How Young Is Too Young?

We've all seen them - the oh-so-cute baby Nike shoes for kiddos.  Since I have motherly hormones racing through my body, I always coo at how adorable and small they are.  But then I start thinking, "Why put your kid in Nikes if they can't even walk?"

Which leads me to my next question - when should kids start wearing Nikes?  When should they start running?  I saw two sets of running mother/daughter duos this weekend.  It was hard to peg the age of the girls, but I'd say they were somewhere between six and 10.  And I couldn't help but wondering when the appropriate age is for kids to start actually going out with their parents and running.  When are they too young?  Is it detrimental to their development?  Is it dangerous?  If you start them too young, will they get turned off of the sport? 

A few weeks back, I was reading the trail issue of Runner's World (for the life of me, I can't find the article online that I am now going to reference).  In it was an article about a trail race that, because of the handicap system in place (head starts are granted to groups based on age, gender and past victories), an eight-year-old girl and a 68-year-old woman were fighting over the win.  As I read that, I thought...wait, she's eight years old?  The story went on to detail how she went out and trained on the course with her dad, doing hill repeats and figuring out where to surge and where to walk (the scary downhills).  I couldn't help but wonder what kind of crazy, deranged parent would make his daughter do hill repeats?!

Now, I must explain that I started running early.  There is one picture that always makes the rounds of me and my sister in a kid's race - I was probably six or seven.  But at that point, our "training" runs were chasing each other around the backyard and through the house.  We were not doing anything hard-core, that's for sure.  And really, after that, running fell off the radar.  School started, we had dance and other extracurricular activities to take up our time.  I finally got back into it in middle school, when most kids are reintroduced into the sport.  My sister was over it by then.

"It is important to remember that both walking and running are natural (authentic) activities for kids and adults..." writes Jenny Hadfield on the Ask Coach Jenny section of Runner's World.  She says that when kids are young (under five or six), make sure that running is fun and enjoyable.  Do backyard relays or take the kid out in the jogger and then ask them if they want to run the last block home with you.  Not until after six or so should you introduce you child to actual running - going out for the sole purpose of running.  This would also be a good time to try out a fun run with them (get them acquainted with how races work).

"Believe it or not, kids are better at monitoring their fatigue than adults are.  They tend to run fast, but not for too long.  And they rarely run too fast, too long, or push too hard if left on their own," Hadfield continues.  This is a really interesting point that I originally hadn't thought of.  If a kid gets tired, they're going to stop  no matter what.  They don't feel any pressure to continue.  If your child is still interested in running as he or she gets older, Hadfield suggests to start looking for running programs for them (like the Girls on the Run program, which combines practicing for a 5k with self-esteem lessons).

I guess the bottom line is...keep running fun.  If they like it, encourage it but don't be over the top about it (don't want to scare them away from the sport).  Don't be the crazy football dad who pushes his son to be the very best QB1 he can be.  You don't want your child to end up burned out on running.  You want them to see how much you enjoy running and maybe, just maybe, they'll end up coming over to the "dark side."