5.5 year old doing Junior 2K park run

[AlienLady]

Hello,

I'm seeking some advice. My 5.5-year-old son recently started participating in junior park runs (2k) on hard ground/concrete. He's completed five runs and is keen to continue. However, I've heard concerns about the impact on his growth and joints…

Any thoughts?

It is only once a week, and he presumably runs on a concrete/tarmac playground everyday at school for a similar amount of time? He'll be fine.

It's such a short distance and takes about 10 minutes. It's really not going to do any lasting damage.

Are there any advice forums/groups online about kids running? They might be better able to advise on protecting his joints eg good trainers to buy, how to warm up etc. But weighed up against the longer term health benefits I would think the risk would be minimal.

Fabulous to hear he’s enjoying it!

The benefits of activity far outweigh any worries here.

Reassurance and practical things you can do be there in time for the warm up pre-run (juniors do this, unlike the full 5k) and make sure he has well fitting trainers.

junior parkrun is a joyous thing, and builds confidence not just fitness. The times are not important, just have fun and make sure he does not expect a PB every week

It is no different to him running around a tarmac playground or playing football on a street. If he enjoys the running let him continue.

My ds 8 does them. He’s on the waiting list for an athletics club but I have heard that they don’t encourage them because of the impact on knee joints.

I let him do them once a month as he also does swimming, football plus a class called run, jump and throw. If your son is interested I’d look to see if any of your local sports centres do run, jump and throw as it’s a pathway to athletics.

As others have said, no different to a playground. Decent running trainers might be a worthwhile investment. My 8 year old does the adult one and I’ve never really worried about it. He’s so active the rest of the time I kind of think the added impact of a 5k run is negligible. We don’t ever go further than 5k, so half hour max

It's fine, they wouldn't be allowed to happen if they weren't safe. He probably runs round the playground at school for longer than that every day. 🙄