DH running with dd(8) at 5am

DS has come running with me since he was 8. His choice, he just went to bed earlier since I go at 5am. If she wants to go I can’t see how you can stop her, seems a bit unfair

I think the running is highly odd. 5am!!??? She’s 8! It’s February and dark and cold and always raining.

By the time she’s got to school she will have been up four hours. She must be shattered. Why is he doing it?

If I saw a little girl that age, running in the pitch black I would think it was neglectful to be honest. I couldn’t give a shit about being woken up but I would care about her being knocked down, catching a cold, being too tired for school, losing too much weight as she’s doing all those other activities.

Does she wear high vis gear? Is it waterproof? Motorists at 5am are not looking out for small children running on pavements.

My daughter is 7 and I hate having to go in her room and wake her for school on these cold winter mornings and that’s at 7.45am.

Surely if she's waking up while he is going out, she'd wake you if she wasn't going with him anyway?!

For those saying it is amazing, it appears she doesn’t get any downtime during school week and is doing other high impact sports. Sleep and downtime is also important for an 8 year old’s development

Well done your DP and a child! This is great... a dad being involved and engaging a child in healthy pursuits.
I would be thrilled.

I’d have a chat with your DH about the distance being a worry as posters here have suggested, and do some research. Maybe once mid-week, and once at the weekend but less than 5k. I guess 5k is the distance your DH likes to do, but sounds like he will need to reduce the distance, or take her a lot less.

Why does it have to be 5am?

This was one of my points. I understand she obviously likes activities, but she basically has zero downtime a day then? Downtime is different for everyone bug time for her body to relax.... whether she's playing with toys, colouring, reading, watching tv whatever.

She sound like she does a lot of activity (running and gymnastics) that are good in moderation but 2-3 hours a day of them sound like it'd be tough on her bones.

Then its really unreasonable of you to believe he should ignore her wishes so that you don’t worry about her, out with her Dad, and because she’s not being quiet enough.

Shes 8, she should be able to learn to be quieter if she wants to go, but she should absolutely go if she wants to. Running with her Dad has a lot of benefits.

That is relevant.

However they should be more considerate of you and the other children. It's not fair to be woken up so early, I'd object to that.

I'm frankly amazed anyone wants to be up, never mind out, at 5am. Still it takes all sorts.

As long as your daughter is happy doing it, and if they can keep their noise down, it sounds fine.

No, she's doing 5k a time.

If she’s waking naturally at that time I don’t see the harm in her joining him for some shorter runs a couple of times a week.
If he’s waking her to run then I would limit it to twice a week and ask they don’t do over 3 miles in one session.
Being out running with her Dad in the dark wouldn’t bother me, I’m assuming they are in high visibility clothing/head lights.

That is too much for a child of that age.
As wonderful as it is to have a sporty athletic child, their bodies need to grow, bones develop etc.

Max distance of 5K for 9-11 year old. It sounds like OP's DD is doing WAY more than that.

@foreveror does she have any downtime?

Guidelines are that 9-11 year olds can do 5k - she’s 8 so only a few months off that age.

Dropping it to alternate days seems more reasonable than making her stop altogether.

Then you have two options;

1. they’re quieter when they leave. Warn her that if she continues to wake people up, it’ll have to stop.

2. just tell them it’s not working as it’s waking people up and it’s stopping now.

My son is a similar age, I’m struggling to see how she copes with waking so early and then getting on with the rest of the day, how much sleep is she getting? Kids need a lot of sleep.

There is a reason junior Parkrun is only 2km. Your DD's growth plates are still in place and very easily damaged with excess exercise/inappropriate exercise. You and DH need to discuss this properly with the view of her health and development as priority.

Once a week, she could do 1.5km-2km with her dad, finished off with some really good stretching - that is more than plenty at her age with all the other exercise you mentioned she is doing.

Also, ensure she is eating enough!!

Yep.

But in this context, lowest common denominator means the largest audience - as in, the advice has the appeal to the majority so they make it as easy to achieve as possible.

I think the question was whether the child wakes up by herself or the father has to wake her up at that time.

She wants to go
and hats off to DH there no way he’ll be able to get a proper pacey run in with daughter in tow but he still takes her

did you not notice that is the derogatory meaning?

I know an increasing number of very sporty kids with injuries - very likely related to overdoing the number of hours of sports and exercise per week. It is a problem that is slowly being recognised and you should definitely take it seriously.

Not to say that the runs have to go. But maybe it needs to be once a week only.

Could it not be at 6.30/7 rather than 5am? Does DH go to work very early or something?

As PP says, this is WAY too much for a child her age.
You could contact a running club with a junior section - they will have to conform to UK Athletics guidelines; they will be able to advise you.

I did a XC race today - the U11s (8-10) did 800m and the juniors (U16 I think) did 3K. And I froze my actual arse off running 8K in the snow

How is your DH getting his running fix and training in if he's taking your young DD?