To worry when 10yr DD went for an early run alone

[BelleBoyd]

My DD woke me early this morning saying she was going for a run and left. She kept to our road and was back in half hour. Is this ok? Just seems unusual behaviour? She hasn’t done this before and doesn’t run usually as a sport.

@Rhine

Still fast asleep at 7.30am OP, really? That’s late for most people on a weekday.

Seems a pretty lame excuse for not getting up to see what she was doing.

It's the school holidays. I woke up 15 mins ago. I do hate the early morning police.

OP, I really do not get the angst of some posters over this. It was light, you described her as sporty, the kid went for a run. I do not see anything sinister in this (apart from the posters with pitchforks).

@Teateaandmoretea

Still fast asleep at 7.30am OP, really? That’s late for most people on a weekday.

There’s always 1 isn’t there?

Baffled by the hysteria tbh. Just talk to her about why etc. 10 isn’t too young to go out alone 🙄. There are children who are currently 10 who are going to secondary school in September. In fact it is 1 in 12 🤷🏻‍♀️.

My dd is 11 and would do this.

Came here to say just this teatea, surely they'll be leaving for school at this time I'm just a few weeks.

Speechless about the poster telling someone what time they should get up!

Perhaps she just missed exercise and felt like a run. However, I'd gently explain that you don't want her going out when there aren't many people about. If it were me I'd watch or join or she goes later in the day.

I used to this at about your daughters age. I had an earring disorder

Raimona I presume you aren’t in the UK if you are carrying pepper spray?
I am in the UK. I know you’re not supposed to have pepper spray. But I’ve been attacked on two occasions and I prioritise my own safety.

Seen as she is a sporty child maybe not too unusual. My immediate thought was an eating disorder as that can go hand in hand with exercise.

@BelleBoyd

I was fast asleep and she said I’m going running and let me back in later. I said hang on wait a minute and was a bit in waking up mode..and then she was out the door. None of us are runners. DD is very sporty though and missing her various activities due to the pandemic. I would have gone to watch but I was asleep! I got up obs though and saw her running back down the street. Just thought it was strange out of the blue.

If you live in a safe neighbourhood and she asks you before she goes out, I think this seems okay. (But, I'd insist she carries a phone.) She didn't run before but it seems like a good substitute for her sports activities when it is the summer holidays and we are mostly still in lockdown. Running around the block, a couple of times, in the early morning with almost zero traffic seems fairly safe to me. She sounds like a clever, confident, independent child.

I would be uncomfortable with this. I would also be uncomfortable seeing a 10 year old child out for a jog alone.

What a bunch of paranoid posters on here today! Only the OP can judge the circumstances, but I be absolutely fine with my daughter running up and down the street at that time of the morning when she turns 10. Kids are way too wrapped up in cotton wool these days and a bit of initiative and independence is a great thing.

I thought 10 is quite young to be running or even out alone. However, my DD is only 4 so I guess she'll also be going out alone sooner than I thought. But your DD is sporty maybe she had a burst of energy. Good for her.

And a 10 year old hardly requires close supervision at all times 😂😂🤷🏻‍♀️
A 10 year old barrelling out of the house alone at 7am announcing she'll be back "later" wouldn't bother you?

The OP has said her daughter told her where she was going and how long she would be. She didn’t just leave “barrelling” out the door at the speed of light.

She sounds like a clever, confident, independent child.
Based on what, exactly? The reaches people make on here!

This thread is so typically mumsnet. The child is sporty and went for a run. Told their parent what they were doing. Yes maybe could have discussed the route, but other than that there is nothing sinister about this.

And whoever mentioned that everyone should be up bright and early, WTF?

It needs to go into Classics as peak mumsnet madness. 😂

This!
If the OP said she lived in an area that is troubled with knife crime and people hanging around on corners recruiting kids for county lines, then some of these comments would be justified. But really?! My child leaves for the bus at 7 every morning and then has to walk from the bus drop off point to her school, she's been doing this since she was 11. There are kids catching the tube to school in London at a similar age.

@Rhine *Still fast asleep at 7.30am OP, really? That’s late for most people on a weekday.

Seems a pretty lame excuse for not getting up to see what she was doing.*

This really made me laugh. That's early for me! Even with 3 kids and a job!

@Nicknacky the OP didn't say that in her opening post, she clarified later on that the DD explained where she was going, so many people will be responding that the DD should say where she was going and why it could be concerning that she hadn't said where she was going at 7.30 in the morning.

My DD woke me early this morning saying she was going for a run and left.
I love it when you're chastised for not knowing the complete back story that op hasn't actually given 🤷🏻‍♀️

She needs to understand she can't do this without your knowledge.

Saying that my, then 6 year old, went out at 6 am, across the housing estate to a friends pond, fished for tadpoles, and came back home and went to bed. I didn't know about this for years, when a neighbour told me!

I have no idea why posters feel the need to comment on the OPs rising time

Personally though, I would be uncomfortable with this.

ineedaholidaynow I agree it would have been easier if she had phrased her OP different but it’s easy enough to read her posts where she says that.

My DD 11yr did this a couple of months back but at about 6.00am! Unlucky for her I was up and working at the dining table so she didn't get out the door. She just woke up, it was beautiful, she had bags of energy and wanted to seize the day, nothing more, nothing less. Of course, I didn't let her and explained why. My DD sounds like yours OP. Fizzing with energy and quite impetuous. Gorgeous,but needing a bit of redirection now and then.

Bizarre! Why on earth do you not allow your 11 year old to go out for a run?
*
I would be uncomfortable with this. I would also be uncomfortable seeing a 10 year old child out for a jog alone.*

Just as well you don't live in my house. Living room over looks a bike path popular for run training and there's a pretty steady stream of dc out running!

Thisismytimetishine I hardly chastised you. I replied that she had said what the conversation with her daughter was, albeit in later posts.

My DS went running by himself when he was 10. He had good road sense by then. If he was running after dark (in the winter) we would run (not literally) through his route with him, and get him to wear something reflective.

He still runs but since adolescence kicked in he is less of a morning person, so he wouldn't willingly be out at 7am. With most of his other sporting activities (swimming, team sports, gym) cancelled due to the lock down, running has been especially important.

Does she have a phone she can take with her? She can use it to measure and time her run, and you can use it to track her. E.g. Strava beacon.