Visibly upset child made to run daily.

Probably early training to becoming an athlete or a bag snatcher, who knows? Many of the modern ultra young sports people seem to have been driven very hard as a child, by a parent or professional trainer, and now earn mega bucks. No pain, no gain?

As for striking up a conversation with the kid, hmmm, sounds like a mischievous and nasty parent could have the old Bill sent round, the way things are these days. Personally I'd shut the window and forget about it unless you see him beating the kid.

If that advice doesn't sit well you could try starting a local Kid's Lives Matter group, but expect the parent / trainer to counter with a Kid's Fitness Matters movement ;)
 
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arctine said:
Forcing a kid into something good for them is not child abuse. Otherwise child services would be getting a phone call every 2 minutes about broccoli and carrots.
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Depends how you force them.
Sitting them down and denying them Twitter until they eat their greens is fair... Forcibly stuffing greens down their throat and holding their nose until they swallow or choke is arguably not good.

Certainly enquire as to what's going on, stressing that you don't like to interrupt but are a little concerned.
Might be the kid has to get some exercise in for medical reasons, or something.
You'll probably be told to **** off, but knowing that someone else is watching out might help the situation... and if your concerns continue, maybe then call the authorities?
 
Shikkaka said:
Morning all,

This is one of those 'to the internet' moments. I'm not normally one to interfere in others affairs, parenting etc, just wondering what others thoughts are on this.

What's OcUKs thoughts on this?
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Good of you to have moral courage and integrity! The 'none of your business' comments are very sad, but indicative of the society we live in today - me, me, me!!

You could try having a word with the 'dad', it is upsetting your family seeing how upset the kid is, although this may lead to him going on the defensive or just altering his route.

Or alternatively you could give the NSPCC a call for some advice.
 
Shikkaka said:
If my son was getting that upset from me making him do something daily I would stop or switch it up. There are many forms of exercise and it has to be enjoyable for them, football, bike ride, a long walk.

Not quite the same as "eat your veg mate and then you can have some pudding"
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The obvious thing here is, he's NOT your son...
 
ivrytwr3 said:
Good of you to have moral courage and integrity! The 'none of your business' comments are very sad, but indicative of the society we live in today - me, me, me!!

You could try having a word with the 'dad', it is upsetting your family seeing how upset the kid is, although this may lead to him going on the defensive or just altering his route.

Or alternatively you could give the NSPCC a call for some advice.
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I'm not sure it's a lack of moral courage that leads people (me included) to say stay out of it. For me its perspective. I see children on a regular basis whose parents ignore them, leave them sat in front of the TV, neglect or abuse them.

Whilst an odd parenting style if a parent is engaged and investing time in their child I don't think you need to get involved. This doesn't sound like a child at risk of harm.
 
arctine said:
No and that’s why it’s none of my business. Are you?
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Wow. Moving aside from whatever petulant nonsense this is....

You’ve made a thread asking for people’s thoughts on a situation. We’ve given them but where they differ to your own, you’re disregard then because you don’t like it.

If you only care about your own opinion then don’t bother asking. Just do whatever you were always going to do.
 
Is the kid particularly overweight?

It seems a bit of a barbaric thing to do on the face of it. If you're trying to encourage your kid to be active or lose weight, then go for a run or do other exercises with him so that he at least feels engaged and may enjoy it more. Seeing his dad whiz along on an electric scooter whilst he's having run, it's no wonder he's a bit upset.
 
You also have to be very careful about reporting "suspected" child abuse, as if it is reported then it has to be taken seriously and investigated. When I was young my dad (who is an arse, but never abusive) had the social services around about alleged abuse of my sister - which I can categorically confirm wasn't happening - which took about 6 months to get past and for us to be left alone. We found out it was his sister who had made the claim as she was a bit mental. This scenario is why my family haven't spoken to my dads side of the family in about 30 years!
 
if a child is upset and cleary distressed then any decent human being should at least verify if things are ok, it might be that said child did something naughty and this was as a punishment in which case there's little you can do but imagine reading on the news that said youngster died at the hands of an abusive guardian (note I chose not to use "parent" here) then you'd never forgive yourself.

I had a situation a couple of years back whereby my daughter made a new friend, the daughter of a family that recently moved in around the corner, and the girl let slip one day that she was made to sleep in a garden shed because of bad behaviour, turned out that "mum" was involved with a bad crowd and there were often random men and lots of drugs going through her, and the kid was made to suffer as a result of this, you could sorta tell she wasn't cared for as she was always hungry and very thin and pale for a kid of that age, it was quite distressing. An anonymous call to social services was all it took, little girl got the care she needed.

Imagine what could have happened if i deemed this as "none of my business"!! You never know, best to check and be sure.
 
I did a similar thing with my kids. Forced them out on family bike rides and one of them in particular was very upset every time we went out. However, kids don't know what is best for them and many, given free choice, will stay at home all day, eat rubbish food, get very fat and go on to have an unhealthy life and suffer health problems like most people in the UK/US. I see it as part of my job as a parent to try to prevent that. People often mistake parenting with being best friends with your kids. They are not mutually exclusive, but parenting >> friend.
 
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