Park Runs: Children - Why?

[Knowillbeflamed]

There’s a park run every Sunday near me. They jog along the pavement by the seafront taking the whole damn thing up so no one else can even walk along it.

Honestly, I don’t get running. But, what I understand even less is dragging young children along?! Yes, the older one’s (10+) seem to enjoy it but there’s at least 5x more that seem wayyyy to young - toddlers, very young kids - who hate it. They’re dragged along by their parents, literally kicking and screaming and crying.

AIBU to think if your kid hates running that much or patently doesn’t want to be there, that you do NOT force it on them?! Just because you like running doesn’t mean you force it on them. Find them an activity they enjoy.

PS. Yes I am annoyed by the sheer ignorance of 100+ people taking up that much space and forcing others to dive out the way - but mostly it’s the shrill screams of toddlers being forced to run that drives me bonkers. Someone will pop up and say ‘they love it,’ but I’m sorry - kids screaming ‘it hurts’ ‘I don’t want to’ whilst their parents drag them along by their wrist just angers me. And it’s not one parent one week - it’s multiple different parents on various weeks.

As I said in later posts she also does other exercise that she actively chooses to do!
I am eternally grateful that my parents forced me out on runs and hikes with them throughout my childhood despite all my complaining- it would have been much easier for them to let me sit at home and watch TV. I also force my children out hiking on weekends and on holidays and despite initial complaints they usually end up having a great time. Sometimes children need a little push!

Why use fat parents as your example of people who have sedentary lifestyles if you don't want them to reply to you?

I'm tired of lazy stereotyping and always happy to challenge it.

Took my fat arse to the park this morning at 9.30 with my 7 year old!

@Knowillbeflamed

dog walking isn’t really exercise, certainly not in the same way running is. It’s not really gonna get your heart rate up. Same for horse riding- it’s exercise for the horse but not so much the human who is literally sat on their arse.

Exercise doesn’t have to be enjoyable, it’s just something we have to do to be healthy and fit.

You have never ridden a horse, have you? Not saying it's an affordable alternative to Parkruns, but it's certainly exercise!

I think junior parkrun is great but I agree with the op that it shouldn't be something a kid is dragged round crying. My kids have all done parkrun at one time or another but absolutely at their choice. My aim was also for them to enjoy it so we walked and chatted if they wanted to!

In my experience kids being forced round crying was thankfully rare. And any time I did encounter it it was absolutely a pushy middle class parent in expensive work out gear with a kid called Ottilie or Rupert being screamed at so I don't think it was a case of this being the only activity they could afford...

A memory me and my husband still shake our heads at is some poor sobbing out of breath preteen lad being screamed at by his dad as my husband went past him at parkrun 'DON'T LET HIM TAKE YOU, DON'T LET HIM TAKE YOU'. I mean, bloody hell it's supposed to be a chilled out run in a park not the Olympics!!

We regularly get 13 and 14 year olds - they run 5k on a Saturday and 2k on a Sunday - different kids win at each distance. Plus we have a few who have run 300 junior Parkruns and are going for records.

I don't think the wide age group is a problem. Nobody expects the 4 year olds to win but watching the older kids gives them something to aim for and also it clearly isn't "just for babies" which is the risk of a younger age limit. It also means a 12 year old can still start with a 2k rather than launching into a 5k.

Yes. I never had a break from my dc's. Big and junior parkrun kept me sane when they were younger. It's paid off in the long term.

Fwiw, I'm a runner but I never really enjoy running. But it's more fun than my IBS flaring up. I'd not enjoy a heart attack or weight gain either so I put my trainers on and head out twice a week.

7 minutes! 😮

Ive seen kids dragged along crying. The thing that annoys me isvthe parkrun organisers would be perfectly happy for children to walk the course in that situation rather than run it (which would still be lovely beneficial exercise for the child) - its absolutely the parents trying to force them to run even though they are out of breath and struggling.

If you had run for a bit, started to struggle and needed to slow down, and someone grabbed your hand and pulled you forcing you to keep running even though your chest was hurting etc how would you feel about it.

Its abusive.

One thing expecting healthy kids to walk it, its only 2k, but it should be their choice to run bits of it or not.

I never enjoyed 'organised' exercise. Still don't. Years of being forced to do cross country in the freezing cold at school can have that effect.

But the sad thing is that, now, things like parkrun are all many children have. I was incredibly fortunate to grow up in very rural Devon at a time when parents still pretty much opened the door in the morning and said, 'be back for tea'.

