How long does your 5/6 year old take to run 1km?

[BusWankers]

DD is 5 (6 in December), and has been trying to run 1km. She's got good core strength and loves swimming and cycling and gymnastics, does ballet, scooting, playground, climbing trees all good stuff.... But we realised that whilst she runs around the playgrounds etc it's all in short bursts and she isn't really doing prolonged aerobic exercise.

Anyway she wants to be able to run all the way to her Nana's which is just over a km away. We've been out a few times practising and running with bits of walking.
Her fastest time so far is 8:52 - she's yet to manage to run all the way, but she's only started this last week and has chosen to 4 runs so far. I've been encouraging her to run a bit further,and prompting her to run again after a short walking break (10-20m or so). She can currently do it with 3 walking breaks.

What kind of time do your kids do it in?

I don't want to push he too fast but think 1km is probably something she should really already be able to do (and I think she will be the end of October easily)

Ds often did junior park run (2k) at 6yo, looking back at his times, they were very variable at that age. His best one was 11.5 minutes, but another one was 14 minutes. He did often stop to look at things on the way around though. He was a lot older before he could run the whole thing without stopping. He had a couple of friends that were consistently faster than him, and both have gone on to compete at a decent level

He’s a very mid level runner now, and uses it to keep his fitness up for other sports

My kids do the daily mile every day at school from 4-11. They can walk or run it or any combination if they want. Most of them run. The school allows 15 minutes for the daily mile, obviously that’s a reasonable walking pace so add in a bit of running and even the little 4 year olds should manage. The bigger kids set off from a different area so 4 year olds are never trying to “compete” against 11 year olds on pace. But they all do the daily mile. I’m not one of “those” parents. That’s all I know about running times for kids (I do run but I am slow and not that bothered about timings)

Yesterday I went for a Sunday morning walk and stumbled upon Junior Park Run. Every single parent was so obnoxious. Standing on the sidelines shouting at their kids to hurry up and overtake. Dissecting every detail about progress and fitness levels with other parents, being loud and overly competitive. It was clearly more about the parents than the kids.

Let kids play and stop measuring their performance against some imaginary standard of perfection. They are too young for that kind of pressure.

The OP describes at least six sporting activities her 5 yr old does on a regular basis but is pushing her to do more in service of ‘prolonged aerobic activity’. Can you point me to any medical research that says children of that age should be undertaking prolonged aerobic exercise? Genuine question - not being goady.

Interestingly Run Bournemouth had a 1km run this weekend and have published the results on SM.

Looks like the top 3 boys start at 4:55 and girls at 6:14 (digression - what a difference between sexes even at that age!)

But I imagine - and have not gone off to trawl results - that many many children will have come in a long way slower than this too. So even at something so niche as an organised competition for 6 year olds, your dd would be within a handful of minutes of the fastest runners.

Come on. My dd had won olympic gold medals by that age!

Seriously though? Timing a 5yo and then worrying about her time? That's so bizarre. Just let her run if she wants to, and walk when she feels like it.

I think that's a real shame and not representative of our local junior parkruns. We've tried a few and they've all had a majority of very young children taking well over 10 minutes, many with parents alongside encouraging them on the way round. In fact a lot of parents use it as a way to get some exercise too and come dressed for it.

There's always a very few very fast or comptueitve runners but they run sk quickly and leave straight away that it doesn't influence the vibe for the majority at all.

I'd feedback to the local team and ask them to encourage participation not competition etc

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/physical-activity-guidelines-children-and-young-people/

The guidance is 60 minutes per day spread through the day.

It depends on how determined she is. Mine do junior parkrun and her times vary between 15 mins and 30 mins! Sometimes she wants to run with her brother and keep up, some times she wants to stop and walk, or to see to her teddy or hairband, or stop for a rest.

That doesn't answer the posters question about aerobic exercise though. This child is undoubtedly doing more than 60 minutes of exercise per day given all the forms of exercise the OP listed. She doesn't need to add multiple timed runs to an already pretty full on schedule.

My point was the guidance states it should be spread through the day. I was directly addressing the question?

In the op you say
I've been encouraging her to run a bit further, and prompting her to run again after a short walking break (10-20m or so).

Which suggests you’re getting her running again after she’s chosen to walk and contradicts what you’re now saying.

I don't want to push he too fast but think 1km is probably something she should really already be able to do

She’s only 5.

Be honest with yourself, it’s not a casual I know how long it takes because we leave at x time and arrive at y time. You said at the start that her fastest is 8 minutes 52 seconds- that’s not consistent just knowing because you leave at x time and arrive at y time.

Absolutely bang on.

I actually thought the opening post was some sort of Amandaland spoof tbh.

My DS5, does Parkrun, so 2km and does it in about 11.5 mins.

My 6 year old takes 11 mins to run 2k

We do park run most weekends with 5 and 6 year old DS’s, eldest is almost 7 and there’s 2 years between them in age really. DS1 can run 1k in about 7-8 mins and DS2 takes around 9-10 mins. One of DS1’s classmates joined after DS showed his first wristband in show and tell and he can run it in 5.30 which to me is utterly insane at his age.

Junior parkrun is 2k?

Or are you halving their times?

2km in 5.30 would be 2.15/km - seems pretty unlikely - that's faster than Keely Hodkinson's 800m pace....

I’m 45 and definitely only apply the walk part if running 🤣

Wrong maths on the go there...3.05/km maybe?

Still world beating stuff!

Mine runs cross country, but no a 6 year old (Y1/2) would not be running 1k. I mean as like a regular thing in school or as part of usual athletic training. think 1k is usually the cross country starter distance and that isn’t until Y4. Their joints are still quite young at 6 and I wouldn’t want mine consistently running that distance. At 8/9 maybe a bit different, but not at 6. My 7 year old definitely can’t run 1k and my sporty older one who actually runs was not running 1k at 6 either.

Yeah I've never seen that at my local park run either with DD7. I'm not fit at all so just let her get on with it and whatever time she finishes is fine with me. I might walk out to then meet her and cheer her back in or might just stand and talk to other parents. We don't do it very often as it clashes with other activities (which are inside and not in a freezing cold park!).

I agree with others that lots of running on tarmac would be bad for young children whose bodies are still developing.

Coming back to OP there's nothing wrong with wanting your daughter to exercise but I'd be careful in pushing her and making it a chore as that'll put her off exercise altogether.

I’m only just seeing this and it’s likely been said multiple times on the thread which is if your little one likes running encourage it but if not it’s not a good thing to force as some people hate running into adulthood because of bad experiences.
My daughter is 5 (&1 month) and I assume she could run a km in around 5 minutes or so. She can do 2km (at the junior parkrun in 12 minutes) but I’d say this is pretty unusual.

So much wrong with this. You shouldn’t be encouraging her to run long distances at all. Her epiphyses will not have even started to ossify and running puts extreme stress on them leading to stunted growth and bone deformities. It’s best to wait until age 12 for girls before starting them on long distance running.

1k isn’t long distance.

Any studies you can cite on how running 1k damages girls please?

Well no because no ethics board will ever approve such an experiment on children. Editing to add it’s not an issue in “girls” but in children under age 12. However biologically their bones are not ossified enough to withstand the repetitive high impact of running for a long distance. Long distance is defined as anything over a 100m with no break for walking. It doesn’t have to be a half marathon to be long distance. Parkruns are meant to be walk or run,,,junior park run should he walking with small bursts of jogging of no more than 100m.