Dad gets 6 year old to run 26.2

Cabaal

One way of looking at this is, whats more likely to have long term ill health effects

• One slow city marathon
• Years of playing video games, spending time on mobile devices, hours each day on social media and generally being sedentary

The second is the norm for millions and millions of kids and teenagers, but if you are outraged by the first but you aren't with the second you have your priority's all wrong

py

The 20 minutes duration of bribing/motivating/cajoling around junior parkrun can be torturous at times. 8 hours? God bless their persistence.

Personally I don't think there's a mental/physical benefit for the kid having completed it.

rom

8 hrs is walking. My 7 year old has walked 10 miles without complaining. It's rare we go that far but over COVID we started low but worked up to at least walking 4 miles a day. I actually miss is at we would just spend the whole time chatting with her and her older sister. They knew exactly where they were. Some days it might be hot and they would say cut it short etc and it was all on them. The only want to go for walks with me now as they get to chat and we chat about anything they want and I answer honestly within reason (age appropriate). Both my kids are super fit. Did a 10k hike with my kids including my 7 year old (O'Sullivans Casasde) in Killarney national park. Super hilly for them and my wife did it with her friends a few weekends before. One lady at 40 struggled. In junior infants I did a 10 mile charity walk. It is not an every day thing.

The people who get pissed off about this is the ones the think that X miles is too far for a child as X miles is way too far for them. Now to play devils advocate to all this I don't think doing an organised event like this is right. It is too goal focused. Any time I walked far with my kids it was along a bus route where when they felt tired they could say lets get the bus as it was pre arranged that we were getting the bus and it was up to them where they wanted to get the but from.

We live in a society where people who walk 3.1 miles in operation transformation have somehow archived something notable. Though it may be great for them it normalizes inactivity.

I am 100% against any formal pushing of children of a young age. The story of kilian jornet where his parents used to go on big hikes with him made him love it all. Having kids going to an adult event like this is complete BS as the child will have huge pressure on them selves. I have no issue with the distance but the format on how it is done as there is an exception that they must complete it which is not needed at this age.

Singer

I agree with everybody here. The kid is unlikely to have suffered physical damage, and the parents are idiots. The poor kid bonked, which is very unenjoyable. Kids don't particularly need this type of activity, sport and activities should be fun.

seamus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119050146#Comment_119050146

We know that repetitive activities and motions can cause uneven or irregular development in children's bones as they grow.

Now, a single marathon is not a big deal. The concern here would be how much of this they're engaging in. Are they bringing the kids out for a 5k every day in preparation? A child being active 8 hours a day is not frowned upon. If they were out with their mates running around, playing football, riding bikes, etc all day, people would give it a big thumbs up.

Indeed, varied activity promotes better bone density as children grow and should be encouraged. Football is a varied activity with starts and stops and turns. Marathon/track running or road cycling is more repetitive, and I would certainly be concerned about the implications of having a young child do it regularly (a few days a week). When you buy a car seat you're warned never to leave an infant in it for more than 90 minutes at a time as it can lead to issues with spine and lung development (or at least that's the concern). Which seems like a crazy declaration to make; how much damage can you really do in 90 minutes? But if it's 3 hours a day, every day, for six months, the impact is measurable.

So a six-year-old doesn't develop that fast, but they still develop crazy fast. Enough that an hour every day running non-stop in a forward direction, could in a year lead to an imbalance in bone growth in their legs. Which at 18 might make them a world class athlete, but by 35 could leave them in a wheelchair.

robinph

Humans are better designed for forward motion than for random movements around chasing a ball. Not suggesting multiple hours daily of running for kids, but seriously doubt that chasing a ball about suddenly makes exercise for kids safer than them going on a hike or run at whatever pace they choose.

The problem with this instance is the parent "forcing" the kid to do something. But letting the kid head out to run laps around a park until they get bored is no more dangerous to their development than them chasing a ball around the center of the park. But the lack of a ball makes the activity of movement seem risky to people for no good reason.

demfad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119069026#Comment_119069026

I was going to make a point here: Running on a flat man-made service like tarmac or concrete is repetitive and concentrates work to specific movements in a very repetitive way. Running on natural surfaces or at least more uneven surfaces removes this danger.

Cabaal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119069535#Comment_119069535

Would agree the likes of trail is certainly more fun and interesting, though far more challenging and higher chance of injury.

On the subject of hikes, locally there's a 4mile mountain climb, very steep in places.

Few years back I went up it with nieces and nephews, I'm fit but still I was breathing heavy going up the climb. Everyone of them found it easy as hell and also made the decent much faster then me, beating me by a good 5min.

People like to underestimate kids abilitys I think.

demfad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119071000#Comment_119071000

I think rough trail has a bigger chance of acute injury (sprain, break, tear) for those not used to it. Surfaces like grass or non tarmaced road are uneven but have a minimal chance of acute injury and a greatly reduced chance of chronic injury as you're not repeating the exact same movement every stride and other muscles are being used to support the running muscles.

Since I was in Kenya I have wondered if the accepted reason that Kenyan's can tolerate more training: <big volume of aerobic running since childhood> shouldn't be changed to <big volume of off-road aerobic running since childhood>.

winstonia

I remember getting dragged to see the pope from Finglas at this age and it was hell.

Murph_D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407462#Comment_119407462

There was a pope from Finglas? 😉