To be concerned that our daughter is planning to take her 12 year old son on a 100+ mile walk in a week

[bootothe2]

would this not risk permanent damage?

booto, you realise this is where you come for honest opinions?

at twelve, he's probably taller than i am!

If his mum thinks he can manage it I'm sure he can. My dd walked a round trip of 8k without a MURMUR of complaint or commentary the other day. In fact she went out on her skates when we got home.

ps, haven't read the other comments btw. I hate pile ins.

He will be fine so long as he has a reasonable level of fitness. Our dc regularly do 8-10 mile walks with us and the dog , they are 3, 5, 7 and 8. They all manage it with ease. The gym is different as it is specifically training on certain parts of the body, which are still growing in children.

I agree with the other posters - this is perfectly fine and you should trust your daughter.
Also please make it clear in your op if you will only accept replies from people who agree with you.

My nephew would be well up to this and has done similar walks in the past.

I'd only be worried if he was carrying an excessively heavy rucksack that distance.

Simillar experience to PrincessJenga.

My dad took me and my brother walking on the Coast to Coast, Penine way, Cleaveland Way etc. Starting when I was 8 years old.

I have very fond memories of it. I treasure them. And apart from the odd blister and moan I managed it well with no lasting damage.

This really isn't a AIBU bun fight. So obviously you can't take mild criticism.

YABU a 12 year old should be fine, now if it was the Sherpa 100 miles in 48 hours, I would be concerned (but then lots of well trained adults don't complete that one).
Walking is normal, and a very good form of exercise. My 8 year old has done 6-10 miles before, we were doing walks in the Peaks with her last summer.

This thread has made me realise we've got very lazy in the last few years - DD did the Yorkshire 3 peaks over the course of two weekends when she was 6 (not tramping between them, just up and down each!) but somehow we don't seem to get anywhere much above 6 miles nowadays.

I suspect that the 12 year old has a better idea of whether he is up for it than his grandmother.
As a child we used to do long walks- 50km across a weekend was the maximum and then I remember riding my bike outside when we got home! As long as his boots don't give him blisters I suspect he'll have a great time.

I think that it all goes to prove that it would be good to take all (healthy, able bodied) 12 yr olds on a walk like that. It has to be better than the equivalent amount of time on computers.

I am pretty sure my 12 year old DSS would be perfectly capable of doing this. I was doing 20+ mile a day walks by that age.

OP as others have said, this is approximately 15 miles per day. So if you average about 3 miles per hour at a reasonable but not athletic pace, that is 5 hours' walking - so, including a lunch break, setting out at 9.30 am and getting to a destination at 3.30/ 4pm.

Do you really think he couldn't cope with that? Quite honestly, I'd be more worried if he couldn't do this, because any healthy 12yo should be able to!

If you are talking about very tough coastal walking I might have more time for this, but otherwise, YABU, and I can't also believe you need a 'back-up plan' - are you really going to interfere in your daughter's holiday plans? Would you like it she decided you were too old to fly and took it upon herself to provide a back-up plan for your next holiday??

Blooming heck kids nowadays are molycoddled too much. 15 miles a day for a 12 year old is nothing. What damage, tired legs!

I was wrong, it's 40 miles. Even so, no one has died on the way as of yet.

Some run it too, parently the record is 3 hours 59 minutes here it is

Jesus wept, my dd used to walk 3 miles to nursery then back again. That is ridiculous worrying about a boy of that age walking 15 miles per day

we have rule of thumb in this house which i am guessing came from some parenting book yonks ago: minimum 1 mile for each year (so my dd when 4 could go on a 4 mile walk with us, and did) - so he can easily do 12 miles a day and probably more. 100 miles in a week is brilliant - anybody remember what DofE does?

why are you so anxious for him - i think it's a brilliant idea, when 18 my ds will do hadrian's wall with his dad, been planning it for years!