Mini Treadmills: Anti-Obesity Tool or Death of Playtime?

Sept. 22, 2008— -- The country can't deny it; America's kids are getting overweight at an alarming rate. The latest numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimate 16 percent of children are obese and an additional 15 percent are overweight.

In the last year, the toy industry has thought up a way to help: treadmills for tots. In fact, kids-sized gym equipment and kid gyms are popping up in elementary and middle schools on both coasts. Even some adult gyms now offer child sections.

Parents and toy companies say the child-size equipment can get kids moving and teach a healthy habit. But exercise and child psychiatry experts say at the wrong age, for the wrong reasons, child exercise equipment may do more harm than good.

"That trend has really been stepped up in the last two to three years," said Renye Rice, a toy trend specialist with the Toy Industry Association.

Rice said this year parents can now buy the Fitness Fun MyTreadmill, the Glide a Stride elliptical machine. Or, for $99, parents might choose the Fisher Price Smart Cycle stationary bike that hooks up to the television.

"The action on the TV is moved along only when they're cycling," said Rice. "It gives them a reward for actively moving."

Products like these fall into the new genre of "exertainment," which tries to satisfy children's tastes and the concerns of the parents.

"The thought was really, that it was something the parents are going to see as being really beneficial," said Ticia Will, senior product manager for International Playthings Inc., which makes the Fitness Fun treadmill.

"So at the same time while they're playing at being grown up, they're moving," said Will.

But according to child psychiatrist Dr. Michael Brody, running on a treadmill enough to get exercise doesn't equal play.

"These are not toys -- toys are supposed to act as catalyst for play," said Brody, who chairs the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry TV and Media Committee.

Three times a week, the McMahons visit the Fitness Institute and Kids Fitness Institute of Scottsdale, Ariz. which offers kids-size equipment, games like Dance Dance Revolution, bikes hooked up to video games and a staff to direct and occupy the kids age 6-15.

"It's so hot here the kids can't go outside they tend to stay inside more and tend to be obese more," said McMahon.

McMahon said she was especially concerned for her son Sean, who is autistic and not good at social team sports.

"For years I have wished that I could find someplace for him to work out for him it has done a tremendous amount for his self esteem," said McMahon. "He told his friends he goes to the gym. They're looking at him impressed and say 'you work out?' He said 'yeah!'"