Park Runs: Children - Why?

My kids hate all sorts of things. They hate it when I try to feed them vegetables, they hate it when I turn off the xbox or tv and insist they do homework. They hate it when I say things like "It's -2 degrees and we are going for a walk on the moor, I don't think hot pants and a crop top are appropriate" or "can you put your plate in the dishwasher". Honestly, you really can't judge someone's parenting based on one interaction. Some kids need encouragement to help with resilience, some don't. Of course some parents are competitive dicks who put themselves first but I think it's a bit sweeping to apply that to all parents doing park run. Have you ever watched a PE lesson in a secondary school? It's a healthy outdoor activity, not in front of a screen. They might get a nice treat after. Just go for your walk an hour later and then you won't be bothered.

My eldest would hate it but there are some children in her year who do it who bloody love it. Those are the ones who are picked for district athletics and are generally doing really well at sport. You might have just got an unusual crowd.

Just because one or two parents might be harsh with their children and force them to carry on when they're in pain (absolutely don't believe for one second this is the majority), doesn't mean it's bad.

One of the best thing parents can do for their children is to make physical activity a 'normal' part of life and routine. Sure, there are other children focused activities available, but running with their parents on a Sunday morning is great- the routine, the running itself, physical activity as a family.

Why is coco pops and cartoons the only alternative? Why not swimming, or playing in a playground? Surely forcing your child to take part in a form of exercise they don't like is guaranteed to put them off exercise?

Yes your parents clearly went too far but if I didn’t persuade my kids to do stuff, we would just be home all the time.

My DS complains EVERY week about an activity we do. “I want to stay home etc etc”

Yesterday I said “you’ll be pleased to hear we are not doing X” and he got upset!! Kids. So I could easily have given up but actually he enjoys it despite complaining.

Yeah maybe the parents should leave all the kids at home playing computer games? 🙄

Parkrun takes like an hour max? Can't you go there after it's finished? Or go somewhere else?

I love parkrun and junior parkrun but I totally hear you about people who force their kids into it when they clearly don’t want to be there. It’s supposed to be fun and everyone can take part at their own pace (particularly at juniors) so comments like “don’t talk you should be running” and parents who run holding hands with their child and practically drag them round at their speed not the child’s do need to be called out and they’re only going to put their kids off it even more.

This makes me sad, so many kids are put off exercise because they’re forced to do something they don’t enjoy because ‘it’s good for them’ ‘it builds resilience’, when actually they just haven’t found the right thing for them.

My family are very competitive and at school and home because I’m quite fit I was made to do competitive sport because I was good at it. I absolutely hated it and the minute I could give up I did. It took years, decades probably, to get back to exercise and realising that I could run to enjoy it without having to try and be faster than other people or myself, or dance or do yoga or shadow boxing. I love exercise again now, and I do think park run is a brilliant thing, but I absolutely won’t participate because I don’t want to be timed and ranked.

I know I’m not on my own with it, my sister is a fitness instructor and worked in schools for a while and she says she sees it every single day.

Agreed.

We have a junior parkrun and I volunteered there a few times when it first started. Lovely event. For many of the younger children a huge incentive to keep coming is that you get a coloured wristband for completing a certain number of parkruns and they were very proud of their collection. Most parents I saw there were encouraging and making the whole thing a bit of fun, then going to the cafe afterwards. Yes, it's only 20 minutes of exercise a week, but (a) that's better than nothing and (b) obviously it's all about building a positive attitude to exercise and getting out in the fresh air.

Some of the kids who were fast juniors when I volunteered are now young adults finishing first or second on the Saturday 5k event, which has been great to see, but I'm even more pleased to see the youngsters who are not natural runners keeping the habit going. That would have been me 50 years ago and there was no parkrun, nor any encouraging, supportive organisation trying to get everybody into sport and exercise. I was put off by school PE lessons, which were awful unless you were really sporty, my parents didn't play sport or take us for long walks, and the consequence was that for decades I fell into a sedentary lifestyle and became really unfit. It's taken parkrun to make me realise that actually anybody can exercise and doing something, even if you're not all that fast or strong, is hugely better than doing nothing.

One of the many wonderful things about parkrun is the opportunities it gives to people of all ages to volunteer. It's ideal for teenagers doing Duke of Edinburgh.

Just to say I don’t agree with people literally dragging a crying child around. But I think while these people do exist, your post maybe be exaggerating just a little bit, because you feel you must visit the park at exactly 9am on a Sunday for some reason.

