C25K with kids
verdemujer
Posts: 1,397 Member
Does anyone do this with their kids? Here is some background for my question.
My son has been in a running club for 2 years at school. He qualifies to do this from both behavior and grade issues. (Personnally, I find it sad that the kids with behavior issues and poor academic performance are the ones encouraged to do this when all the kids need this activity.) They run for about 15 minutes before school 4 days a week, W off. Last year, I wasn't happy as I felt like he didn't improve at all on his over all health. So this year, they were a little hestitant about having him back but they asked and I said yes. This year, the school paid for four 5K races through the school year. They often had adult runners going with the kids but I always ran with my son. I had never ran a 5K before, ever. I hate to run but I practiced off and on on treadmills and tracks so I felt like I could run most of it. We always came in about 45 to 47 minutes on every race. By the end though, I feel like, once again, his abiltiy to run is vastly less than it was in the previous fall. Granted, our last race was very challenging and it was all I could do to talk him into keeping up the run (very cold, VERY windy and hills were all big factors). I want to run with him this summer using a C25K app - its a free android app. He is not thrilled at the idea.
At the same time though, he does understand that being active is really important and we need to keep doing things. We both take karate. He swims while I have tabata class. He just rode his first spin class with me. He rocked his bike ride this weekend and was pretty happy that he kept up with these adults, even on hills. I think our long rides this summer will be better. We have drastically changed our diet (doctor's orders so don't lecture on that) and he's lost about 7 pounds just with that change. At 9, he's 4'6" and 122. He is technically, morbidly obese for his age. As am I. I feel that if I did a C25K program, I could probably actually run a full 5k without stopping and I would love to have that accomplishment. I would love my son to feel that too.
So, my question is, if I work our schedule for C25K training time, if it's a fight to get him to do it, should I bother?
My son has been in a running club for 2 years at school. He qualifies to do this from both behavior and grade issues. (Personnally, I find it sad that the kids with behavior issues and poor academic performance are the ones encouraged to do this when all the kids need this activity.) They run for about 15 minutes before school 4 days a week, W off. Last year, I wasn't happy as I felt like he didn't improve at all on his over all health. So this year, they were a little hestitant about having him back but they asked and I said yes. This year, the school paid for four 5K races through the school year. They often had adult runners going with the kids but I always ran with my son. I had never ran a 5K before, ever. I hate to run but I practiced off and on on treadmills and tracks so I felt like I could run most of it. We always came in about 45 to 47 minutes on every race. By the end though, I feel like, once again, his abiltiy to run is vastly less than it was in the previous fall. Granted, our last race was very challenging and it was all I could do to talk him into keeping up the run (very cold, VERY windy and hills were all big factors). I want to run with him this summer using a C25K app - its a free android app. He is not thrilled at the idea.
At the same time though, he does understand that being active is really important and we need to keep doing things. We both take karate. He swims while I have tabata class. He just rode his first spin class with me. He rocked his bike ride this weekend and was pretty happy that he kept up with these adults, even on hills. I think our long rides this summer will be better. We have drastically changed our diet (doctor's orders so don't lecture on that) and he's lost about 7 pounds just with that change. At 9, he's 4'6" and 122. He is technically, morbidly obese for his age. As am I. I feel that if I did a C25K program, I could probably actually run a full 5k without stopping and I would love to have that accomplishment. I would love my son to feel that too.
So, my question is, if I work our schedule for C25K training time, if it's a fight to get him to do it, should I bother?
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Replies
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I can only relate to pieces of this. My kids are younger, nearly 5 and 6, and so I imagine are easier to recruit into activities than 9 would be. If he has some behavior issues as you say, you would probably know best in your gut if this is a battle to pick... if you end up having one. My youngest has Autism, so we're quite well versed in choosing our battles, though we still very often make mistakes and pick the wrong ones. We are in a special running club for her, for kids/teens and adults on the spectrum. The whole family goes each week. She enjoys it enough to keep going, but again, she's young. My son likes it a lot. We also try less "staged" exercise. We take the kids bike riding and we run while they ride. Again, they're young, so we can still (mostly) keep up with them. Harder is when my daughter isn't in the mood to pedal and we're dragging her along on her bike while trying to run and keep up with my son.
What I honestly think is trust your gut. He has a lot of exercise in here that you listed. Find out if he enjoys running. Does he want to do it. Perhaps it's just not for him, and that's OK! or maybe he'll surprise you and it will be. Good luck!0 -
I am proud of you for posting this! I think it took a lot of courage to ask this! I have 12 & 9 year old boys. the older one is a RAIL!!! skinny skinny! the younger one is not over weight, but has my genes and his fathers terrible eating habits. So I know I need to teach him the tools to stay healthy or he could easily be over weight like me. I cook meal that are healthy for us all, but daddy snacks a lot. I am here on MFP learning to make better choices from my family! I haven't perfect cooking right all the time but do my best to control snack portions. I think your best bet is to keep doing things he likes to do that keep him active. If running isn't his thing and he doesn't really like doing it. Do more of the other things that you mentioned; swimming, biking, and martial arts.
I know personally workouts that I dread are much harder to stick to. Maybe try running only once or twice a week with him.
