When is it okay for a child to start running?

What is their (not your) motive? 

If you have a child that shows interest in pursuing running, learn more about why they are interested. How old are they? Have they tried sports that involve skill acquisition, retention and compliance? Or encourage social interaction and coordination with others? Or offer physical activity literacy that is fun and engaging - providing positive experiences and memories?

Start experimenting in lots of sports that develop the above characteristics (GENERAL SCOPE). As they improve, show more interest in one or the other they can eliminate sports as they progress through the LTAD model (see below).

The facts.

• Prepubertal adolescence display a high rating of perceived exertion (RPE) with extensive activities vs intensive activity. 
• Children are not small adults. Training dose response is severely diminished for endurance train-ability (2% vs 20% in adults). It is believed that a children's overall activity level, neuromuscular recruitment patterns and muscle fiber properties are responsible for non responsiveness to traditional endurance training.
• Pre-pubertal adolescence are far better off learning skills, tactics and performing short high intensity stimuli. Why? lower relative RPE, motor unit recruitment and training compliance.
• Surprisingly, research about children physiology is limited due to the inability to take invasive measurements. (see Nuremberg Code). Researchers like Bareket Falk and Oded Bar-Or have helped modern coaches provide accurate exercise prescription to different youth populations.
• Early specialization for running leads to early exit from sport. This could be due to lack of enjoyment (RPE above), lack of interaction or team building and wrong exercise prescription (traditional endurance training... not small adults).

Specialization in Running.

Running specialization (one sport) should occur later in an athletes development. (See LTAD below), The average age that Olympians for distance disciplines (800m - Marathon) occurred at the age of 17. It is suggested that they follow the LTAD model as it follows right in line with research and high quality athletic development. 

• Early specialization does not lead to superior performances. See below (#1).

Take away: Early specialization FOR DISTANCE RUNNING is not necessarily ideal.

Canada Sport Model: LTAD Stages.

Here is an excellent link for a more detailed description of each stage.

Take away: These stages explain themselves, the message? Kids are not mini adults, their motives are and should be treated differently.

Conclusion: Kevin's Anecdote.

I cannot tell you how many athletes I know that started very young, skipped all the steps of LTAD and quit the sport early. I have known athletes that started at the right time but skipped all the steps of LTAD reached extreme highs, then extreme lows and could not cope. Running should be fun first. Once an athlete LEARNS to love the sport for what it is then he or she can TRAIN TO TRAIN and TRAIN TO COMPETE and TRAIN TO WIN. 

If done properly, he or she will develop skills at a rate that will allow for retention and compliance into later life. Too often we have programs with a facade of excellence. When in reality their systems put ego's, legacy and program success over the athletes motives and goals.

In conclusion, when its the right time - do your research. Find the right fit. That is, the right coach with the credentials and the qualifications to prescribe exercise to that population. Most coaches are not accredited with such knowledge and rely on traditional training they may have received as an adult (see above why this is incorrect). At Kin+ we have the theoretical and hands on experience specialize in exercise prescription to a wide range of populations. In fact, we studied under Falk, arguably one of the premier researchers on adolescent exercise physiology. Shes just in our backyard at Brock University. A registered Kinesiologist that specializes in exercise prescription for running just may be the fit your looking for.

Questions and comments are always welcome!

Further reading:
Growth Maturation and Physical Activity - Malina, Bouchard, Bar-Or
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bareket_Falk