Any reason NOT to get my 9 year old fitbit?

[Anonymous]

I got a fitbit this year and love it. My children have been obsessed with it, and both (9 and 7 years old) insist they want one, too.

It would be an expensive, but not unreasonable, purchase for us.

Today 9 year old took out the entire "savings" money and said it could be used to buy a fitbit, and that many other kids have one. (and when pressed, named about 5-6 kids - all of whom I think of as fairly athletic, sporty kids). Persuasive arguments were made, and 9 year old has never asked to spend savings before.

If 9 year old gets one, 7 year old will be furious and want one too, and not sure this qualifies as one of those things you need to be older to have (like an iPod, or whatever), so I'm kinda thinking about buying two, as end of the school year "gifts," or maybe asking each child to pay half. We're not a heavy electronics family, so no one has their own phone or iPad or anything yet, though we are planning to purchase a family computer this year (currently we just use our work laptops for our relatively minor needs).

7 year old is very athletic, active kid. 9 year old is moderately active, but also enjoys a fair amount of couch sitting (TV or book reading).

Do a fair number of kids have fitbits? (I'm going to ask at school pick up today). And is this a reasonable purchase for this age range?

[Anonymous]

You could also look at the fit bit zip--it's $50 or so on amazon so would be a less expensive way to go about it.

[Anonymous]

I have no idea how much it costs, but would not buy one for my DD who is 12. The purpose of it is to track how much you move, how many calories you burn, etc., right?

I simply don't want my kid to focus on numbers in relation to movement and health in that way. She's not the obsessive type, but I want her to focus on how good and strong and capable her body feels when she runs or does gymnastics or ice skating.

(I don't know of any of her friends who have one.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got a fitbit this year and love it. My children have been obsessed with it, and both (9 and 7 years old) insist they want one, too.

It would be an expensive, but not unreasonable, purchase for us.

Today 9 year old took out the entire "savings" money and said it could be used to buy a fitbit, and that many other kids have one. (and when pressed, named about 5-6 kids - all of whom I think of as fairly athletic, sporty kids). Persuasive arguments were made, and 9 year old has never asked to spend savings before.

If 9 year old gets one, 7 year old will be furious and want one too, and not sure this qualifies as one of those things you need to be older to have (like an iPod, or whatever), so I'm kinda thinking about buying two, as end of the school year "gifts," or maybe asking each child to pay half. We're not a heavy electronics family, so no one has their own phone or iPad or anything yet, though we are planning to purchase a family computer this year (currently we just use our work laptops for our relatively minor needs).

7 year old is very athletic, active kid. 9 year old is moderately active, but also enjoys a fair amount of couch sitting (TV or book reading).

Do a fair number of kids have fitbits? (I'm going to ask at school pick up today). And is this a reasonable purchase for this age range?

I could have written this post! I also just got one, and my 8 and 9 yo kids are obsessed. They have also named several kids at school that have them. I might hold off until Christmas, but I can't see the harm if you have the money and they are responsible with it. You are not supposed to wear it in the pool, so that's something they would need to be aware of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea how much it costs, but would not buy one for my DD who is 12. The purpose of it is to track how much you move, how many calories you burn, etc., right?

I simply don't want my kid to focus on numbers in relation to movement and health in that way. She's not the obsessive type, but I want her to focus on how good and strong and capable her body feels when she runs or does gymnastics or ice skating.

(I don't know of any of her friends who have one.)

This is why we got rid of our scale. My DD (who was still quite young at the time) was OBSESSED with weighing herself. I know that she just thought it was fun to see the numbers, but it made me uncomfortable and so we got rid of it. I think even a nonobsessive kid can easily get caught up in the numbers rather than on having a healthy relationship with her body and doing activities because it makes her feel good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea how much it costs, but would not buy one for my DD who is 12. The purpose of it is to track how much you move, how many calories you burn, etc., right?