Good Luck to you and you boy!! I will be sending a friend invite, as I am interested in keep in touch as you both progress toward you goals!!!!0 -
What I have heard is that kids under the age of 13 should "run free" basically run for enjoyment rather than do strict training programs. As you know, weight maintenance is a matter of both diet and exercise. There are no few fat runners out in the world. It sounds like you are doing your best to keep him active and having fun - in my opinion, that is a great strategy for now.0
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Not sure if it helps but I have 4 kids, twinboys 16, a daughter 13 and a daughter 5. My s ons have always been a bit overweight and hated physical activity. I let them try all kinds of sports as this is really easy and cheap in Sweden where I live. Most of the children do sports also very young. My sons loved skiing so tried to take them s kiing whenever possible. Finally I found Karate lessons for them that they really liked. My daughter looks like a Barbie Doll, no fat, long legs, but she hated sports too. I found out she just didn´t like to compete.Sweden is a very competitive country when it comes to Sports. So I let her look and try to find something she liked. She ended up with pole Gymnastic, she is brilliant there. Now running and swimming. I did C25K and offered all of my kids to come with me. First they didn´t want but in the end my son , 16, and my daughter, 13, did parts of the program with me and we ran our first 5k together last Saturday. They were both seconds faster than me.
And there were a lot of kids between 8 and 13 running the 5k and some even the 10k.
My 5year old was so jealous that I found a 800m race in 2 weeks, she is so happy I signed her in. On the list are 2000! kids in the agegroup between 3 and 10.
I know more runners now and some of them have kids around 8, some of the kids do orientation runs already. It all depends on how motivating the trainer is.
I can´t give you any advice but you are doing steps in the right direction. Let him get curious, maybe he won´t stick with the running and find something where he doesn´t have to compete with you. As long as he has physical activity.
My 5year old is running around all day long, dancing to every music no matter where, skiing since she is 2, swimming. She is a monkey. Sometimes I get tired just by looking at her. But soon she has to sit still at school so I am happy she moves whenever she can.
My kids eat at school so I have no influence on how much they eat, at home we almost never use anything processed and we always have vegetable and fruit home. No sodas in this house either. They don´t miss it.
But back to the topic: Yes, you can do the program with him if he wants to do it. If not, give him time, maybe he becomes curious. If not, let him try another sport.0 -
Thank you everyone for your responses! I will back off a bit and just do the program for myself. He may come along on his own at some point. He has a competitive streak to him but he hates to lose and if he thinks that's possible he won't participate. I get that as I was very much that way as a kid. His dad was over competitive though and doesn’t understand not wanting to compete as he really wanted to win while he was a kid. We eat really healthy now as a family since we’ve ditched 90% of processed foods. That means I have to pack his lunch and snacks every day for school which is a chore for me and a bit boring for him. The choices that can go into a lunch bag are somewhat limited with no way to heat things up. He is really being a trooper though and with some discussions with the teacher, the bit of teasing he was having from fellow students has stopped. One other thing we did recently was to change how he watched TV. As a consequence to a recent choice of his, rather than take his TV away, I told him he had to earn it. For each minute of exercise, he earns a minute of TV time. I was so surprised at how successful that was and some of his choices he was making that it’s now permanent. Amazing what the right reward will do to achieve the desired effect.0
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One other thing we did recently was to change how he watched TV. As a consequence to a recent choice of his, rather than take his TV away, I told him he had to earn it. For each minute of exercise, he earns a minute of TV time. I was so surprised at how successful that was and some of his choices he was making that it’s now permanent. Amazing what the right reward will do to achieve the desired effect.
Love this! You sound like a great mom who truly cares about your son's well being.0 -
Hi, I'm on day 2 of the program and doing it with my seven year old.
The main thing I've run into is that he can't pace himself (obviously, he's 7) so he's dragging me uphills the first half mile (mom, you're so SLOW!) and then out of puff at the end - and our house sits on a steep hill about a 1/4mi up from every direction, so I end up dragging HIM the last bit. Literally pulling him by the arm.Thank you everyone for your responses! I will back off a bit and just do the program for myself. He may come along on his own at some point.
It sounds like we have come to the same conclusion - you can either do C25k for yourself and accomplish your own goals, or you can do it with your son and revise it to meet his needs.0 -
Hi, I'm on day 2 of the program and doing it with my seven year old.
The main thing I've run into is that he can't pace himself (obviously, he's 7) so he's dragging me uphills the first half mile (mom, you're so SLOW!) and then out of puff at the end - and our house sits on a steep hill about a 1/4mi up from every direction, so I end up dragging HIM the last bit. Literally pulling him by the arm.
It sounds like we have come to the same conclusion - you can either do C25k for yourself and accomplish your own goals, or you can do it with your son and revise it to meet his needs.
This was just like my daughter! She's 9 and would set off way too fast, by week 3 she had learned to pace herself though. She really enjoyed it but gave up on week 7 when we started doing the longer runs, she found them too difficult. However she has noticed a difference in her fitness and overall athletic ability and I think she might come back to it when she is ready. If you try and push them they will just rebel, they have to want to do it.0 -
I had a thought. With my kids' running club, for each mile they complete, whether they walk or run or a combo, they earn a "foot" that is a charm for a necklace. They choose the color they want, and the necklace grows. My 6 year old son LOVES it. Perhaps there's a cool per mile incentive that is just a marker (like the foot) but not a bribe that your child would value?0
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I had a thought. With my kids' running club, for each mile they complete, whether they walk or run or a combo, they earn a "foot" that is a charm for a necklace. They choose the color they want, and the necklace grows. My 6 year old son LOVES it. Perhaps there's a cool per mile incentive that is just a marker (like the foot) but not a bribe that your child would value?
Love this!0
