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

Which is not particularly healthy either, but again I see nothing in this that he is making her do it. I have issues with some aspects of the training.

Explain why.

The article made it sound like she loves to run. It may sound odd but some young kids are just really drawn to it, earlier than others.

Golden Harper, one of the founders of Altra, ran a 2:45 marathon at the age of 12. If you listen to podcasts with him, he says he genuinely just wanted to run a marathon.

Buddy Cox was running marathons as a 5-year-old in 1978. Couldn't find much more about him, except a brief mention that he quit running at age 11 after putting in 12,000 lifetime miles.
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Six-year-old Bucky Cox of Lawrence, Kans. is one of the cult figures of the running boom. Last summer Bucky set a record for 5-year-olds by running a marathon in Junction City, Kans. in 5:25:09, a race in which 32 older competitors dropped out because of 90°-plus heat. In the fall Bucky clocked 4:59:26 in the Mayor Daley Marathon in Chicago. To his fellow runners and to the ubiquitous TV crews that showed up to film his races, Bucky was proof that, yes, everybody is running these days.

Now Bucky is being recast by some people in almost Dickensian terms. Runner's World magazine says in its March issue that it will no longer publish records for marathoners under 12 "because of the extreme stresses, mental and physical, [the distance] places on a young child." The magazine buttresses its position with a guest editorial by Edward O'Connell, former president of the Road Runners Club of America, who expresses alarm over Bucky's training regimen and calls the nurturing of young marathoners "potentially a new form of child abuse." And in Bucky's hometown, University of Kansas Track Coach Bob Timmons has rejected the boy's application to run in the Kansas Relays next month. Noting that high school trackmen aren't allowed to race at distances greater than three miles, Timmons says, "I don't see how, logically, you can keep a high school runner out but let 6-year-old Bucky in."

Bucky's trainer, Ray Foster, a research associate in the university's Bureau of Child Research, practices "positive reinforcement" on Bucky, rewarding him with nickels. "Some people equate reinforcement with bribery," Foster says. "I would equate it with bribery if we pushed him to do it. But he has said he wants to race." However, when Bucky himself is asked whether he enjoys running, he replies: "Sometimes, and if I complain, I don't get my nickel."

Psychologists disagree about the emotional effects that a rigorous distance program might have on children. Physicians disagree about the possible consequences for the cardiovascular system. There is somewhat less disagreement on the potential hazards to bone development. Evidence on the phenomenon known as Little League elbow suggests that youngsters who throw too hard too soon risk injury, not only to muscles, but also to growing bones. Many physicians say that running a marathon poses similar dangers. One of them, Dr. Anthony Daly, the chairman of the AAU Sports Medicine Committee and a U.S. team doctor for the 1980 Olympics, says flatly, "Bones in young children are too soft and tender to be subjected to 26 miles of pounding."

https://vault.si.com/vault/1979/03/26/scorecard

In a feat that most thought impossible --and some blasted as reckless -- a 1-year-old girl has become the youngest ever to complete a marathon.

The child, Jayden Lee Smith, of Charleston, South Carolina, smashed the record at last weekend's Outer Banks Marathon, where she lined up near the back of the pack and clocked a time of 9 hours 24 minutes, which included three diaper changes and a 90-minute nap around the 20-mile mark. The record is awaiting official certification from Guinness World Records, but it is widely expected to be granted.

runnersworld.com

1-Year-Old Runs Marathon

Girl toddles into record books as youngest ever to complete 26.2 miles.

Open link

Did I fall for a hoax from 2013 ? My bad, but shame on Runner's World.

Kids need real coaches and protect their development I am not an expert, but running marathons at very young age doesn’t sound like a great idea. I know a local kid that was trained very hard from very early age by his obsessive pathetic slow runner father. This kid was running fast by age 10 even challenging decent local runners. Most people thought that he was going to be a record setting athlete in HS but not even close he’s just a decent runner. I’ve seen many kids that started running in HS and are faster than him. This poor kid was forced to start running like at age 5-6. I guess you can consider that he’s a very mediocre runner given years and years of hard training.

I started running a track season each year at 7, I didn't run a marathon till post college and only 2 halfs in highschool. I see no issue with running marathons that young. Brad Hudson was running marathon in highschool very fast and still was all-american in college. I think the only negative is a father posting about it and putting expectations on a 2:58 thoner that you'll run in the 2:30s one day.. that's almost 1 min per mile faster. Parents do far more worse than this person for football and soccer all the time and insanely worse by the typical American diet. I wish I had been pushed to do a bit more to maybe do a marathon in middle school but definitely wished I had been pushed to do more mileage at a young age. My love of running wasn't ruined because I raced from a young age.. I still love running a ton and run more than ever and am more successful now than in highschool or college. The social media posting about your kids is cringy doesn't matter if it's a baby pic or a sports pic... Keep those pics semi private for your kids sake

She was ten when she started running daily. acccording to dad... kids are just going to do what dad says. Stop saying treating her like an adult that can fully be aware of what is happening and can make adult decisions. she is 12. Kara had a quote in the article that explains it perfectly.

