to wonder about these older children still in strollers...

[chaya5738]

OK, so I know I am totally setting myself up to be flamed for being judgmental but...

I am wondering what the deal is with all these almost adult-sized children in strollers. I see them everywhere. During my lunch break just now I went into a toy store and there was this boy who looked to be about seven - no physical or mental disabilites that impaired his ability to wander at an ok speed around the store - browsing with his mum. When it was time to leave the store she calls him over and he gets into a stroller and off they go. It was bizarre. And then a few days ago on the train a similar thing. A mother gets on with her daughter who looks about seven or eight. She then gets herself out of the stroller, jumps all over the seats, has a grand old time and then when the train stops at the next station she gets back in the stroller and off they go. And then I saw this over the weekend again as we walked along the river. This child who was almost as tall as me happily sitting back in a stroller while she was pushed along by her parents.

I don't remember being in a stroller at all when I was small so I must have stopped being in one quite young. I remember going on shopping outings with my mum and getting quite tired, and probably complaining a bit, but we'd just stopped for a cup of tea or my mother would walk a bit slower. I soon built up shopping stamina that sees me in good stead today.

Admittedly my DD is only 15 months old so I don't really have a good grounding for saying when children should stop being in strollers but I seem to be seeing quite old children with no physical disabilities being pushed around because, presumably, it is faster for their parents to do shopping that way. Is this true MNetters? And what does this say about the health and fitness of our children...

I reserve the right to come back and retract this post in three years time when DD is five and I can't get any shopping done without strapping her into a stroller.

Didn't the Camerons get criticised for taking their DD to school in a buggy?

I reckoned that with one parent having to push her older brother all the time and one having to push her younger brother all the time, she was the one who always had to walk and wanted a go in a buggy while she had the chance.

I don't blame them for letting her.

DS2 is 3 and probably doesn't need a buggy. But when we are taking the others to school he just isn't fast enough.

My DD1 is quite dinky at 4yrs so I don't think I've ever had any LOOKS about her being in a pushchair (not much anymore but she gets tired sometimes and boots DD2 out!) She has a friend who is also 4 but is the size of an average 7yo. I also know a 2 & 3yos bigger than DD1 who look far too big for their buggies but need them.

There's just no point in judging, sure the parents might be awful or whatever, but it's most likely you don't have all the information.

I do know someone - not a friend - who insists on their perfectly healthy and physically capable DD being in a buggy even though she is now school age (4.5) so that they get 'special treatment' - help in shops, more likely to get cabs to stop for them, priority when getting on a plane, queues for tables in restaurants etc etc. Needless to say, she's not a particularly nice person all round.

Ofcourse it's easier to push the very heavy 3 year old in a buggy than have them sit down in the middle of the pavement on a busy road refusing to budge as they are too tired to walk. I admit I do this with DD as I can't face carrying her for very long especially as I'm pregnant again so carrying her a mile home from home as she's tired isn't really an option.

Can't imagine it's very easy to push your standard maclaren with a child of 7 sitting inside it, feet dragging on the ground though....

Such a lot of judging going on. The child may have been 7, they may have been a big 4. They may have some SN, they may not. Who knows or cares? I couldn't get worked up about this sort of thing and I'm amazed that you can. So a mother chooses to push her child in a pushchair. Big deal.

shirtygerty-iam truly shocked somebody would do that to get special treatment,makes me feel a bit sick really and upset when i think what my kids go through and that there are people out there just 'pretending' to get the help that others genuinely need.

I've frequently seen my 7yo in a pushchair. Being pushed by my 5yo. While my 2yo runs alongside, and I stroll along behind ... (it is a large sturdy 3-wheeler and dd is on the small side, so it copes)

But still. Neither dd nor ds1 see the point in letting a pushchair go empty, and ds2 rather likes walking (but not to the extent that I leave the pram at home much).

I suspect that most of these "older" children are just tall/advanced for their age. My OH was apparently a very tall toddler and people used to ask my MIL if he was "backward" as they thought he was school-age when he was 2.5.

