We all want our children to stay active, especially in a world where there are so many distractions to keep them glued to a screen for hours at a time.
But one mum who posted her parenting methods on TikTok has been accused of being too “extreme” after she revealed her children must complete at least 12,000 steps a day throughout the week before they can earn video game time at the weekend.
Posting on her account, @themarienfam, the mum shared a video of one of her sons on a treadmill which was accompanied by text that read: “12,000 steps per day to earn video game playtime on the weekend.”
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The video - which went viral and has been viewed more than 918,000 times - sparked debate in the comments, with many people divided over her technique.
One person said: “This seems extreme.”
While another added: “Be very careful with this. At that age, they are very self-conscious of their bodies and this may go south very quickly.”
But others stressed the importance of making sure children remain active and praised the mum’s parenting style.
Someone commented: “As an elementary school PE teacher, you have no idea how many kids are so unhealthy … kudos to this parent!”
As someone else wrote: “I don’t see a thing wrong with this! I stay home five days a week and the only way I hit my 10-13k daily steps is by doing an hour of cardio and I feel amazing afterwards.”
The mum also defended herself from negativity in the comments as she insisted her children can get their steps in however they want - and said her son even asked her if he could use the treadmill after she’d finished her own workout.
She wrote: “For everyone freaking out, he doesn’t run on the treadmill every day. My kids can get their steps anyway they want. They also don’t have to get them if they don’t care to play their video games. They can make choices. My son came in after I finished running and asked if he could hop on.”
And in a follow-up video posted the next day, the mum - who is from the US - further explained the reasons behind her exercise rule.
She said: “My kids are homeschooled, so they’re not stuck at a desk for eight hours a day. If they were, I’d probably adjust their step counts.
“For Christmas 2020 we bought them FitBits because they’d been asking for them for a while, and they were averaging about 10,000 steps a day just from playing outside. I gave them a challenge and I told them that if they could reach 15,000 steps per day for 30 days then I would buy them a Nintendo Switch.”
The mum said her children stopped being as active when they received the games console because they were too focused on playing games - so she set up a system that would allow them to do both.
She added: “They did that really easily, so I bought the Switch but that ended up backfiring on us. There was a huge change in their attitude, they didn’t want to be outside, they didn’t want to do anything other than play their games. So I had to set restrictions.
“My kids have no problem reaching their step goals every day. They don’t have to run on a treadmill, they’re not on there all day, they can get their steps in any way they wish.”
What do you think of the mum's parenting methods? Let us know in the comments below.
