Never thought of putting a fitness bracelet on your child?
Me neither.
Like Hermes-but with data
Before you accuse me of being some sort of sadistic mom who counts her kids’ calories and has them work out at the gym, my son begged for an UP. Also, his workouts consist mostly of digging for minerals on Minecraft.
Last month Verizon sent me a Jawbone UP to try. My review has received crazy attention. Including on a call I made to my therapist about finding my real dad. I told her to read the story on my website. At the beginning of our phone call she said, “so before we talk about your dad, can you tell me about that fitness bracelet?” For real. I think I even had to pay for the time I was explaining the myriad benefits of the UP.
My husband received one for Father’s Day. I never let him on my team because he’s so competitive and I was tired of hearing about how he takes 20,000 steps a day without even trying.
My 13 year old son begged for his own bracelet. He made a convincing case that we could track his sleep habits and also that he would learn more about the tech side of it (he’s my unpaid IT department) so we got him one in small.
His wrists are skinny and this fit him just fine and he has yet to lose it.
So far we’ve learned:
He is a VERY light sleeper. This isn’t normal for a teen, I think it has to do with the amount of time he spends watching “Family Guy” on his iPad before he falls asleep.
He gets in more exercise than we thought he did. Just because he doesn’t play sports like his brothers doesn’t mean he isn’t moving plenty. He feels like he really scored on this point.
One of his many video game workouts – can you see how competitive dad is???
He taught me how to program it for power naps. Naps are my greatest joy in life and somehow when I call them “power naps” and set them with my high tech health band they seem totally legit instead of lazy.
The fitness bands are here to stay. I see them everywhere on every wrist from professionals to skateboarders, I am still loving mine a month later. My husband’s died however (I swear it wasn’t sabotage, we’ll see what their customer service is like when I call for a replacement this week).
I am a Verizon Lifestyle Blogger and occasionally receive products for free in return for my unvarnished review. You can buy your own at UP by Jawbone.