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Why do little children run everywhere instead of walking?

Children might run rather than walk for reasons of joy rather than more practical reasons, suggest our readers - some of whom still run everywhere in adulthood

Why do little children run everywhere instead of walking? Is it a legacy of sabre-toothed predators?

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John O’Connell via Facebook

If I remember correctly, it was for the sheer joy of it.

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Ton Smit Utrecht, The Netherlands

The running of children has nothing to do with predators. It is the joy of life that each one of us would have were it not for self-consciousness, apprehension, worry, shame and, of course, the fatigue we all experience as we get older.

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@Holten via Twitter

Children experience time differently than adults do. A year to them, between Christmases, is like a geological era because the interval is a substantial fraction of their lifetime so far.

Hence, not hurrying to their next goal risks the onset of boredom, which is a travesty for a child.

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@pramaan_dev via Twitter

Their running is a legacy of their hunter ancestors. Humans evolved as runners.

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@LoneWolf907 via Twitter

No mystery. Children have all the energy adults wish they still had. I remember waking up in the morning with so much energy I just had to go outside and run.

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n@ks2736 via Twitter

I used to run everywhere when I was a kid, never walked, I thought it was odd that everyone else walked.

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@snsul_spirit via Twitter

I’m 32. I still like to run everywhere and cut corners like a running back.

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Karen Packham via Facebook

Children run everywhere because they are still learning and refining their gross motor skills. Subconsciously, they are strengthening their bones and improving their coordination.

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@RogerCordiner via Twitter

It is due to the need to keep up with adults, especially in the past in dangerous situations.

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Eddie Stevenson-Kaatsch via Facebook

Running is more exciting. Can’t you remember anything from when you were little?

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