Is Your Child Walking 12,000 Steps A Day?
4 min read
Childhood obesity is a hot topic. Most concerning to me as a mother is the information put out by the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention that type 2 diabetes is on the rise in young people.
As a mother of four, that puts at least one of my children in the category of taking daily pills and/or shots in order to remain alive. Diabetes is not a death sentence by any means. I have friends and family members who are living full, happy lives without their own insulin. Even so, it is certainly something I would like to help my children and grandchildren avoid.
How much exercise do children need?
In light of this downward spiral of our nation’s health, the big question I wanted to know was how much exercise do my children need? And what does exercise look like for a child? Certainly, they should not be lifting weights in a gym atmosphere. Most workout facilities have a minimum age requirement somewhere around age 12. There are sports practices, but these are often minimal for younger children.
In my quest to find the answer, I came across this: 6- to 12-year-old girls needed 10,000 steps/day and boys needed 13,500 steps/day to stay in a healthy, according to a study.
Walking is linked to lower cancer and mortality rates, and it has the benefit of being an easy way to get exercise.
Enter the pedometer. I am shooting for a threshold of 10,000 steps a day. Even with being outside much of the day, I quickly realized I wasn’t coming close to that goal. Wearing the pedometer has made me much more aware of my daily activity level. I have bid farewell to 25 pounds in just the three and a half months I have been using it.
After many weeks of wearing the pedometer, our 1,000 Hours Team began to throw around the idea around of having one of the kids wear it on a hike. The kids run all over the place when we are outside. They are moving almost constantly.
My original thought was that this post was going to have a title such as “Kids get 18,000 steps during a daily hike”. After five hours outside on a nearby state park trail, however, we were all fairly shocked to see that one of the 4-year-old boys in our group who wore the pedometer had gone (only) 10,000 steps. While this is certainly a large number, it is still shy of the minimum recommended number. It got us wondering about how much activity kids are getting on a daily basis – especially with just a few recesses a day.
Where to get exercise outside
With Michigan's obesity rate higher than average in the United States, we thought we ought to spread the word about this step recommendation for children. We can tell our young people what their bodies need for adequate exercise and then make the necessary choices as a family to get them outside. 1000 Hours Outside is using gripping photography, sound research and life experience to help inform other Michigan parents about the multi-faceted benefits of free play in the open air. One major benefit is that it can help children avoid obesity.
Our team lives in Southeast Michigan, and we are blown away by the number of parks, playgrounds and trails there are within a 30-minute radius of us. There are state parks, state recreation areas, metroparks, city parks and rail trails.
You can buy a pedometer for fairly cheap or use an app on your phone. It might be worth it so that you can begin to gauge how much exercise you and your children are getting. Take steps to better health by tracking steps, then head outside and watch your children run.
Jen, Lisa and Ginny are moms (both part-time working and stay at home) who have a passion for getting kids outdoors. Stemming from their backgrounds in health and fitness and education, they are driven by trying to provide a carefree childhood coupled with all the health and developmental benefits that outside time provides. They have nine kids amongst them who all love running, building, picnicking, playing and napping in the open air. Their blog, 1000 Hours Outside is meant to encourage moms and caregivers everywhere to take their kids outside more and discover all of the amazing benefits.
Image: Getty Images
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