To worry about DD's lack of stamina?

[MaybeIWillFuckOffThen]

All my friends talk about being worn out by their 5yo's boundless energy. But my DD is really ... Well physically quite lazy. She never wants to go out, complains if she has to walk more than 15 minutes or so, doesn't really run about.

She has as varied and healthy a diet as we can manage given she's quite fussy, including meat, fish and eggs for protein. She takes a multi vitamin daily. She's a healthy weight and quite tall. She's very bright and imaginative and has endless enthusiasm for made up games and "pretending", and also crafting related to her pretends - so it's not like she's given to general lassitude. She just can't be arsed to move herself much and becomes quite tearful and whingy when she's forced to, for example, walk half an hour into town.

We've just had a week on holiday with lots of day trips and every day has included her breaking down after a very little time on the move crying that she wants to go back to the holiday home. Once there she's perfectly happy pottering about and playing with toys.

Is this just a variation of normal?

My brother made my mum take him to school in a push chair until age four. He just hated walking long distances. Any distance rather. In fact we lived in a flat and she would carry him up the stairs in it too! He’s now a very fit and active young guy who survived a lot. He just had a lazy start. He was very active playing with me and friends though in the playground or at home. I would rule out possible health issues with a blood test. Anaemia etc.

Same for my DS!

My 5yo is the opposite of your daughter but my 8yo is very similar to her. Unless its something he wants to do. Its just the way some kids are.
If you want her to be more active, then get more active

My DD wouldn't walk the length of herself until she was about 15. She cried when her younger brother gave up his stroller aged 2.5 and she was 6.5 because she would often hitch a cheeky ride.

Can you self-refer her to a paediatrric OT for a for a hypermobility / hypotonia assessment.

Even if it's just to rule it out.

It's so easy to assume a child is lazy, when in fact they cannot help it. (Voice of experience there)

She sounds just like me, I hated playing out, I was happier at home reading a book or playing out what I had read with my Sindy dolls. Books were my friends, I hated playing with other children & was happiest at home. I'm the same now, I'm 56, was diagnosed with Autism at 53 & am going through an EDS diagnosis now.

Hypermobility/EDS can cause both pain when walking and lack of strength (and therefore stamina due to the additional physical effort required to move) in those who have it.

One of my earliest memories is wailing that my legs hurt and were tired on a 2 mile walk back from the shops and a) not being believed and b) being offended when somebody suggested I had a sleep when I got home, as I didn't need a sleep, it was my legs hurting that was the problem.

I also ended up with an autoimmune arthritis diagnosis as well about two years later. 'It never occurred to me that she was hurting, I just thought she was lazy and whiny' was the conversation my mother had with her friend when we got back from the hospital after diagnosis. Wouldn't have helped that we never did anything that would have enabled me to strengthen and stabilise joints (like swimming), but the conditions were there in either case.

Sounds like she doesn't like walking much.

Does she ride a bike? Trampoline? Roller blades, tennis etc? My DD (5 also) is very active but dislikes 'walking' as an activity

Another thinking hyper mobility/Eds
Or other muscular or autoimmune condition at play here

Had same with my dd and several friends kids similar tales

Worth looking into

www.verywellmind.com/sluggish-cognitive-tempo-20769

Have no idea if this could be the case but since you are concerned, some people experience lethargy as a part of ADHD, and may be worth looking into as it can be missed in girls.

Get a trampoline op it has an incredible impact on my similar daughter!!

I never wanted to walk anywhere as a kid and neither did my DD - both just found it boring and tedious and really would preferred to be at home with a book. If I send her and her brother outside to play, he wants to charge around and she takes a book to read under a tree.

But we found out she loves dance classes, and now also really enjoys gymnastics and tai kwan do. So I think the structure and goals and engagement with an instructor are really important for her, and they distract her from the fact that she's actually moving around and using her body!

So my suggestion would be to try something like dance or gym to see how she reacts. She might just not be a walker!

Sounds like just lazy. And low stamina
My kid was the same
We decided to go on family walks every Sunday. A big walk
The first week he complained like you wouldny believe. The second week was filled with "im so tired" etc but every week it went a bit better. And now he walks to school etc etc.

So maybe just go on walks?
It might help .

