A real step forward?
THEY ENCOURAGE KIDS TO MOVE MORE, BUT ARE FITNESS TRACKERS THE RIGHT APPROACH FOR CHILDREN, ASKS
WANDER into just about any primary school and you will find kids wearing bright latex bands around their wrists.
Fitness trackers work as a watch, tally the steps you’ve taken each day and have become hot property in the nation’s playground.
While some detractors believe the gadgets place too much emphasis on body image and weight, others say anything that encourages a child to move more should be applauded.
Digital psychologist Jocelyn Brewer sees the irony in using an electronic gadget to get kids to put down screens and be more active, but says fitness trackers can encourage positive behaviour.
“Most of these activity trackers are marketed on the fact it can be hard to encourage kids to move and get the daily activity recommended in sedentary guidelines,” Brewer says.
“It’s best if the values around health and wellbeing are shared as a family and a sibling isn’t singled out for weight loss or some negatively viewed reason.”
Jamie Jones, co-founder of The Kid’s Coach, agrees with Brewer and says parents should use devices with caution, particularly with younger children. In fact, Jones says he wouldn’t recommend them for children under 11.
“The whole issue around setting targets and goals is so strict and I don’t think that is necessarily a good thing for children when it comes to being active,” he says.
“I would also question why parents are getting this type of gadget for their child. Are they using it as a babysitting tool, to remove their responsibility in helping their kids to be active?
“I think if parents approach the use of fitness trackers to be more active as a family, then that’s a positive. But if there’s a nine-year-old and mum’s chucking them outside to get their steps up while they sit inside watching television, that’s not the right message for the child.”
Jones adds trackers have a place in encouraging more steps, but he wants parents to remember activity in children needs to be about more than just walking and running to accumulate steps.
“For their brain development, children need to be rolling, spinning, running, throwing and catching, which isn’t necessarily something the trackers will pick up,” he says.
“And there is also a great benefit in kids just playing, in a less structured way without the emphasis on goals.
“Having said all that, they can be a good tool for families to use together, to create happy moments together as a family.”
Garmin led the charge onto the market in 2016 when they introduced the VivoFit Jr, which sets a goal of 60 minutes of activity each day, allows kids to earn virtual coins when they complete a chore and sets timers for things like brushing your teeth for two minutes.
The US company even recruited Aussie fitness star Steve “Commando” Willis and his daughter Ella to help spruik their kids’ product.
This year, FitBit joined the movement with their first children’s fitness tracker, the FitBit Ace. While both of these sell for about $100, you can also find cheaper brands for less than $50.
Brewer says there are ways of reminding children to do their music practise or brush their teeth without digitising the experience.
“There are a range of offline options to do (chores) from simple star and rewards charts (which work to varying degrees for some developmental stages) and paper-based systems that encourage good habits without the need for expensive devices,” she says.
“We also want to ensure we are not creating a dependence on the device in order to do the activity – so that if the battery is flat or the wearable is broken, would that become an excuse to not do the expected activity?
“Creating rewards for doing developmentally appropriate activities that would be expected as part of ‘normal’ family life can set up extrinsic motivation habits, rather than teaching kids that sometimes you do things for fun or because it feels good to do them (intrinsic motivation).”