Tips for taking your child running with you

[loisamelia]

At the weekend, just because we said he couldn't, my youngest aged 9 ran almost a kilometre. He was just wearing his everyday trainers and clothes! I am going to take him for a short run tomorrow to see how he gets on. He's really excited! Does anyone run with their child and have any tips for us

[PotterBook Graduate]

I wish I had tips, but I am going to follow your post for whatever tips you get. My 8 year old wants to join running club with her school next year, and really wants to get involved with running. She is over weight, so I completely support her decision, but I'm afraid of how to start her up, since I'm a treadmill runner. Sorry that's no help to you. Good luck to you and your boy!

[davelinks Graduate]

My 6year old Great nephew runs at his local junior Parkrun which is 2km distance, and on Sunday got a wristband for completing his 11th run...😊

[Hidden]

Yes, if you've got a junior parkrun near you that's a great supervised way to start...

[loisamelia Graduate]

I have mentioned junior parkrun to him but he doesn't want to run with other kids. Maybe he will in the future though.

[Hidden]

I have run with my two daughters aged 7 and 8 yrs and my son aged 7 yrs. Both girls have run the 5k park run with me at their pace coming in between 33 and 36 minutes. I started by running a 1.2 mile route with them first. It was the school run and back so easy for them to visualise. I found that they all ran off too quickly so I had to slow them down and pace them. I explained that they will want to stop after about 0.5 miles as their legs will ache and they will feel out of breathe but to keep going so that they get a good breathing/running pattern. Lots of encouragement is needed. Break it down if needed ie let's run to that bin, walk for 10 seconds then run to that junction etc. My girls like to take a water bottle which I end up carrying!! Once we had mastered 1.2 miles, we upped to 2 miles then looked at 5k parkrun. Some days they have a fab run, other days takes a bit more encouragement. They all love the post run euphoria!

[loisamelia Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Sounds like they are doing brilliantly. Thank you for the tips too, especially about breaking the run down. I have tried to encourage him to join the cross country running club at his school but he isn't keen.

[Marianna_S]

I started taking my 9 years old son to our Bedford Parkrun since last May so will be nearly a year soon. Every Saturday it is the same story - no, today I am not going, today I am staying in bed. Every Saturday I think to myself - he is right, it is bad weather / yesterday we went to bed late / a lot of walking to do later / etc so no, today, we are not going but no, we haven't missed a single run since last May and it will be our fiftieth soon. The thing is that he is now my running buddy, we do it together, and it is a very special time, just for me and him, and we only keep going because of each other.

Initially, he started running with me, which was pretty slowly, around 38 minutes but very quickly he progressed with the speed I can't even dream of. I am around 32 minutes now, and his PB was 23, you should have seen his face when he did it - he was so proud. It got both of us into regular exercises - I now do classes or run every single day, and he realised that running is his thing and joined the local running club. Last weekend we had a local Where is Wally charity run and he was the first one out of all the children, the second winner came about 5 minutes after him so he was standing there for ages wondering where they all are.

What I was going to say is that Parkrun is a brilliant way to do it together as a family, and it is so much more than just running. They learn how to respect the differences and how to accept the fact that there are always people who are doing something better than you, they gain confidence (when they beat you - and they always will as they are young and really fast!), they volunteer and learn how to encourage others, and they get into regular sport, - and the last, but not the least they keep you going when you feel like you are about to give up. All for free, what more do you want

[loisamelia Graduate in reply to Marianna_S]

Fantastic reply, thank you for the inspiration. Maybe we will both end up doing parkrun, but why does it have to be Saturday when I work

[Lornia Graduate]

I just run around the park with my daughter, she's just turned 10. I run laps and she joins me for as much as she can do. I have the advantage of our park being a nice flat closed in field so I can always see her. And there's a kids playground in the middle.