I got a pedometer because I was curious how much physical activity I do get in during the course of a regular day. The vestiges of my lab researcher remain and they want to track such things through cold hard facts. So I wore the pedometer yesterday, and I was wearing it this morning.
4 yo: "Mommy, what's that watch?"
"It's not a watch, it's a pedometer."
"What is it for?"
"It helps me count how many steps I take during the day."
"Why do you need to know?"
Ooh, a hard one.
WHY do I need to know how many steps I take in a day? Does it matter how many steps I take during the day? Or does it matter more WHERE am I going while taking all these steps? Does it matter more WHAT I do while taking all these steps?
So here is goes: I do not work out. I would like to exercise, and I spend a certain amount of time and energy beating myself up for not exercising, for not being more healthy. I do not do those sit-ups to tone flabby tummy. But I spend a lot of my energy running after 1 yo. I work out while chasing him on the playground from one slide opening to another. I get down on the floor to play with him and to read. I do laundry, I cook and clean, I haul Costco loot and Home Depot pebbles for 10 yo's zen garden. I tie trampoline nets. I lift 4 yo.
Obviously, I take a lot of steps in my day. From the cold hard facts of the pedometer, I get to that 10,000 steps without making any additional effort to walk. But I would like to think that spending those steps in a family setting, with my kids, putting them into my household is going to pay off in a much larger way than jogging alone down the street or pounding the treadmill.
I'm going to ditch the pedometer. Thank you, dear daughter, for asking such an important question.
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