I came on to say the same, my older daughter was like this at five, my two year old would get out of the pushchair so she could have a ride instead, needed to be carried a lot. I had no idea at the time, she was diagnosed around age 13

Sorry when I say diagnosed I mean with a connective tissue disorder, hyper mobility is just part of it

Ditto for me and I genuinely did not know at that age that walking DIDN'T hurt everyone else, I thought other people were just tougher than me or at least, I didn't question it, I couldn't have put it into words.

Heck I couldn't put it into words when I was in my 20s, I genuinely by that point thought I was lazy and pathetic.. and everyone else made of much stronger stuff.

And then I got a dx.. and a wheelchair and it turns out im not at all lazy.

Not saying this is absolutely the case for your DD.. but I had years of being slower than everyone else, being left behind, being shouted at, hating exercise (and we did a lot, swimming, skiing, hill walking, climbing, horse riding, caving, we were VERY outdoorsy as a family and in hindsight.. it was absolute hell for me 90% of the time!) - also I would trip a fair bit and 'twist' my ankles (later discovered to be repeated minor breaks!) - not enough to really look like anything other than an active child that falls over sometimes.. but... the signs were there if anyone had bothered to look.

It definitely sounds as if she finds exercise aversive - it should not be aversive for a child of that age who is physically normal, so once you rule out it being boring, or it being something you've not modelled and shown her - please do investigate pain.

Maybe her legs hurt. Maybe she has vitamin deficiency or growing pains. She is not being naughty deliberately. She might have hip dysplasia, dyspraxia or any number of other conditions.

I would suggest working to her strengths. Keep her active in lots of short bursts. Build up her stamina slowly. Get her to do fun sports that only require short bursts of energy.

I have a child like this who is great now- the doctor actually said they seemed to have growing pains

It's unbelievably important that small children move about a lot. The muscle you build when you are growing up is the basis of everything that comes after. So even if you are only walking for 15 mins to start with you should build her up to being able to easily walk an hour at a time.

Do you / Can you walk to school for example?

We've always had dogs so my kids could walk an hour or so from about 3 yo. Not necessarily fast and it was always more about the adventure.

My step-kids were shockingly unfit at 5&8. Never done daily walks. And it really shows still now at 13 & 16.

Daily walks must be a fundamental part of childhood if they are not playing out and running around.

You're describing me as a child. I started complaining and crying after a few minutes into short walks, everyone took the piss.

Turns out I had Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, hypermobilty type, and all my joints were knackered and I was always in pain abd exhausted from hyperextended abd subluxing joints.

Never wanted to go out and play with friends either.

Was 23 when I got diagnosed.Very under and misdiagnosed still. Think I also have adhd, waiting on a referral.

Even if it is just her preference to sit at home playing with toys, I don't like the term lazy. Other 5 year olds aren't more active because of their work ethic.

I would do a lot of swimming if she enjoys that. We have a 9 year old DD who is hypermobile and she loves swimming and cycling but walking and running aren't great for her ankles. Swimming is excellent as it's non weight bearing.

Definitely worth seeing a physio. A one off appointment (even if you have to pay) will reveal if she has any ankle or leg pain and give you strengthening exercises to do. DD also has strong aversions to some types of training shoe (the tongues seem to hurt her) but gets on well with Crocs.

She is mega fit and active, to the point where she'd rather injure herself than not join in.

'Toughen up' type approach on anyone with e.g. wonky ankles could lead to some issues, as a couple of posters have memorably explained.

A wobble board is a good thing to get.

Not all kids are sporty, outdoors children.

I think the only thing that does concern me slightly is her level of fitness, if she’s tired after a short walk. Can you gradually increase longer walks into your routine? Slowly build up her fitness.

I don’t think many children enjoy a ‘walk’ for walking’s sake but they will usually run around and play in the park.

Does she ever complain her legs hurt? My dc has low muscle tone which was diagnosed when she was two and she still struggles with tiredness and aching legs as a teenager.

I hated exercise and sport when I was a child. Turns out I have hypermobility and me being ‘lazy’ was actually me struggling. As an adult I’ve found even low impact exercise can be difficult and I am prone to injury as my joints just extend so much even though my muscles and tendons don’t. I imagine some unsporty children are struggling with this.