Hi Readers — Here’s a little study I was just reading that said that getting teens to do more walking lowers their blood pressure. I guess that’s not a big surprise, but it is a nice reminder (to me, anyway, with a son about to turn 14), that walking should be part of his day. And maybe giving him a pedometer, as the article suggests, would goose him along. (You’d think that here in New York City, where we don’t have a car, he’d be walking his patooty off. But we are surrounded by temptingly convenient public transportation.) The study also endorsed meditating. Which, come to think of it, I guess he could do on the bus. — Lenore
10 Comments
The new Pokemon games for the DS come with what they call a PokeWalker. It is a pedometer to which they can transfer their Pokemon and take them “for a walk”. My sons now love to go walking out through the neighborhood because when they get back, their Pokemon have gained experience points or something that help them in their video games. It’s a lot of incentive for them. The games are called HeartGold and SoulSilver, I think.
Michael
Heh I immediately thought of the PokeWalker too! Except in my case I’m hoping it gets my husband moving more. ^_^
I got my 14 yo a puppy. That needs to be walked three times a day 🙂
Why so many walks? Because a tired puppy is a good puppy! (And a tired teen is a good teen, but don’t tell him I said that).
I also got a CD of meditations, and we listen to those in the mornings before we start school.
Darlene, we’re thinking alike–I’m not a teen, but I think what’s keeping my blood pressure down toward the end of my pregnancy is the need to walk the dog we adopted a few months ago! I’m not up to it every day, but she needs it–and likes it–so much that I try to take her out as many mornings as I can (when I can’t, my husband takes her out after work).
She’s not a puppy (she’s 11 or 12) and she sleeps most of the day, but even she goes a little stir crazy if she doesn’t get walked for too many days in a row. So we help each other in that regard.
When I lived in NYC I walked everywhere! Especially when I was a teenager. Of course I lived in the Rockaways, so public transportation was seriously lacking.
I find it so depressing that my new city is so unfriendly to pedestrians. I hate needing to hop in the car to get a gallon of milk.
Hey, everyone. Pedometers happen to be the Deal of the Day at Woot.com. (Another mom just told me about this site as her secret to inexpensive birthday presents.)
Thanks, guys, for the PokeWalker info! I think this is just the thing to get my son, a serious couch potato (Mr. “I’ll go on the Cub Scout camping trip as long as it’s not outdoors.”) moving without my usual nagging or ultimatums!
My daughter is a walker–she walks for exercise, to get places, to relieve stress, and just to think.
Since she was 11, I’ve been getting stopped on the street, the post office, the grocery store, etc. by well-meaning neighbors and even a police officer, telling me that they saw my child WALKING (gasp) sometimes “all the way” up by the library (2 miles) and did I know? The implication is always that she is too far from home, which they think is dangerous.
Now that she’s 15 and a runner, she gets much farther away from home than that, and I am STILL hearing reports of where people have seen her.
She’ll be driving a car in a few months (imagine how far she can get then) but I suspect that I won’t hear so much about her travels then. I think it’s the “on foot” part combined with the distance that troubles people.
So, put your PokeWalkers away, parents. Couch potato life = safe, exercise and fresh air = dangerous. (What were you thinking?)
when i was a kid, i love to receive an assortment of birthday presents like teddy bears and mechanical toys *’-