I think what Travis here is saying is: kids might not be “forced” to run like “run or I will beat you!” but the persuasion and insistence from parents and reinforcement of awarding them by doing said running is actually a form of abuse. Like the moms who make their kids do beauty pageants… they say “oh but she loves it!” And the kids say “I love it!” Because that’s what they are programmed to say/do.

this dad needs to step back and hire a club coach who is trained / certified.

what blows me away is he was co paring women’s rights to his kid not being allowed to run Boston. Bro neither were the dudes. That statement alone leads me to believe dad is willing to do anything to get his kid to run a marathon. It wasn’t her saying it… it was dad

"Bones in young children are too soft and tender to be subjected to 26 miles of pounding."

Not to mention the period this girl WILL not get if ever because her "DAD" was making her run marathons.

These kids are all a zero sum game in college, too. They were "world class" at age 12. then at age 19 they are at best average if not completley wrecked emotionally, physically, and we can all say thanks to the poster in here saying "He isn't forcing her to do anything"

I'm shocked that there's not more backlash towards the father on this thread for letting this happen.

That's because most of these poster are 19 year olds with no kids and the other half are 45 year old men who want to relive/ rewrite their glory days by way of enacting abusive behavior onto their children

This family came into my radar in June 2022.

I ran the Mountains to Beach Marathon in 2022. I had a terrible day and was walk/jogging from around mile 15. Around mile 19, I came across this tiny Asian girl who, at the time, I thought was about 11 years old. She was walking and sobbing all alone, clutching this tiny bottle. I approached her and saw that she was, in fact, wearing a marathon bib. Shocked at the prospect of the race allowing a child to participate (and also shocked that a parent would just let this kid run alone and leave her up to the fate of strangers if something went awry), I asked her if she was OK and if she wanted to use my cell phone to call someone. She didn't say a word, but shook her head no. She started slowly jogging, signaling to me that maybe she was uncomfortable (stranger-danger, I get it) and didn't want to chat. I jogged past her and hoped someone at the next water station might be there to check on her.

The next day, I remembered this encounter and was curious enough to check the results to see if she eventually made it across the finish line and also find out her age. To my surprise, I found VERY young girls, ages 11 and 14 in the results category for 1-19 females. After looking at the photos from the race, I was able to determine that the 14-year-old was the girl I saw around mile 19. Interestingly, her recorded finish time was several minutes ahead of me - impossible because I passed her and never saw her pass me in return. I assumed someone picked her up and drove her to the finish line to collect her medal.

Nevertheless, I was now intrigued with these young kids who were running marathons. I did some more digging and found that M2B was NOT the first marathon these kids participated in.

Fast forward to the Ventura Marathon 2024. I was hanging out at the start line, sitting on a wall with some other runners, waiting for the race to start. The guys sitting next to me struck up a conversation with some people who walked by, one of them a tiny Asian girl wearing bright pink Nikes. I didn't connect the dots that this was the younger sister of the girl from M2B mile 19 until I looked at the female overall results from the Ventura Marathon.

While this 12-year-old is obviously talented, I don't believe that all of this is just her doing what she loves to do. The memory of a distressed, alone, barely-teenager on a marathon course isn't indicative of a parental unit simply letting his kids participate in activity they came up with on their own.

Not to mention the marathons that allow this. She's participated in Revel Big Bear, CIM, Ventura, and Mountains to Beach. I might have missed others, but clearly there are marathons allowing this to happen, too.

I get that smaller races like Ventura and M2B could use the publicity, but CIM has no problem attracting runners, even very talented runners.

^^ this

This is a really chilling story. And anyone who is like "I didn't read in the article that he's maaaking her" needs to read this. Articles like this only tell a sliver of the real story. Sometimes they don't even tell the truth.

This happens is all sports. The parents let it happen. Is it kid driven? Parent driven? Both?

I know this is a running forum. But, what about gymnastic kids and parents. Is that child abuse, more hours and just as hard on the body. Is that child abuse. What about the 1000's of pitches young pitchers do? Curve balls and sliders, is that child abuse for allowing that to happen and all of the long term elbow problems. Girls soccer 5-6 days practice a week and huge number of games is that child abuse for letting it happen? Massive amounts of concussions and ACL tears---that's lifetime of possible issues. What about cheer kids and parents? Massive amount of joint issues. What about tackle football, it's all around my community at a young age. Is that child abuse?

What's worse marathon training or massive amount of soccer (headers, head clases, acl tears) or marathon training?

Maybe no correct answer. But, go see what Cheer, Soccer, Football, Baseball do. Is this any different?

I'm not sure it matters who it's driven by.

One of the parents job is to hold kids back and keep them safe when they aren't doing something smart or good for them. If she REALLY wanted to jump off the side of a building do the parents just say "Well she really wanted to and it was her decision?"