Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that three years old is quite old to be using a buggy?

297 replies

Butternutsquash22 · 25/02/2011 10:41

Relative of DP was talking about how her buggy broke, so was going to have to find money for another one, find one she likes etc etc.

But the child in question is three which I would assume is old enough to walk places rather than buying another buggy?! Fair enough using it if it's there but if the buggy breaks she's probably too big for it...

Would you have bought another buggy at that age? She's an only child, with no immediate plans for any others yet.

OP posts:
Francagoestohollywood · 25/02/2011 14:43

YABU.

spidookly · 25/02/2011 14:46

A 3 year old is not a toddler.

thefirstMrsDeVere · 25/02/2011 14:48

Where do you put your shopping if you dont have a buggy?

I would keep mine in till they were old enough to get the bus on their own if I could. The little darlings buggers

DerangedSibyl · 25/02/2011 14:49

spidookly, that depends entirely on how long their legs are.

Ds2 has only just stopped toddling and he is 4.10

DerangedSibyl · 25/02/2011 14:50

I still use my buggy, although I'm chucking it this weekend.

it can carry at least 5 day's shopping on it!

spidookly · 25/02/2011 14:51

I think DH might be a toddler if it just comes down to leg length.

Mists · 25/02/2011 14:51

Hard to say isn't it? My son is autistic and he just collapses outside. His phobias, anxieties and sensory overload mean that he can't walk even though it is physically possible for him to walk in the house and other small indoor environments he knows well.

It's a form of temporary paralysis caused my incomplete or arrested development of the brain according to the DLA guidelines.

But the Paed refuses to support our claim for DLA mobility because he is still young enough to fit in a pushchair. This is because her neurological typical son had to use one and did so very well when they were on holiday last year.

Fair enough you'd think. Even though her son has none of the problems that my DS has.

Except that her son is seven. She thinks that is normal and is making decisions for my family and for all my friends' families based on what I think is an unusual assumption Hmm

hanaka88 · 25/02/2011 14:57

My ds is almost 5 in a buggy and I get stared at all the time. A swift 'do you always stare at disabled children?' cures that though! :)

In all seriousness though before he regressed he was out of a buggy at 2 but even then I didn't think it was any of my business what anyone else did

MadamDeathstare · 25/02/2011 14:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

oldwomaninashoe · 25/02/2011 15:01

I do think the sooner you can get them out of the buggy and walking under their own steam the better.
At three DS1 would easily do a round 4 mile trip walking. Its what they get used to.

jobhuntersrus · 25/02/2011 15:03

Ds3 is 4.3 and I still use a buggy sometimes. Not routinely, but there are occasisions when it just works best for everyone. If he's tired, grumpy and we are running late etc. Or if I have lots to carry and won't have a hand free to hold his hand. It's a lightweight thing with tiny wheels we bought for holidays so not great to push but preferrable to carrying him.

If she feels she needs it then leave her to it.

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 25/02/2011 15:04

"You know your beeswax. Why don't you mind it?" Kath Day-Knight.

DerangedSibyl · 25/02/2011 15:05

At three, despite my wishing he couldn't, ds1 did a 7 mile round trip. I would have LOVED him to chill in the buggy - it was not to be.

At three, Ds2 couldn't even walk 3 miles round, he was half the height his brother had been, much slimmer and not as muscular. he didn't have the stamina, despite me really not wanting to take buggies on trains etc.

trhey are all different and now mine are nearly 5 and 8, you wouldn't believe the depths of my not giving a fart.

idobelieveinfairies · 25/02/2011 15:06

I would say she would still need one! Perhaps not all the time, but when popping to the shops,trying to carry bags of shopping and holding a 3 year olds hands can be very tricky and dangerous!

GastonTheLadybird · 25/02/2011 15:06

My DD is three in a few weeks and we still use her pushchair quite frequently, mainly due to all the reasons mentioned, no car, walk miles, time sensitive nursery run in the morning etc.

Also, she is only 84cm tall, she's little and she just can't reliably walk long distances yet.

YABU

Vallhala · 25/02/2011 15:07

Agree with oldwomaninashoe although it's each to their own of course. Mine were out of buggies pretty quickly and certainly before three. They had a 6 mile round trip to get DD1 to school when she was 5 and DD2 was 3 so it's just what we did.

I missed the buggy when I went shopping with DD2 after dropping DD1 off at school though! :o

simpson · 25/02/2011 15:08

DD was 3 a few wks ago and we still sometimes use a buggy although can now go a good few days without using it.

I don't driver so although she is a pretty good walker I would not expect her to do the same amount of walking as me iyswim Smile

She is also hypermobile in her legs and tends to fall over a lot.....

caughtinanet · 25/02/2011 15:11

I assume the posters who think that 3 year olds should walk everywhere don't have to take them on the school run twice a day.

I wouldn't expect a 3 yo to walk a mile plus round trip twice a day never mind thinking about how early we'd need to leave in the morning to be certain of not being late.

Can't remember wish poster it was above but I've never heard that children should be able to walk twice their age in miles per day Shock - what age does this start and end?

My mind in boggling at 1 yos walking 2 miles per day and 13 year olds walking 26

Grandmasterpudge · 25/02/2011 15:13

I'd would day 3 is too old, but then again its her money

jobhuntersrus · 25/02/2011 15:15

I heard a slightly different version. That from age 2 they should be able to walk the same number of miles as their year in age. I think even that is pushing it tbh. Maybe thta would be the maximum you would expect e.g a 3 yr old a maximum of 3 miles?

BigChiefOrganiser · 25/02/2011 15:15

Been done, over and over and over.

My 3.5yo still gets shoved in the back of the stroller occassionally. His preschool is a 15min stroll for me. With him stopping to look at every crack, creature and climb snow mounds and slide down, wheeeeeee, it could take 40mins if I let him. Sometimes we leave early and I let him, sometimes I can't be bothered with it all. He also can't stay out and about all day without getting tired little legs, so he'll get in the stroller.

solooovely · 25/02/2011 15:21

Eeek these threads do my head in! Why are people so judgemental about other peoples kids using buggies!

Mind you own fucking business!!!!

(for the record, just because your child has the leg strength to walk further then other kids means obsolutely fuck all. They are not more "advanced" or any such shit, they are just stronger which is luck)

MillyR · 25/02/2011 15:24

A poster near the start of the thread seemed to be suggesting that a 3 year old wouldn't need a buggy because a child should be able to walk twice their age in miles.

Nobody commented on that, so I assume it is beyond the comprehension of many adults in this country that it is actually quite normal for an adult to walk a lot more than 6 miles a day, and so a SAHM with a 3 year old would need a buggy.

The obesity problem has a lot more to do with cars than pushchairs.

HeathcliffMoorland · 25/02/2011 15:28

YANBU.

expatinscotland · 25/02/2011 15:30

Here we go again!

Yes, all 3-year-olds who aren't walking 6 miles a day are destined to be fat arses forever.

Hmm

My now 7-year-old was in her buggy until she was a bit over 3.

She doesn't 'look' disabled, at age 7 she's 4ft., 5 inches and thin as a rake, but she has dyspraxia and her low muscle tone means she tires more easily.

My son is 2.3. He is very tall and wears 3-4 year old clothes.

He's still in a buggy as I can't carry him when he gets tired, he's nearly 20kgs. and I'm not a big person, when I pick him up his feet graze the middle of my thighs already. He also runs away, is just getting used to his reign and I have the two other girls, too.

People probably think he's destined to be a fat arse.