play outside when ever we can get to the park however we don't have a garden and its not exactly child friendly where I live so they don't play outside much.

They do have wii which they got for playing active games on I know it doesn't compensate but sometimes that is better than just sitting in front of tv watching cartoons on tv when weather is bad

[whethergirl]

DS is tired a lot of the time, as he often has trouble sleeping so after school he is sometimes too knackered to do anything other than go home and relax which I think is fair enough actually - after a full day at school.

We walk to school and back but that's only 5 mins each way!
He does trampolining class every Sunday, which also involves a 15 min walk each way and the park afterwards.
If it's nice weather, then we'll pop to the park after school.

He normally likes to have one day at the weekend to laze around. I'll suggest the park or whatever but he does like to spend one day indoors, which again, I think is fair enough really.

He is not a sporty person really, doesn't mind playing bat/ball with me but can't get to grips with football or any other organised sport. He did Tai Kwon Do for quite a while but went off it when it started getting all a bit serious with grades etc. He loves swimming but gave up his classes when they started getting too difficult! But he loves me taking him and he'll just splash about. I'll try him with lessons again after the Summer.

He is also one of these really fidgety kids, often even when watching TV he'll be bobbing up and down on the sofa or doing sofa acrobatics!

[AnnMumsnet]

Hi - thanks for all the feedback and comments am exhausted just reading them - am pleased to say sittinginthesun has been selected at random as the winner of the £100 Love2Shop voucher. Well done