Dear Carol,
We have two girls, ages 8 and 5.  Our oldest has been competitively swimming since she was 4 years old and now trains 3 days per week, year-round.  She has begun to ask me if I would teach her how to run.  Our youngest, who also swims, but is not as gung-ho about it as her sister, is even more interested in running.

I am a former swimmer (age 6 through college) who turned to running as an alternative to the smell of chlorine.  I have seen swimming as a great way for both boys and girls to start athletics at an early age without hurting themselves (if done right).  However, given the stresses on the body of running, I have been less supportive of our girls running, other than chasing each other.

Given that I still run, I gather that my daughters will continue to want to do what I do.  I want to support this, before they reach an age that they don't want anything to do with me.  What age is "healthy" for them to start? What are the pitfalls that my wife and I should watch for?  We have read articles on the dangers of running for young girls and teens (damage to bones, etc.)  Are these things blown out of proportion?  Your advice would be appreciated.  Happy Holidays. 

Dear Doug,
I think that you would do well with introducing your girls to running as a fitness activity.  Yes, swimming has no impact, but the weight bearing activity of running helps build strong bones, which is of particular importance to girls and women.  It's one of the reasons I keep running.  I want to keep my bones strong, for osteoporosis runs in my family. Swimming helps me with flexibility and aeorobic capacity, tones muscles, and feels great, but running is a weight bearing activity that is necessary to keep bones healthy, particularly for women.

Running for fitness can involve easy jogging, some faster sprints at short fun runs and all sorts of enriching activities. If your daughters ever get serious and want to compete, then it's best to find a coach.

For now, however you can find lots of tips in our ADVICE/training section and I did write a little article in my COLUMNS section Running with Josie that deals with running with your child a bit.  I'd also check out our 4 ribbon programs. You can find them on the front page and you might find one that inspires your kids.

As for the warnings, they mostly deal with kids over training for extreme distances or  at high intensity. I haven't seen any warnings about easy running, short distances (you can find a fun run distance chart on our Training page. Good luck, have fun and thanks for listening to your kids and for helping them become fit for life. 

It's important to find a way to make kids love running and physical fitness.

Feel free to email the kid's editor at carol.kids@rodale.com.