Hi
one of my children has taken a keen interest in my running. He will soon be 10 and is active and full of energy! Can i have some tips on how to run with him?
Should I make sure he has frequent stop breaks to walk or as he is younger should i just let him run at his pace until he gets tired? Thanks for any advice.
Have no direct experience - my boys are only just 20 months this week.
But from what I've seen at parkrun - he'll likely run rings around you!! Especially if he's already an active child - he'll still be going when you're on your hands and knees begging for the pain to stop 
To start with I'd try adopting the parkrun rule and keep him within arms reach and see how he goes. Depending on where you run - whether it's safe or not - you could stretch that out to keeping him in sight.
Thank you i will try that. You said "boys" so i guess twins? I also have twin boys but they're 7 now!
Yep non-identical twin boys who will be 20 months old on the 10th.
Somehow they know when Daddy has set his alarm for silly o'clock to go for a run, because those are the nights when they play up the most.
Like last night - one of them messed about so I didn't get to bed until 1am with my alarm set for 4:45am.
I was just going to say 'try him at parkrun'. Maybe to start with let him run until he is tired but measure how long that is so you can use the starting point as a motivational tool for future improvement. (You did 3.5k last week, let's see if you can do 4k this week/ you did this route in 20 mins last week, can you do it quicker this week ?) You could also try some of the children's challenges on virtualrunner.com
Thank you I'll check out virtual Runner now
It's clearly not beyond kids to run 5k - some friends of ours take their 5-year old, to Parkrun and she does 5k in 38 minutes! Their 7-year old does it in something like 28! Like anyone, however, they will need some time to become accustomed to endurance running so I wouldn't suggest taking them on your full distance right away.
I would limit them to 10 mins run at a time with walks between to start, even if they can run longer. Then, you can gradually extend that. Kids are lighter and more flexible so they are less likely to get joint issues but you don't want that if you can help it.
Ugi
Junior Parkrun (2k) with my two kids was what got me into running.
My son (aged 8) now runs Parkrun with his Dad as he is too fast to run it with me! His PB is just over 23 minutes! My daughter (aged 6) has been nagging and nagging to run the 5k too so we are gradually building up her distance (including walk stops when she wants to) before her first official Parkrun in the next few weeks. There are LOADS of kids that run in our local Parkrun ranging from the super speedy ones to the ones who tail walk with their parents.
Our 'house' rules on running are; 1. They pick whether they want to run or not, 2. If they say they want to walk then we walk and 3. We always tell them they tried really hard afterwards. This had made them want to run lots and lots and lots
Great stuff from goonkeepgoing. I tell my kids that if they don't want to run a specific parkrun then they don't have to. And no need for elaborate excuses. We invariably go along as a family anyway, running, volunteering or kicking a ball around the park.
I wouldn't apply any particular constraints either. If your boy is active then he'll be fit enough to do a bit of running. Kids are smart too-they know when to slow/stop. The only advice I give to my boys is to eat/drink in moderation beforehand and if it's a parkrun, to take it easy at the start (they ignore that bit).
Be careful though, if you're thinking of introducing any financial incentives. My youngest boy (11) was coasting at the parkrun for a bit. His PB stood at 27:19 but for a few weeks he was running 30-plus minutes. I knew he was capable of more so I introduced a sliding reward scale. Appearance money basically, plus bonuses for PBs and breaking minute barriers. He also got me to agree to buy him a BMX bike if he achieved sub 25 mins. At the next parkrun he took me to the cleaners, magically improving on his previous time by more than 5 mins and breaking his PB by nearly a minute. Then last week he shaved nearly another minute off! His best time now stands at 25:37 and I'm suddenly in a spot of bother. This week we've got a pacing event too and I'm sure he'll be after that 25 minute bib. Bugger.
Hi, I have kids the same ageish as yours ( 9 +6 ) and they have asked the same thing. We tried a junior parkrun (2k) which the 9y ran, no probs, if you have one close to you it would be great place to start. ( The smaller one alternated between running like the wind and walking like a snail but had a blast too ). I'm hoping to take them out together, slowly building up so we can all do the 5k parkrun. My older one running it if she wants to and I will run/walk with the younger one. I think Ugifers 10mins suggestion is a good place to start with my two.
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