I simply don't want my kid to focus on numbers in relation to movement and health in that way. She's not the obsessive type, but I want her to focus on how good and strong and capable her body feels when she runs or does gymnastics or ice skating.

(I don't know of any of her friends who have one.)

Good advice . . . I can only add that I don't understand why you'd want to get your kids anything they're "obsessed" with? It just seems wrong to me to feed that kind of materialism and consumer-consciousness.

[Anonymous]

OP here, good discussion, thanks!

A couple of things - when I say they are obsessed, right now I mean they want to talk about my steps, and continually insist they want one for themselves.

In general, they are not obsessive kids, so I don't think they'll get too caught up in the numbers, but that is exactly the discussion i was hoping to have here - is there a reason kids this age should not be thinking about numbers when it comes to activity (I'd never count food, obviously, but is activity so bad to measure? The soccer team wants 50 ball touches a day, the gymnastics coach wants 100 second of handstands a day, the kids keep a record of their pogo stick accomplishments, etc, so we're already counting some things). Is there a downside to kids thinking, I should be more active today? I also like with the fitbit that there is a weekly sum, so even on days I might miss my number, what really matters is the weekly total.

I've done a little googling but can't find this info - is there a number that is more of a goal for younger kids? I have no idea, of course, but I would bet money my 7 year old regularly breaks 20K steps (plays soccer ever day at recess, runs around a lot, doesn't sit still much). The 9year old probably not as many, but maybe still 15K. My 9 year old has a stockier build, while 7 year old is simply leaner - could I setting up a bad dynamic between them?

My kids are also "flavor of the week" kids. So I would guess that they'd be entertained by he fitbit for a while, but lose interest. (so, on the con side, another reason not to spend the money). But I could also see it just becoming a background thing for them. But it could also be a fun family competition? Lots to think about.

[Anonymous]

Da fuq?

Umm you can really "just say no" to this.

[Anonymous]

I would get them one. There's nothing bad about them setting fitness goals (however many thousands of steps) or keeping track of their sleep. It's a good setup for a healthy future

I have a 13yo and we have started discussing macros and how he needs so much of all types of nutrients each day. He didn't realize how much fat and carbs (we really only worry about sugar grams) is in things like gelato or pizza. He has watched my eating habits pretty closely the past year and is making good choices on his own now. He is using a fitbit this summer and continues to ask questions about foods. He told me yesterday that we couldn't have pizza for lunch, go paddle boarding, then have cupcakes because it wasn't healthy. We could have either pizza or cupcakes in one day. I believe in giving kids tools to succeed and then setting them free.

[Anonymous]

can you share yours now and then? to avoid the flavor of the month-ness? I don't have one but I imagine there's a way to do it without messing up your stats. ?

[Anonymous]

I think they will lose intrest pretty quickly so I would suggest waiting 3-4 months and also letting them borrow yours for a day now and then.

[Anonymous]

They will forget and it will end up in the washer or they will jump in the pool with it... Fair warning.

[Anonymous]

No because it's something I know my 10 yr old would be excited about for like 3 days and then it would end up in the bottom of a drawer somewhere in her room

[Anonymous]

I want to get one for my inattentive kid and set the alarms randomly for attention alerts. I am afraid it will get lost, though. $99 isn't crazy for us. But doing that 3 times would not be my preferred way to spend money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They will forget and it will end up in the washer or they will jump in the pool with it... Fair warning.

The Fitbit flex is water resistant up to 10 meters, so it's fine for them to be submerged in the pool. They're just not good for accurately tracking swim activity, and the impact of swimming laps isn't great for them. I think I might make it a point to have them take it off for swim team, But wouldn't worry about it when we go to the pool recreationally, as my kids aren't usually doing high impact strokes then.

I think my biggest concern with getting one for kids is that they'll be more likely to take it off and on while fidgeting with it and end up losing it. Maybe start by getting a few extra Fitbit bands and making the kids wear just the bands for a couple weeks. If they don't lose it then they've proven that they're responsible enough.