If children don’t like their ‘downtime’ activity, then the parents need to find something else they want to do.
there are plenty more things for them to do, cycling, swimming, walking, rugby, football, hockey, netball to name but a few.
im a runner (you’d have never had guessed with my name I’m sure 🤣) and I’ve seen parents telling their child to ‘just run’ at Parkrun (not junior) when they’re unhappy and clearly aren’t enjoying it. I get them trying it to see, maybe even going twice, as I’ve also seen an occasion where a child is moaning but loved it when they had finished and asked if they can do it again. But it doesn’t build resilience in my opinion, just makes your child hate running. Especially this time of year when it’s
cold, damp and sometimes muddy.

I hated running at school, if my parents had made me do it I’d have still hated it. As it is, they didn’t and I bloody love running now. (Although I do sometimes moan about not wanting to do it when I’m running 🤣)

Parkrun is great for adults and juniors so I’d say unreasonable for the whole pathway taken up thing as it’s once a week, but reasonable for wondering why parents drag their children around if they don’t to, because you can run and / or walk at Parkrun so you can still have the fresh air and exercise element and not run it / the whole way.

It’s not the end of the world and it is good people get out and do something active with their kids. I don’t want to ban it or anything but it is a pain in the arse and it wouldn’t kill people who take part to acknowledge that it’s a bit of a pain if you live next to one.

Maybe it isn’t for that long but at least where I am our local one is pretty much every Saturday and every Sunday and it’s usually more than half an hour and it’s the ancillary irritations of lots of people descending on the area in their cars at more or less the same time and then leaving it a while later at more or less the same time on a weekend morning when you might like to be headed off to go out somewhere without hitting the mini traffic congestion it creates, to go for a walk and use your local park for the kids to play in etc.

I think YAB a little U to say kids shouldn’t be dragged along as kids don’t always love everything they do and sure it won’t harm them. YANBU to find the whole of parkrun a bit irritating because it is but it would be unreasonable to suggest it’s not done as overall I’m sure it does a lot more good than harm

Nice try, mine wouldn’t. He hates football but would do park run (I’d still have to persuade him though). A lot of kids need persuasion to do physical exercise but isn’t it better than them not doing it?

@Knowillbeflamed my kids aren't Parkrun fans at the start but are really proud of themselves once they've done it.

Also my DCs struggle with social relationships so don't have people to kick a ball around a park with, even if they felt so inclined.

Why not find an activity she enjoys and wants to do, rather than force this one in her?

Whilst I agree that children shouldn't be forced to do any activity they really don't want to, my experience of children at my school is that many do enjoy it.

Fair enough for parents to give it a go with their children - but if a child really doesn't enjoy it, then find a different civilly for them. There's no reason a child needs to do a park run. They can usually get adequate exercise from running around a park/playground playing games or with a ball or two.

If it’s a weekend morning, why not? They’ll have PE twice a week at school. Let them be kids. Their parents will have probably enrolled them in multiple ex-curricular activities like swimming, dance, football etc. after school anyway. I think with a lot of these parents it’s more that they’re seen to be dragging their kids out to participate by their parent friends so they’re not judged at the school gates come Monday morning

Not always, and junior park run is sometimes in a different location so its smoother ground etc.

Are park runs not actually in parks? The one in my town is.

Mine started it as soon as they were 4, within 6 months they were running it without a parent so definitely weren't being dragged round! They have done over 100 and even chose to go on Christmas Day. We never make them go and tell them it's fine to walk if they want or sometimes they volunteer instead. There (of course) are some who are forced and the team do look out for, and approach parents who appear to be putting too much pressure on their kids. For the vast majority it's a positive experience.

You are seeing a snapshot of an interaction. Kid may be really keen beforehand. But one of the tricky things with running is pacing so it isn’t unusual for them to sprint initially and then get tired and disgruntled at some point in the race. And then really happy that they did it at the end.

so - I would see a bit of protest during park run as normal kid behaviour (and they get frustrated kicking a ball around too, believe me) and would concentrate on the response of the adult - and if that worries you alert the park run safeguarding team.

I'd have to be dragged round a parkrun kicking and screaming too. But that's probably because I'm lazy and was never encouraged to take part in running like these children you complain about are being.
Honestly, what i dont understand, is how you can be arsed to be annoyed about a group activity that you dont even want to be involved in. Just stop being an utter misery and get on with your day.

The parents right, if you have a stitch you shouldn’t talk as that will make it worse, where as if you just breathe and carry on exercising it will stop.

Well, yes, there are some arseholes out there but I'm sure the majority of kids are enjoying it.

What you're basically saying, is that children should just do things that don't annoy you?

Just sounds like you hate running/can't run yourself so are complaining because others enjoy it.