Is this child abuse? Dad makes 12 year old daughter run marathons

False dichotomy.

Learning to enjoy the sport, building a base and training safely, running races that are age-appropriate in length with appropriate goals is also an option. And it is a better one.

What is appropriate can be hard to determine, and there is no single answer per age, but count me among the people who think that a marathon at age 12 ain't it.

Was going to post this as I was scrolling through. Come to the campus I work at see how fat some of the students are. There are so many of them, they have to change what the definition of fat is. NOT the PC...obese. They are F-A-T. Now that's child abuse...

Honestly, my sincere advice for parents on here who think they may have children with running talent and want to keep their kids active and having fun but also to realize their talents one day, get them in soccer and swimming.

Soccer is great training and fun and lateral movement and learning how to be part of a team. Swimming can just be like summer rec swimming, but it also develops the cardiovascular system and gives them a break from running. These two sports are the “secret weapon.” Very few kids go past JV in soccer and swimming eventually just becomes a grind, so, eventually you’ve built a runner who’s been training “from when they could walk,” just like the Africans.

If the kids want to run some on their own or do a 5k or 10k, sure, why not? It doesn’t have to be soccer. It can be basketball or tennis, but you get the point.

I am of the opinion that no kid should be running marathons. No ONE should be running marathons until age 18, and marathons should set age requirements of at LEAST 16 and up.

However, I generally don't like being critical of other parenting styles. I didn't think Alana Hadley's parents were abusers, I truly thought they were doing what they thought was right for their kid.

That being said, this article and this dad freaked me out.

The article said she has the willpower "other twelve year olds lack". I hated that sentence. HATED it. Not because it's necessarily untrue, but because it sets this kid up to a certain killjoy standard: not like other kids.

The truth is, Evan spoke and seemed like a typical sixth grader. She has grit, but that is true of kids who play soccer, run middle school XC and do other endeavors. What happens when Evan wants to stop, or pursue something else? When she loses her identity of "special" because the reality was she was pushed into doing something most kids just don't do?

Here's the thing, and I speak as a former 12 year old girl: kids that age want more than anything, to please. To impress. To stand out. The dynamic even in the article between father and daughter scared me. Evan said she didn't like parts of the marathon and wanted to stop. But I felt that what kept her going was the desire to please her dad. Her dad trains and coaches her. He pushes her to run more and more marathons a year. He called Boston not allowing them to race "discrimination" because of the age requirement. That's not discrimination. It just feels like no one is really having a heart to heart with Evan and asking: do you REALLY want to be doing this?

Can both be child abuse? Can it be a parent's responsibility to keep a child healthy and fit without exerting themselves beyond reason?

This is an Asian thing. Just another math test and achievement medal. But don't see anything wrong with it. Kenyans kids start off running young as well. What these dads don't realize is none of these little kids records mean anything. The fact that her dad is slow pretty tells tells she doesn't have the gene to go that far beyond this.

are they seriously thinking she can qualify for the olympics at the age of 16, just because she is running 2.58 at 12? you could not be more delusional, there is zero chance that will happen. not saying she can’t be a good runner as an adult and maybe qualify one day, but at 16, it’s just stoopid talk

Female runner here - agree with your post. What scares me about this is what happens when she gets a little older and puts on normal body fat? she will probably get a little slower even temporarily. what will happen then? Will he make her train harder?

That is some really good advice, and I am convinced. Thanks for sharing. I’m gonna go build some world champions now.

I just want to call this out real quick. This is most certainly not an "Asian thing". "Just another math test and achievement medal" get outta here with that racist garbage. Math test... you should be so lucky to have stronger math skills than long division.

Are the Hadley's asian? was that creepy family that had their six year old run a marathon asian? what about that weird family that all made their kids run, I think in California their last name began with a G?

well my post got messed up, but there was a whole other part of it...I'll paraphrase here.

--Yes it's child abuse.

--The dad is an attempted influencer which is why he's getting his sixth grader all this publicity and it's linked below.

--Training your 12 y/o kid seven days a week for a marathon is ridiculous and excessive and every runner knows this. That's why you don't see more kids attempting it.

This is his YouTube channel.

didn't some 12 year old kid from norway with a dad coach run more miles about 12 years back? albeit not a marathon

Thing is that she isn't even a running phenom for her age. 2:58 marathon is equal to like a 5:25 mile or an 18:30 5K according to the Tinman calculator. I doubt she would even make All-American in AAU or USATF Junior Olympics in the 1500m or 3000m.

I don't see this ending well. To jump from 2:58 to qualifying for the Olympic Trials in four years isn't happening. And if she does? What does it matter? She'll be close to fifteen minutes behind the leaders.

I'm surprised no one has brought up the Carrie Garritson and family.

I thought the same thing - this sounds very similar to the Al*na H*dley situation. Did she even continue running any past her teens?

And the reason I didn't spell out her name is because remember years ago, any LRC thread that mentioned her got quickly deleted - even the ones that were only critical of her dad but not her. I always suspected Dadley had something over the Brojos or was a volunteer moderator himself, such that any threads quickly went away. Let's see if this one lasts.

Social media has made so many parents narcissistic and creepy.

they need to pass laws against using kids in family influencer videos. It’s child labor and it’s exploitation.

exploiting a 12 year old having her run marathons for clicks? Gross.

the sad part is that she probably could have had a really good running career. But it’s going to be ruined by physical and mental burn out.

Doing track and cross country as a youth isn't the same as running seven days per week. Find a good program with good coaches. They could do that as well as other sports too. Multi sport athletics should be what they are doing when they are young. It's no different than soccer. Many soccer programs are pushing kids to seven days. You need your practices, your training sessions, then you need your private coach on the other days, etc.

And the article cites Jepchirchir's 2:27 at the Tokyo olympics like it's a world class woman's time, not a winning time in an un-rabbited race in terrible conditions