I thought I was pretty active, I mean, I run at least six miles a day. Well, last Sunday at church my son was running from me and it was crazy, but I wasn’t really able to keep up with him. This quickly made me think, what if I were to start challenging children on Fitbit?
Did you know that you can add friends on Fitbit? Of course you did. But did you also know about challenges? These are some of my favorite things to do. There are really two options that I like to participate in: workweek challenge and weekend warrior. Many times I have done these challenges with people at work, friends, their friends, etc. But kids?
Recently, my wife and I wrapped up directing an elementary school musical. I love it because I become friends with the little kids. Well, I was talking to some of the boys that had Fitbits and we connected. I had no idea what I was in store for.
You don’t think about how active kids are. Here I am, a basic old dad that sits at a desk all day not getting steps in really during the day. Kids on the other hand have recess, sports their parents signed them up for and they hate sitting still.
I get up every morning and get my six miles in. This brings me just over 12,000 steps. I have to do this if I even want a chance at beating these kids. At the end of the first day I thought, “I’m doing pretty good!” Don’t ever think that with these little gremlins. I looked at my total steps at the end of the day and I was at 16, 844 at 9:30 pm. Clearly these little kids have to be in bed.
My alarm goes off; I look at my Fitbit app to see where everyone is at only to find I’m down over 3,000 steps. What in the world? What happened? I thought I was good, but I guess they don’t sit on the couch when watching Bachelor.
The week continues and I keep pushing myself harder because who wants to get beat by a bunch of 11 year olds? These kids are in basketball, run during their recess breaks at school and just keep active all day.
Basically, what I learned was kids are a lot more active than I thought they would be. I wasn’t thinking about all the things they do on a daily basis, but also how lazy I get when I walk in the door from work.
Officially I will never underestimate these kids. Kids aren’t as lazy as I thought they were. Plus, I can’t thank them enough for motivating me more and pushing me harder. Turns out, kids are fun to be friends with—just don’t make it awkward with them.
