Re-thinking Fitness

Can you hear that? It's the collective sound of mothers everywhere, trying to figure out what to do with the kids during the February school break. Frankly, I've never understood this vacation -- it hasn't been that long since the holidays and really, it seems quite cruel to give kids a week off during one of the coldest (depending on where you live, of course) months of the year.

Where I live, February often brings not only whipping winds and bone-chilling cold, but also a healthy dose of snow -- or, my particular favorite, freezing rain. Telling the kids to go outside and play usually isn't an option. That's why I've got a confession to make that just might brand me a bad mom.

I love our Wii.

Though I'll never be convinced that it's on par with running around outside, it does my heart good to see my son practicing his baseball swing instead of planted on the couch in a glassy-eyed, thumb-pushing frenzy of Playstation 2 games. I know it's still a video game, but at least there's some movement associated with it. As it turns out, video-games-for-fitness is something of a trend at YMCAs and schools across the country.

Most of the parents I know do a fair bit of lamenting about how things aren't the same for our kids as they were for us -- they don't roam the neighborhood with their friends, ride their bikes til the streetlights come on or play whiffle ball with a pack of kids at the playground. But I often wonder if we would have either, had we had all these channels, Web sites and video games available to us.

I think the healthy answer to all this lies somewhere in the middle. I'm a huge proponent of leading by example, so my kids will see me work out this morning...and if the weather warms up, I'll suggest an afternoon walk down to the beach or a game of driveway basketball. If not? I smell a them-against-me Wii bowling tournament in the works.

Their exercise may not always look like the exercise I remember from my childhood. But as long as they're moving, I'll take it.

Comments

[Sagan]

Oh God I so needed this break. At university level it's very necessary :D

I like your thinking about the wii fit and all, and I have to say I agree. It's no substitution for actual exercising, but when it's so cold out and if the other option would be sitting in a couch not doing anything then it's a much better choice. It's also more interactive and sociable than other video games.

[Alyssa]

Totally agree. It may not be ideal, but it's better than the alternative.
We'll be (trying) to take the kids to cool places like the Exploratorium and the Academy of Sciences, if they aren't too crowded. We may even try Pump It Up, a warehouse full of bouncy houses!

[jamie]

Do you have Wii Fit?? Oh my I played that with my neice and nephew and they had me sweating.

I do feel bad for them they don't roam the streets like I did, but change must come I suppose.

[Charlie Hills]

I don't see how getting the kids up off the couch in the middle of winter could ever get the brand "bad". Works for me!

[Dara Chadwick]

Sagan, no worries...I know you college kids need a well-deserved break. But middle-schoolers? Not so much :-). Alyssa, Pump It Up sounds awesome. Jamie, we don't have a Wii Fit -- I had Yourself Fitness for Playstation and found it really boring. But I hear goods things about the Wii Fit. Charlie, thanks for stopping by and for the moral support!