Is it ok to let my 5 year old come running with me?

[Twinkletwinklechocbar]

My 5 year old ds just loves to run. Give him an open space and he'll just run, long, far, fast, completely of his own accord. He always wants to play racing with his brother. He's always been this way people have commented how fast he is.

I do a bit of very light jogging, my dh works away a lot meaning I can't always go so I thought I'd see if ds would come with me. He has done now a couple of times and he absolutely loves it.

I don't go very far or fast, just a very, very slow 20 minutes. We jog the long route to the park then he plays and we walk home.

Does this sound ok? I don't want to risk him getting an injury. I don't force him to do it he just seems to enjoy running so much and isn't tired out at all.

I think that this is fine - DC2 started jogging with me at 6 and loved it - we did 5ks together at age 7. SO long as you go gently and let him stop whenever he feels the need for it you will be fine - enjoy it won't be many years before he will refuse to run with you.....

Children can run parkrun (junior 2km and full 5km) from the age of 4 as long as they're doing it for fun and no pressure to finish, so you should be fine just going out together for 20 minutes.
Don't expect steady pace though. The ones I've watched seem to go full tilt until out of breath and then walk to catch up

It is fine! They let you know if it's not, to put it mildly.

Agree on the sprint/stop/sprint method - not easy to run alongside, but trying to teach pacing in children that young is unlikely to be massively successful! That said, if he's already managing it - that's fantastic!

Enjoy it while you can still keep up with him - it's quite sobering the day you realise that your child can get away from you on foot now...

Thanks, very reassuring.

I wasn't expecting much and certainly not expecting him to come running with me all the time.

Just don't want to cause him an injury, although unlikely how slowly I go.

Will have to see if he wants to do junior park run when it's back on.

Yes. Both DCs have been running 5K with me since they were 5.

Mr friend has been running with her dd for years now. She's 8, but started at 5 I think

Children are designed to run. Not sure why you're even asking the question?

Does the "long route to the park" involve a lot of driveways, running beside busy roads? If so I would walk to the park and run once there.

I see kids his age biking/scooting while their parent runs. The kids look happy as they aren't constantly going a short distance then doing a u-turn to go back to their parent

I started with DD when she was five. At 9 she can now knock out a 21 minute 5km for fun. 😡 As a steady 30 minute 5ker it makes me mad! 😂

She isn't allowed to race that distance though, her running club are very careful about the distance / volume the kids run.

Since lockdown she has done a mile a day - mile 119 today ☹️

Have fun, enjoy it while you can keep up. Some of my best memories are running with DD, I miss it now!

Does the "long route to the park" involve a lot of driveways, running beside busy roads? If so I would walk to the park and run once there.

Erm no the opposite. It's all cycle paths through green space.

I only asked because I was reading mixed info online and stuff about children not running more than a mile.

Seemed a bit silly as if children are playing they would run anyway.

Like I say I'm certainly not going to start forcing him to come running with me but if he wants to sometimes, then that will be great.

This is absolutely brilliant and don't think about it again. As long as you're not pushing him to run harder/faster/longer than he is comfortable with, I can't think of any reason why you wouldn't do this.

My ds did race for life with me when he was 5, I mostly power walked and he jogged at the side of me!

The only thing I'd consider is perhaps what surface you're running on - running 2k or so on grass is a lot easier on growing joints than tarmac & pavements. It's a shame parkrun is not on at the moment, its really great to motivate children to run longer distances and learn how to go consistent to get a better time. They love the numbers part of how many parkruns you've done and their times on a leaderboard.

@Bumply

Children can run parkrun (junior 2km and full 5km) from the age of 4 as long as they're doing it for fun and no pressure to finish, so you should be fine just going out together for 20 minutes. Don't expect steady pace though. The ones I've watched seem to go full tilt until out of breath and then walk to catch up

This.

Training a young child could be potentially problematic, but just letting them go comfortably at their own pace is highly unlikely to cause harm.

DS (7) has been doing junior parkruns since 4 and was doing 5ks last year (mainly run-walk) andjoined me voluntarily on 4.75km to collect my car from the garage earlier this week.