Parents really do need to slow down when they’re walking

[Parker1970]

This is a given for me, but when I look around I see all of these parents who are walking at an average pace, but of course their little ones they are pretty much having to full on sprint while holding their hand, and it’s only amplified when they’re holding hands with both of their parents. Again this is obvious to me that when you’re walking with your little one you need to slow down so that they’re little legs can keep up. For example even when I slow down my two are still working double time to walk the same distance that I am. I feel like my parents need to recognize that.

Are you self-aware of that? When is the first time you became aware?

Sometimes people have places to be. Walking a bit fast sometimes isn't going to do any harm. Exercise is good for them.
Good for you if your toddlers aren't easily distracted, but mine are curious little things and would go at a snails pace looking at everything, interspersed with a random sprint if I let them. Bit of chivvying is sometimes necessary.
I don't know you think others parents don't know kids are small. Maybe they're just busier than you.

By the time you saw us speed walking we’d likely had at least half an hour of insect rescuing, flower picking[weeds only not from someone’s garden], attempts at cat whispering, walking on random walls and waving at old ladies and now we were running late so had to rush!

And when using a Zebra Crossing with a child learning to walk, please pick them up.

Well yes eventually, but you’d get there late. A lot of people have time constraints in their lives. Like getting their toddler to nursery before going to work, for example.

because we can't be late for everything and I cant build the extra time into everything? My 3 year old can turn the walk to school to get his older brother into a 30 min saunter. I can do it at a brisk walk in 8 minutes.

I can only imagine how it would have gone down if I’d said to school ‘sorry my 8 year old was late, my 2 year old kept stopping to look at daisies’.

I mean real life isn't a blog page with pretty graphics and twee words about slowing down and seeing things through a child's eyes and appreciating the moment. It has boring things like time constraints and things that need to be done.

Not me, but dh used to walk very fast with dd when she was little, and it was sometimes a challenge for her to keep up.

She is grateful to him now that she's an adult because she can still walk really quickly when needed!

Exactly!! We do the boring saunter on the way home instead. You can't judge how anyone parents based on a tiny snapshot of their day you've seen for a few seconds

Time and a place- this wouldn’t work well at an airport 🤣

I think OP is talking about recognising that small children have shorter legs than adults and walking at a pace they are able to keep up with. Not saying people have to keep stopping

That’s it. I was just saying that all the time it just appears that kids are always having to run to keep up with the parents light walk. I just wanted to bring awareness to it. Every once in a while we should just slow down so the kiddos can keep up comfortably

Do you think many adults don’t know that children are smaller than them?

I used reins a lot as I have a bad back and couldn't walk bent double to reach a toddler's hand.
But I often had to jog to keep up with them.
Some days they wanted to go slower which was sometimes fine. Sometimes they had to run to keep up with me and sometimes I took the buggy.

I just feel like a lot of parents easily forget that they can be walking at a regular pace meanwhile their kids are hauling butt to Try and keep up. Everywhere I look, I see their little legs run run run while they’re trailing behind looking like they’re almost being dragged.

I feel like it adult sometimes it’s easy to forget to slow down for them sometimes

I just feel like a lot of parents easily forget that they can be walking at a regular pace meanwhile their kids are hauling butt to Try and keep up. Everywhere I look, I see their little legs run run run while they’re trailing behind looking like they’re almost being dragged.

I feel like it adult sometimes it’s easy to forget to slow down for them sometimes

I just feel like a lot of parents easily forget that they can be walking at a regular pace meanwhile their kids are hauling butt to Try and keep up. Everywhere I look, I see their little legs run run run while they’re trailing behind looking like they’re almost being dragged.

I feel like it adult sometimes it’s easy to forget to slow down for them sometimes

The fact is that going at toddler pace adds time on to your walk. Fine if you’re ambling to the park, or the shops etc with no time constraints, but if you’ve got to be somewhere (nursery, then on to work for example) it’s not always possible to add half an hour to your walk.
A brisk walk isn’t necessarily a bad thing for toddlers anyway.

Children tend to be under exercised in this country so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. They often run rather than walk when they are playing with each other.

If a toddler is so small that it’s an effort for them to reach an adult hand to hold, then reins are called for.

My Gds, for one, when very small, hated actually walking anywhere. If he could run, that was a different matter! But hardly practical on busy city pavements. It was often a case of the pushchair, or Grandpa’s shoulders.

But why is running so bad? I remember being a kid and being able to run and run. I was running around for the whole playtime and it felt so easy.

As a nation we get nowhere near enough exercise and that includes children. I just don't know how seeing small children having to jog sends your mind to a place of it being an unkindness.

My kid is like a duracell bunny. I'd be concerned he was unwell if he was upset by having to speedwalk for a couple of minutes to get to eg an older siblings school run.

I'm very short and have to do a lot more steps than most people I walk with, especially my husband who is 1.5ft taller than me. I also need to consume a lot fewer calories to be a healthy weight, so I see it as nature giving me a little extra helping hand.

Children need more exercise than they get and most children will get upset or complain if they're struggling to keep up.

I do stride along with my older one running alongside me, but one of my goals for the day is to tire him out and he's perfectly capable of moaning if distressed. My younger one would just sit down on the pavement or want a carry if we were going too fast. Yes, this may be another tool used by abusive or disinterested parents, but most parents I come across are responsive to their children's needs and most children feel perfectly free to moan at will. A lot of children like running too - my two never walk anywhere if they can run.

I mean are doctors noticing an increase in toddler exhaustion from being made to walk faster? Why is this so concerning?

I don’t drive so we walked a lot when they were small, if we were at the park or walking by a river etc then of course it’s nice to potter along at their pace and look at the ducks or flowers etc but not so nice when you are walking along a busy main road to town or the supermarket. they are older now and all great walkers and can do hikes etc so I don’t think it damaged them tbh!

There has to be a balance, of course it's not practical to stop every 2seconds to look at an insect etc but I also don't like to see parents speed walking ahead and a child clearly struggling to keep up the pace.