My almost 6 year old put 8,500 on a weekday.

Y'all talking step counts. My 8-year-old benches 225 for reps and squats a freaking house.

These responses are astounding to me.

Both of my kids have Fitbits, because they asked for them (I don't have one, fwiw). As one of the PPs said, they were both active kids before they had them, and these changed nothing. Every few days they focus on step count, and love to beat their dad, who gets a ton of steps. No clue what their average is, but apparently I should have just handed them iPads and called it a day.

Average step count? No way. I think this is another troll. They are writing a lot of crazy out there posts.

Your kids suck. My 7-year-old gets at least 50k and my 5-year-old gets 20k easy on a bad day. Take your low step counts back to the bush league.

You all should lay off the OP. If you don’t like the topic, move on.

Anyway, OP - my 10 yr old son has had a Fitbit for a couple of years and gets a kick out of tracking steps on days we go for long hikes. We also figured out that the Fitbit picks up steps when he stands in one place and practices his basketball dribbling skills. There were several days when he’d have 35k-40k steps, and there was no way that was accurate. We got a good laugh once we figured it out.

If my 9 year old ate what he wanted to eat he would be pretty unhealthy. We have taught him that he needs to eat a fruit or vegetable at all meals and to choose a fruit as a snack before a granola bar.

He has a tracker, that he asked for because his friend had one. He hardly every looks at the step count, only on days that are silly busy (like backpacking or hiking).

He was an active kid before he got the tracker and he remains an active kid. Try not to over analyze everything.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids' friends had them, so they wanted them too. It's no big deal. No one is obsessive. 7 yo DD gets avg of 10k, range between about 7k and 13k per day. She does no sports and isn't particularly active--this is just from gym, recess etc. She likes to announce her steps to me at the end of the day. If it encourages my mostly sedentary kid to move a bit more, Im' all for it.

Does your 7 year-old count calories too?

This is more analogous to counting fruits and vegetables, and yes.

Oh, it’s pretty analogous to counting calories.

And kids should be listening to their bodies about what foods and activity they need, not some external counter.

See above references to eating disorders….

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids' friends had them, so they wanted them too. It's no big deal. No one is obsessive. 7 yo DD gets avg of 10k, range between about 7k and 13k per day. She does no sports and isn't particularly active--this is just from gym, recess etc. She likes to announce her steps to me at the end of the day. If it encourages my mostly sedentary kid to move a bit more, Im' all for it.

Does your 7 year-old count calories too?

This is more analogous to counting fruits and vegetables, and yes.

Anonymous wrote:WTF? Why are you givign your 2nd grader a fitbit? This is some seriously messed up parenting.

DP - but why? Can you explain what is messed up about encouraging physical activity? Some kids are motivated by competition, and if fitbits lead to them having better health, what exactly is the issue?

[quote=Anonymous]WTF? Why are you givign your 2nd grader a fitbit? This is some seriously messed up parenting.[/quote

That alone is weird enough but what really bothers me is then coming here with numbers to ask is this average or is he just way more active than all of ours. Chill the F out Jesus.

WTF? Why are you givign your 2nd grader a fitbit? This is some seriously messed up parenting.

I have no idea! Do 7 year olds really have fit bits? My 8 year old has never mentioned this to me, she did just get her first watch though.

Anonymous wrote:My kids' friends had them, so they wanted them too. It's no big deal. No one is obsessive. 7 yo DD gets avg of 10k, range between about 7k and 13k per day. She does no sports and isn't particularly active--this is just from gym, recess etc. She likes to announce her steps to me at the end of the day. If it encourages my mostly sedentary kid to move a bit more, Im' all for it.

Does your 7 year-old count calories too?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is such a ward 3 privileged parent post, if ever I have seen one omg

Seemed totally suburban to me

This is definitely suburban. Ward 3 are sufficiently knowledgeable about psychology and competitiveness to know that Fitbits for kids is a bad idea.