Children need 3 hours exercise a day?

I think my grandchildren are on the go all the time, especially after school and in the holidays. Apart from obvious 'exercise' such as tennis, swimming, dancing, cycling, playbox, circus skills, Cubs and beavers, they just never stop bouncing, walking and running.

Holidays are full on activity too.

So easily three hours a day. Most children (at least when I was on playground duty) run around during playtimes and lunch hours, playing football, chase, skipping, etc..

If all this is taken into consideration then 3 hours in quite moderate.

I think it probably refers to "activity" rather than exercise. In which case, yes, easily achievable imho through walking to school,,playing in the park, running around the schoolyard.

Add in after school "activities" and you've exceeded it fairly easily.

My 3 never stop either. It's football, running, gymnastics, dancing, basketball, horse riding, skipping etc. All fit as fiddles and not I pick of fat between them .

One of my two is never still. The other one does love his technology. Luckily they have a dad who is into outdoor activities, and a mum who is into fitness. So even the less active one is getting there. I think a lot depends on the parents.

Mind you, now the younger one has started secondary school he can no longer ride his bike in the mornings. Has to be car now. That is a shame.

My gs gets plenty of exercise. His weekends are spent doing park runs or cycling with his parents, or, now the season has started again, Sunday morning football for a club. He has cross country, athletics and football three afternoons after school, swimming Tuesday evening. He's out with his friends at every other opportunity.... I'm tired just thinking about it. Must go and lie down!

A consultant has told my son that most children in this country do not use all of their muscles and are 'weak'. All three of my GC do Physio type exercises. This lack of muscle strength is due what we all know - they don't play outside like they used to. My son is a teacher and his school take all the children for a 1km run before lessons. He says the only problem is that he would then like to shower and change, but can't. At the other end of the spectrum , my GD is in yr 6 and getting 2 hours of homework a night. How is she supposed to get any exercise?

I know my two GS don't get enough exercise when with their father. He is quite happy to use technology as the babysitter. Although lately they have done a bit of Pokemon hunting together. The oldest is not sporty at all but does do swimming at school. D makes sure they play outside at least or go to the park when they are here with us.

Two hours of homework every night is ridiculous, especially at 6! What is that school thinking?

Year 6 not age 6 , my lot get plenty exercise , they run messages for me , so It is me gets none . They go to scouts , football and swimming

The problem would be limiting GS2 & 3 to just 3 hours exercise!

Y6 not age 6.... Misread that, thank goodness. But 2 hours of homework in Y6 (GS1 just gone into Y6) is still too much.

My son and his partner rarely used the push chair and their children were walking reasonable distances from an early age. They are very active - playing in the garden on the trampoline and on their bikes and going to the park - and both of them are very good at climbing on the play structures.

Three hours a day seems rather a lot though. When they are at school, how would 3 hours of activity be fitted in?

It does concern me to see some quite old children being pushed around in push chairs. Teachers are apparently reporting that many children starting school are not that confident on their feet and have poor balance and co-ordination. I wonder if it is this over-use of push chairs that has contributed to this.

My 3 hated their pushchairs from the time they could walk Eloethan and I think a lot of parents overuse them to save them from the hassle of walking slowly, talking to the child and occasionally picking them up for a short carry. I mean after all it must be difficult to text or chat on your mobile when you have a toddler walking along beside you .

I'm always amazed at the number of quite old children who are wheeled to preschool in their pushchairs. My three GSs got out of theirs the minute they could walk. We tended to use the pushchair to pile shopping in while the child galloped off.

My 7 year old grandchildren have trampoline swings and slide in the garden. They use scooters bikes and roller skates regularly and today both completed a triathlon in school . They are always on the go, they run everywhere. Both daughters exercise regularly and SiIL is very sporty playing hockey, football and going to the gym so it's normal for them. There's not a bit of fat on either of them and that has to be more healthy. I agree children should be encouraged to do a lot of exercise and I haven't even counted games etc in school timetable