Should Fitness Trackers be Used to Supervise Kids' Activities?

Fitness and health researchers are currently looking up if fitness trackers can cater to hyper-energetic kids.

Live Science reported last year that a certain interest in monitoring children's hyperactivity and active lifestyle has trended, with the goal of fighting obesity and being overweight among children.

Fitness trackers are eyed among adults and young adults alike in order to monitor goals set for exercise and workout. Experts say that the same can be used to motivate children in maintaining a healthy lifestyle at young ages; at the same time, parents can track children's activities, record, and provide reinforcements upon reaching their fitness goals.

Fox News says that according to a study, published in the journal "Preventing Chronic Disease", 46 percent of children burned almost 1,600 calories and accomplished 19,000 steps a day upon using the Polar Active Fitness Tracker.

"Monitors like this are actually good for what people refer to as the game-ification of health, where almost everything can be turned into what is essentially a video game," said Michelle Garrison, an epidemiologist at Seattle Children's Research Institute and the University of Washington School of Medicine, as quoted by Live Science. "We know that kids really respond to that."

Aside from monitoring steps, cycles, minutes of running or walking and the likes, fitness trackers now also feature graphs of active and sedentary times and monitoring of sleep duration and quality.

These devices are indeed helpful in tracking the repetitions, time, frequency, interval, and consistency of rest and exercise routines of children. However, experts also claim that not all children need a fitness tracker. Since being physically active and love for games are natural and innate among children, putting up fitness trackers does not necessarily encourage them to engage in physical activities.

In addition to this, only 26 percent of parents claim that their children play everyday, reports Fox News. Forcing children to monitor their progress on a daily basis might be a challenge and might be discouraging for kids in the long run, especially if goals are set higher than expected, making setting realistic goals significant.

Others argue that although health is a primary concern, subjecting kids to tiresome activities just to reach fitness tracker-set goals is another story. Perhaps, the bigger challenge to face is to motivate and establish a healthier lifestyle among children while growing up.