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Does this kid really need to associate exercise with a calorie counter?
I saw the first Christmas commercial of the year this morning, so I guess the buying season is upon us. Which, of course, means that out of the crop of new toys there are going to be a few horrors. So far, there hasn't been anything like last year's Strutz, but the season is young yet.
This treadmill for little kids seems pretty bad, though. On the one hand, kids like to mimic what grown-ups do, and using gym equipment is no exception. However, little kids shouldn't be running on treadmills. They should be skateboarding and ridding bikes and playing soccer. If your kids aren't getting enough exercise, the solution is to turn off the TV and go for a long walk, not plop a treadmill in front of the TV. And little kids should really not be using the wrist and ankle weights listed for sale along with the treadmill. Good grief.
Look, we all want our kids to learn healthy habits, but the way to do that is to encourage the physical activity they enjoy. That means driving them to the skate park on the weekends and getting them swimming lessons or enrolling them in basketball leagues. It doesn't mean dropping $100 for an inappropriate toy which teaches them that exercise only happens with equipment.
(Of course, those two snow days this week nearly did me in, what with having four kids trapped in the house while their dad tried to work from home. I suppose a treadmill would have come in very handy then, as opposed to bouncing themselves and each other off the walls.)
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