Not many kids today have that luxury. They aren't getting all their exercise just by being kids. Increasingly, we have to organise it now. It's a shame, but that's the way it is. I'd far rather see kids keeping fit just by charging about being kids like I used to do, but increasingly there isn't anywhere for them to do that.

YABVU
Parkrun is free and to lots of kids is a a community they are part of like gym or dance or football. It gives out wrist bands and certificates to celebrate achievements which kids can if they chose take into school. Kids do not have to run and can just walk at the back and chat to the tail walker (or not). It's also inclusive especially to older kids who often get excluded from teams and activities as they get older if they aren't very good. As they get older some also volunteer.

Yep some parents aren't nice but they will be the same at gym, football, trampolining etc.
You could just avoid the area for an hour.

My oldest did park run from about age 5 to 8. He loved it and he got really fit and was able to see his times improving which was amazing! My younger wasn't so keen at 4 or 5, but we liked him to walk a bit of it with his dad for some fresh air and we all got ice cream afterwards as a treat on sunny days!

I don't agree with 'dragging kids along' of course of your child hates it they shouldn't be doing it. But when we went most children loved it! or at least liked the walk around with their parent in the fresh air!

We sadly stopped when COVID hit and haven't gone back :(

It's similar to parents who force their kids into football camps when they hate it, just because they like the idea of having a child who plays football. I think kids should be encouraged into exercise and the outdoors but do agree it should be something they enjoy or at least can relate to. I don't feel like running a 2k race is enjoyable for most young children 4-10. It's a solitary, repetitive sport (particularly when it's a laps race) and even most adults need music or strava times to spice it up (I'm a keen runner) - so understandable kids don't enjoy it. Particularly when it's the only time they do run!

But that would require the parents to participate in other activities or be willing to sacrifice a park run to attend something their child might like. And it's always easier to hope your child will eventually like it if you force it long enough, than experiment with something else.

I’ve Marshalled at a junior Parkrun and whilst most kids loved it, it did upset me to see parents forcing along crying and upset little kids. If your little kid isn’t liking it, let them stop. All you are doing them is teaching them to hate running. Just because running is your thing, doesn’t mean it’s their thing.

He's rarely the fastest at that.

This is exactly right and what we are trying to tell my DSD! She loves her PR but starts off like a greyhound out the traps and is dying by the half way mark! The kids the OP is on about are probably similar and started off enthusiastic!

Btw with park run the whole idea is to challenge yourself and measure your success against your own personal best times.

So when you get your results, the most important page to look at is your own page so you can see your progress.

It's genuinely a lovely, free, inclusive event run by volunteers and we are so lucky to have the option of junior park run at the weekend as many sports are expensive to access or require specialist equipment - with this, anyone can do it and is encouraged to give it a go! You do not have to be mega fit or the very fastest. You can walk as well as run. It is genuinely inclusive and a really great way to get some exercise.

How are they self absorbed?

I'm a runner and I generally don't do park runs because they start too early and I need longer distances but I think they are a great idea for a team activity.

I get that a ton of people together take up a lot of space but it's over in an hour and it's only a small section on the whole.

My 9 year old wanted to do the junior park run and probably would have moaned during said run but if it's his idea he does it. He has since scrapped the idea after finding out it starts at 9am though! We are not morning people!

When I did one with DD2 when she was 8 years old, she was just frustrated by having to stay with slow old mum. She could have run it twice by the time I got round.

Making little kids run 5k is awful, there should be an age limit like when they start at athletics clubs. It's not usually until 8 or older that they start distance running.

Parents with little kids should stick to junior park runs.

I tried them, but they are too early for me as I rely on buses. Plus the dogs. On the park run where dogs aren't allowed. The doggers start from a different point and then run at the back and don't go over the finishing line, so technically aren't in the park run.

This is 100% my point!

Kids should not be forced into doing an exercise or a sport they do not enjoy. There are dozens of ways to get a child outside and exercising that they will enjoy.

Can't you see that today children are made to fit into an adult picture of what is convenient for adults - children have to adapt, unfortunately, to the whims of their parents. That is where nonsense like 'children are better off with a single parent than in a full family where parents don't love each other' - such rot! (As if a child gives a toss about any love in the family apart from parental love to the child). Many other examples whereby children are not put first. Sometimes it is unavoidable - mums have to go to work for a family to survive, two incomes are needed. But most often children are put second to satisfy their parents' whims - like with this idiotic running.

So no exercise for children unless you can afford to pay for it.

Probably more people who cannot afford things than you (or I) will ever know.