I am anticipating similar judgement with our son who is also tall and fairly physically advanced. We don't use a pram - I carry him on my back - but a couple of months ago I had an old lady at our local bus-stop asking me why I didn't let him walk to nursery. Response: Um, because he is 13 months old and it is half a mile! He probably could make it but it would take about 3 hours and involve a cattle-prod.....

"And I don't see how pushing your child in a pushchair is any easier than them trotting beside you."

"I'm tired"

"are we nearly home yet"

"can we go home yet"

"what's that >>"

I really don't see why people are so bothered about other people children being pushed around.

DS1 was 4.3 when DS2 was born. Sometimes when we were out for the day DS1 would get tired so I would put him n the pushchair, and DS2 in the sling. Now I'm wondering if people were presuming he had a disability. Which he certainly did not, and he was a very good walker. But he was a child. With legs quite short compared to an adult.

MaMoTTaT we have been 'mining' for diamonds while walking home from nursery lately. Do you know how long it takes to dig up a 'biggest ever' diamond?

It's taking us 35 minutes to walk down one street

Hence why we use the buggy for school runs.

Does that even work shirty? I'd be surprised is it does. I've never seen anyone get special treatment anywhere because they have a child in a buggy, although me and MIL once let a lady with 3 hungry toddlers in a big triple buggy go first in line waiting for a table in Pizza Hut. She was outnumbered 3 to 1 while we only DD to amuse while waiting.

riven thats if the bus stops at all i was once waiting with dd in pouring rain in w chair and driver didnt stop because had 3 pushchairs on just gestured to me as he drove past. never been so angry in my life

DS is only 2 but very tall for his age. It is a couple of miles to walk to his nursery, and if I allowed him to walk we would not arrive before lunchtime! Some children do look older than they really are and there are times when you need to get somewhere in a hurry so a buggy is a practical solution.

Chaya,

Believe me, there's nothing I'd like more than to be able to stroll down the street with my strong, fit, 11 year old son walking beside me - without bashing cars, eating bits of hedge, looking for dog poo to stand in and giving me a near heart attack when he runs into the road.

Well, actually there is one thing: It would be nice to push my son safely past a lady who flashes me an empathetic smile instead of a judgey cats bum mouth!

my friend's DS has asthama and allergies and gets really really unwell and he will be 5 this month but she still sometimes has to push him home from school in a buggy, he looks like a v healthy strong boy but the walk is too much for him...

YABU you don't know anything about these people...

How do you find the energy to care?

Healthy 7yos in buggies is just bollocks.

My friend has a 3yo daughter who is autistic, looks 5, is as tall as some 7yos and could probably pass for 7 to someone who has their judgy pants pulled so high they have restricted vision from peering out the zipper.

I know the the mum who collected her child from reception and pushed him to the car in a pushchair had an easier time than me trying to persuade an over tired 4 year old to walk to the car with out having a tantrum.

When I first saw her using the pushchair I was . I soon bowed down to her wisdom.

My 3.7 year old is as big as the average five yr old.We stopped using the buggy at twoish as it refused to steer because she was so big.I miss my buggy,shopping, picking her up from nursery,toddler groups-she is very heavy to carry and I have put my back out doing it!Ive been tutted at for having her in a buggy and always felt the need to explain she was still a "baby".You should never judge unless you know the facts.

I have seen a few in my time, always makes me giggle a bit. Especially as some of the children i have seen have been all arms and legs, some walking their feet along with the buggy.

I am amused by the comment that the child in the train can't have been worn out from a long day because they were running around like a maniac. We'll remind you of that comment when you have a 3 year old. And I have seen a non-disabled 7 year old in a buggy: DD when she has a nasty cold and I can't face dragging her half a mile to collect DS from school. I used to take DS to nursery in a buggy for half a term as well - he was 3 years and 2 weeks old, but he was in full school uniform, so I probably got some drive-by judging for that too.