Too much media time is an epidemic that seems to be affecting kids and adults all over the world… and sadly, the Powell Pack isn’t immune to the problem either! A love of Xbox and Angry Birds has snuck into our home and taken over WAY too much of our sweet kids’ time. After far too many minutes spent with glazed over eyes and sore thumbs from bird launching, Chris and I developed the perfect way to combat couch potato syndrome: Time spent in front of video games is to be earned with some good ol’ fashioned exercise! A quick circuit, designed by Chris, earns 15 mins of iPad or Xbox time, with a limit of earning a total of 60 minutes a day. The workouts aren’t rigorous, but they’re just enough to keep our littles moving and stave off excessive techno time.
Cash LOVES Angry Birds (like father, like son!), so to earn his time on the iPad, he does:
- 7 running laps around the pool
- 10 push ups
- 10 squats
Matix can’t get enough sports games on the Xbox, so for him to earn 15 mins of video games, he does:
- 25 pushups
- 25 jumping pull ups
- 25 squats
- 400 m run
I love the idea of not only teaching them to keep electronics to a minimum, but the importance of making exercise a part of their every day lives too. The best part is they’ve learned to love the exercise as much as the time on their electronics, makin’ me one happy mama. 😉
With iPods, iPads, computers, phones, and video game systems becoming such an integral part of everyday life, it’s hard to keep our kids from spending too much time on their devices and get them up and moving, but it is so important in the fight against childhood obesity and setting our children up for a successful, healthy future. What are some ways your family limits media time and encourages outdoor play? Any tried and true methods? Share your ideas in the comments below?I would love to hear what works for you!
Xoxo,
Heidi
43 Responses
I LOVE this! I am a 2nd grade teacher and when the kids are practicing math facts I let them do 10 exercises (or a 10 second yoga pose) of their choice after each row of facts on their paper. They love it and it makes math facts “not so boring” 🙂 Physical Education classes are becoming more and more limited due to budget cuts, and I can’t stand to watch obesity levels grow without doing my part in the classroom! 🙂
I absolutely LOVE this idea and I’m for sure going to start doing this with my 5 and 3 year old!!!! I’m sure they’re going to love this!!!!
I think this is a great idea. Although the TV is constantly on at my house it’s pretty much just background noise. We usually watch an hour of TV when we get home, during rest time. The rest of the day if it’s nice my son goes outside. If it’s not nice enough to be outside the TV usually stays on, but neither of us vegetate in front of it. We might stop for a second here and there, but it’s mostly background noise that facilitates the many adventures that he’s had in the house. He’s just constantly playing. I may use something like this later on if he starts to just sit in front of the TV.
I personally think that that is a wonderful idea and I wish I would’ve thought of it sooner with my 9 year old son. He now has to earn electronics time by exercising, usually we do 3 to 5 minutes of squats push-ups and situps. After that he earns 20 minutes. I wish I would’ve started it when he was younger because he is one of those strange mellow boys who needs to be pushed outside to play and now is overweight.
maybe shut the television off and put music on instead as noise in the background..could create another activity such as dancing or singing/lip syncing
I like this idea but we have never even thought or needed anything like this. My kids are 4 and 6 and they very very rarley ask to play on the ipad or watch a show. That’s because we have always limited it. so to them it’s not even really an option or a thought they have. They probably watch one show or movie 1x/week and have maybe 30 minutes of ipad game time once a week. It’s just not something we do a lot of. They get all their exercise at the playground or swimming pool or outside sports
I don’t have kids, but I think this is fantastic. My nephews spend way to much time in front of the TV/ipad etc. They are in good shape, because my sister walks everywhere so they do as well. But too much time in front of the TV. I am always giving them things that make them want to go outside. Like binoculars and a field guide for birding for his birthday. Signing them up for a race and cheering them on etc. I need to share this blog post w/ my sister!
I love this idea. At what age did you start this with Cash? I have a 2 yr old but not sure she’s old enough to start something like this yet?