In continuation of my issues with this article, is the requirement that children need 60 minutes of vigorous activity daily. The Department of Health and Human Services recommends 60 minutes daily for children over the age of 6. And in the age of XBOX, this might be hard to squeeze in with school and homework and family activities. I’m wondering if the 60 minutes is in addition to the 200 minutes of physical education that they are supposed to get every two weeks?
Also, I have two boys under the age of 5 and THEY NEED TO MOVE ALL DAY LONG. They are now in school and get a 30 minute “playtime” before lunch and then they are busy the rest of the day doing school work related things. When we get home, all they want to do is (and I am not kidding) jump from the sofa to the chair to the carpet. They think in movement. Today, we played on the BOSU ball for over an hour- jumping, rolling, singing, moving…60 minutes sounds like a lot, but when I think of my own children, 60 minutes isn’t long enough.
In terms of my own physical education program, they are not moving vigorously for 200 minutes every two weeks! I am now considering that my program is weak- since they are not getting their heart rates up for very long in any PE session. It’s only the end of October, but, my focus has been on skill development not necessarily heart rate lessons.
So where does that leave the parents with children? In California at least (physical education is NOT mandatory daily) and if their parents work, what do the children do during the daylight hours? How much time are your children playing vigorously daily? How do you feel about the time recommendation? Too much, too little?
4 responses so far ↓
1 Dr. J // Oct 30, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Thanks so much for commenting on my column! Your kids were pretty smart in using a down hill start for their flight! If you look at the early gliding experiments, they did the same thing. Kids are terrific
2 m // Oct 30, 2008 at 5:04 pm
60 minutes a day? Geesh my kids better get the rumps in motion!
ms last blog post..Struggles – embrace them!
3 Kara from MamaSweat // Nov 1, 2008 at 9:43 pm
I would like to think that within a month my kids *average* amount of exercise is one hour per day. We really do try to get the girls outside (ages, 5, 5, 3) daily for something. That said, we live in Minnesota. Even though we all like to bundle up in the winter, an hour outside when it’s below 20 degrees isn’t always feasible. However on nice days, we might be out and moving for two or more. But I don’t think an hour of exercise *on most days* (for anyone) is unreasonable. But that’s me. I love moving (so do my kids, thankfully, and they already know the benefits of regular exercise. But what I count for exercise for them is playing on the playground and climbing trees along with bike riding, swimming and jumping on pillows (my kids are fans of deconstructing living room furniture, too). You know, my husband asked whether we should get a Wii Fit and, while I think it’s a good idea for kids hooked to video games, my kids like to move and be outside… I don’t really want to give them a video option if they’re going to find that hour of action through creative play or the great outdoors. I could go on and on (oh wait, I am!) I just really believe in “indoctrinating” them early.
Kara from MamaSweats last blog post..Halloween Overdose
4 Why I am NOT in love with MY GYM // Jun 19, 2009 at 1:55 am
[...] all know the research about how kids need to move. They need an hour of vigorous activity daily according those people who do the scientific [...]
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