I'm all for making sure kids stay healthy by being active, but I'm not a fitness maniac so I can never imagine having my children do what the Welsch sisters do. You see, Kaytlynn, who's 12, and her younger sister, Heather, who's 10, have competed in more than 160 endurances races in the past two years. In many of them, they've won against women runners in their 20s and 30s. How is that even possible? Is this a case of two girls with superhuman abilities or one of parents pushing their daughters a little bit too much?
To be sure, and as I've said many times before, parents are free to raise their kids how they want, as long as they're not harming them along the way. And while doctors are divided in terms of what all the training and running is doing to their young, still developing bodies, the bigger question for me is: What is it doing to their childhoods?
The feats these two sisters have accomplished are enough to blow even the most athletic person's mind away. For years I've been thinking about running a half-marathon as a way to accomplish something amazing and surprise myself along the way. But I've always sucked (and hated) running, so I've never done too much to make it happen. Kaytlynn Welsch, on the other hand, has already completed two full marathons… and she's ONLY 12 years old! And how about the triathlons both Welsch girls have finished too?
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I can totally understand the positive part of having these two girls be involved in a healthy activity instead of being the couch potatoes many children their age seem to be these days. But I have a hard time understanding why a 10-year-old to has to have the aches and pains the Welsch girls have to quell with anti-inflammatories on a regular basis?
How about not having any free time to do fun stuff with friends their age because they're always training? Don't they have a whole life ahead of themselves to do that, but only one childhood to live? While Katlynn admits she loves running, she also admits she doesn't have that many friends because of it. Is that really worth it?
Image via Family Handout
