Children jogging/running - is it safe?

[Curlybrunette]

Evening y'all,

Just wondering, do you know if it's safe for children to go for a run/jog? I've been out with ds (6.4) a couple of times just around the block, probably only half a mile or so. Tonight we ran to the shops, got a couple of things and ran home, about 1.4 miles in total. Ds was fine, not particularly out of breath and I/he feels he could have gone further.

I've googled it and got on to some American website that was discouraging you from entering your child in for competetive marathons!!! I don't think we're aiming that high...this site did discuss problems with the growing bones if put under stress, and overheating.

Ds plays football for endless hours so he's not new to exercise. He'd like to come out with me regularly. I run 4+ miles with a running club which I know is too much but there's a little route I often do on my own which is exactly 2 miles. Think that's ok?

I did think about going for it and letting him lead the way if he's too tired/out of breath/achy but don't want to risk it if it'll cause any permanent damage.

Thanks,
x

It won't cause permanent damage, it will cause him to be more aerobically fit, and likely therefore cleverer too.

Running marathons might cause him some damage (but even that isn't guaranteed, but very unlikely to be worthwhile) but 2miles or even 4 after awhile will not. He should be getting out of breath doing aerobic exercise regularly.

Thanks Fred, I'll play it by ear then and watch him as he goes.
It's nice having a running partner to chat to!

Just wanted to check there wasn't going to be any permanent damage.

x

Curlybrunette - apologies for the hijack. But for anyone out there who knows - when can a child (teenager) do a 10K? Having googled this, I find loads of contradictory views. As one report said, you can't really use children as guinea pigs to find out the problems too much running can cause.

My DD1 is 11 (12 in the autumn), has run a couple of 5K races (she's running this in about 21 minutes). I've vetoed her running more than a couple a year, at the moment. She wants to start running longer distances. Obviously she's not running a 10K race for at least another couple of years (I think probably longer). She knows I'm right, but gets a bit irritated when she sees children no older than her entering 10K races. I think it would help if I could give a definitive answer as to when I'll allow her to run them.

If your 11 year old DD can run a 21minute 5km then that's pretty impressive. Personally I don't agree that a 50 minute running race will be a problem for your DD, but the UK Athletics currently wouldn't even allow her to run 5km - 3km is their maximum competition distance. However there's no evidence of any harm from running longer, and certainly lots of children do all over the world. And there is plenty of epidemological evidence of what happens when children run that much - so the guinea pig thing is slightly dubious, although of course that's not ideal data.

The injuries children do get tend to be exactly the same as adult - overuse, but that could happen with all sorts of distances depending on the child. If my DD was fit enough when she becomes 11 (ie can complete the training) and wants to run 10km I would have no problem. I'm afraid you won't find a definitive age specified by any body other than the UK athletics one - which is 18 for a 10km. Which I doubt your DD will care about as she can do it anyway by then...

Thanks FredFredGeorge. I suppose I want definitive answers, and obviously it's something no-one can give. I guess it's probably better for her to avoid road running, though?

Jeee Actually there's quite a lot of evidence that the body compensates for the softer ground by letting the foot strike harder on the ground (because you go faster that way and the body strives for efficiency) so there's little difference and if anything the soft ground running is more risky because you have the chance of tripping/twisting etc. But of course the more you run on soft ground the better option for that, I'd say a wide mix of surfaces would likely be best and enjoyment is in any case the paramount thing and running trails rather than road generally help with that.