5k for a 9 year old?

Thanks BOTF. I sensed it was a case of reining them in for myself, without making it a drudge for him. It was difficult on my part judging what speed to start off at, as I hadnt run with him before, so I did start cautiously. Hence also my comment earlier that I would recomend getting an idea of what they were capable of before the Parkrun itself.

Im glad you posted, BOTF, your words have helped a great deal. Im going to let him do a proper sprint finish if hes up for it next time!

I read this thread with interest - my son is 9 and plays football and swims, but hasn't done much running except for a couple of kids' fun runs.

At our local parkrun you can do one lap of 2.5k and get your time given to you verbally - I don't know if this is unique or commonplace at 2-lap parkruns. Anyway, on New Years Eve he decided to run one lap with me while his dad ran the two, and then we swapped round on New Year's Day. On Sat he did it with me again. We're now going to add 5 minutes a week to his running - he's up to 20 minutes now and when he can do 30 minutes we'll let him do the two laps.

I am totally in favour of kids running as long as it's fun for them and they don't get pressurised. And it's quite humbling to watch these little tots beating you by some way!

Yes, Im with you on that, HW, to see them do so well. When I was a child if you were no good at running, there was no encouragement to try to improve.

Today, the Parkruns offer so much. And to do part laps as you have done is a very good idea.

My daughter (aged 8) and I will be doing parkrun on saturday. It's a first time for both of us.she is very active but hasn't done much running with me. Out parkrun is a couple of laps of a park so I was thinking of letting her start with me, then wait with her dad when she's getting a bit tired. Hopefully, if we build it up, she will soon manage the whole 5k.
Does this sound wise?

I think most healthy active kids can probably get round 5k if the pace is right, but as has been said, the majority of kids tend to be all or nothing when the gun goes when they first start running properly. If you can reign her back for the first few minutes then she'll probably get round fine. Don't be afraid to run/walk if needed, but getting them to the finish line I think is important as it gives them that sense of achievement and they get to receive a finish disk and get scanned in, and then see their name in the results. That makes them feel like they've won something and also that they're part of something, and that makes them more likely to want to do it again.

Really interesting to find this thread. My son is 7 and we do some of our local orienteering events with me shadowing him round white and sometimes yellow courses (approx 1.5-2.5km). He always goes off too fast, gets a stich, walks loads and then tears off again until the stitch gets him again. Not sure what to do about the stitch thing - is this part and parcel of the going off too quick? Am trying very hard to keep my mouth shut and let him lead the pace although it's very hard sometimes!!!  Because he then walks more than runs he sometimes ends up being last which discourages him, a shame as he loves the map bit.  I guess if I can just encourage him to do more walk/jog/walk/jog we'll get there.

 My daughter is nearly 5 and chomping at the bit to do some 'proper running' - she's not quite old enough to do the orienteering yet but I think when she takes off there will be no looking back. Hadn't thought about parkrun, although our local one is 45 mins away but we've got a forest trail 5km series in the summer so think we'll start building up for that.  Will take a look at that kidsrunning site though.

Puts a lot of things into perspective. My first run with my son was when he' was about 5.5 years and he had no problem running a mile (quite tough 1/4 uphill).

A few weeks later I decided to put him through his paces (He is a very hyperactive child) and ran an easy 5k (gentle down hill followed by a 1.5km flat) taking us 31mins.

Unfortunately due to my lack of commitment I had a few months break but have recently started again and my son has been chomping at the bit to run with me.
He ran 3.5km the other day with me and could have done another km but I decided that he'd run enough.

I plan to run 3-4k once a week with him so that I don't dampen his enthusiasm.

I have found kids are very resilient and many love running, so let them free to run as much as THEY like.