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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To get DD a new pushchair when she is 3 years old?

167 replies

MumblingRagDoll · 19/05/2011 12:42

Inspired by the lady who wanted to know if buying a 4th pushchair for a 4 month old was silly.

DD turned three in March and still uses the pushchair for school runs...we leave it behind when we go to town sometimes but not aalways as she get tired still..the one we have is dirty and I have tried to clean it but it just won't come up nicely....DH says we should make do with what we have as it still works fine....but I think a rubby pushchir is like a grubby coat and is just not on.

I HAVE really tried to clean it.....but to no avail.

And if am not BU can anyone reccomend a decent lightweight pushchair that's comfy and is not pink.

thank you!

OP posts:
Fleurdebleurgh · 19/05/2011 12:55

Shopping trolleys are a bit.....old lady...arent they?

worraliberty · 19/05/2011 12:56

Needs must at times Fleur and no, they do some modern ones now.

Jojay · 19/05/2011 12:57

Buy her a mini micro scooter instead.Here Mine hardly got in the buggy again one they got going on these, at about 2 years old

But failing that, I wouldn't buy a new buggy just because the old one is dirty. Are you sure you can't clean it more? I just washed all the fabric of mine in the washing machine. I needed a screwdriver to get a few bits off, but in many cases the fabric is removeable if you try.

TheVisitor · 19/05/2011 12:57

Nooooooooo, they're not! They're not necessarily tartan any more and have had a big revival of late. I'd be lost without mine.

CatIsSleepy · 19/05/2011 12:58

scooter's a good idea actually. but by the time you've bought a scooter and a shopping trolley you may as well get a new buggy Grin

or maybe the old buggy could have a little accident of some kind? so you just have to get a new one....?

OvO · 19/05/2011 12:59

I have a fab trolley! Not grannyish at all.Grin

Mumbling, I'm disabled and also have a 3 year old so do sometimes still use the buggy. But a trolley is great! When empty I shove him in it! Then he can walk home while I pull the shopping. Not too much walking for him and easy carrying for the shopping. Win win!

Fleurdebleurgh · 19/05/2011 13:00

Hmm maybe i am wrong about the trolleys, DS2 is slowly ditching his buggy as 27 months and i will be lost without the buggy for shopping.

I can also echo what Jojay said- we have a mini micro scooter that is/was my eldests but has recently been comandeered by the small one.
He loves it. Just goes a bit too fast for my liking.

worraliberty · 19/05/2011 13:00

If the OP is worried about carrying shopping and holding her 3yr old's hand, she's hardly likely to want her child on one of those things.

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 19/05/2011 13:03

YANBU if it makes your life easier!!!!! My DS stopped going in the buggy when he turned 4 but that was coz he started school and I didnt want anyone taking the piss out of him.

Life was easier with him in the buggy and at 3 if he had needed a new one....hell yeah I would have got him one!

fedupofnamechanging · 19/05/2011 13:15

I would buy a new buggy. You do a lot of walking and if it makes your life easier, then why not. I think that when you are 3 years old, you are entitled to a little rest in the buggy if you are tired.

Original poster
MumblingRagDoll · 19/05/2011 13:27

no.....I wouldn't be able to monitor DD on a scooter and carry shopping. I can'y undersand all these people claiming their DC cn walk 2 miles at just turned 3! Suely you're dragging them! Two miles is quite a distance...my 6 year old can manage it fine....but three? Hmm

I don't like ordering online....they never sendthe right things and its always when THEY can bring it and not when you want it.

Shopping trolley...I just couldn't...no....I would rather get a new buggy and BU.

OP posts:
vivi12 · 19/05/2011 13:29

I used a McLaren's stroller (can't remember the name of it but about £70). Sounds a lot, but it was really lightweight, yet sturdy enough, with hood and raincover, easy to get on buses. I don't drive either so it was essential until dd was around 4.5 years. We have a 20 minute walk into town - most of the time she'd walk there but if we'd been to an activity or to the park, she'd be too tired to walk up the hill home and I couldn't carry her due to back problems.

TimeWasting · 19/05/2011 13:31

They do need practice if they are going to walk distances.

Shopping trolley is much better for carrying groceries than the buggy, I can get loads in, really heavy stuff too and it's no problem pulling it.

But do what you were going to do anyway.

TheVisitor · 19/05/2011 13:32

I didn't drag them, honest! With DS1, he was 3 when he got turfed out. I built up the distances he'd walk from around the age of 2, so he was well used to it. With the triplets, they were 2 1/2 as they were too bloody heavy to push around by then. I'd also built up the distance with them over time. 2 miles over a whole day isn't a lot for a 3 year old when there are breaks in between. A 20 minute walk is more than reasonable.

Bramshott · 19/05/2011 13:37

I was all poised to say YANBU as DD2 still uses her buggy sometimes and she's 4. I've never been able to understand this paranoia about getting them out of the buggy as quickly as possible, as if it's some kind of developmental race!

However, your buggy is not broken, just a bit grubby, so YABU!

worraliberty · 19/05/2011 13:37

Dear god how could anyone drag a child for 2 miles? Grin

Seriously though, 1000's of people shop online and lots use trollies. What are you going to do when your child doesn't use a buggy anymore?

SkyNewsAddict · 19/05/2011 13:38

Could you buy a nice new liner to put in it to tart it up a bit like this?

SardineJam · 19/05/2011 13:40

Petit Stars are quite good and fit for purpose for you. And they also come in loads of colours

thetideishigh · 19/05/2011 13:41

How did it get so grubby in the first place ?

Mine were not grubby and I sold/freecycled them (depending on the market for them) after they had served me well for both dc up to the age of 3 and a half. One of them was second hand when I bought it.

Do you think you just might have come down with "desiringanewpushchair-itis" and it is affecting your ability to deep clean certain items ? If so, as you are afflicted you need help from an able bodied unafflicted person to clean the item.

If your DH says no, and you really really can't seem to get it clean, ask him to try cleaning it or to come up with some cleaning method that will shift the surface dirt.

coccyx · 19/05/2011 13:42

Get a pushbike with child seat

domesticslattern · 19/05/2011 13:43

I don't drive. I easily walk for three or four hours on an average day with DD, no trouble. It is vitally important to me to have DD (3.5) in a buggy for some of that time otherwise I simply couldn't get through the day. It is all very well to say that she could walk - but it would take bloody hours to get anywhere, plus at the end of a long day at nursery she is totally whacked and needs a rest- and why not?

I don't understand why we are so keen to turf children out of buggies. I don't shout at every car driver that they are lazy bastards and should be walking (though for many of them I do want to, but restrain myself). People all have different amounts that they cover in the day, and that's their business.

We bought DD a new buggy when she was 3 and 2 months and it was an excellent purchase- have never regretted it. But I am not sure I would do it just for the sake of a bit of dirt. Confused

missmapp · 19/05/2011 13:43

DS2 is 3 and his buggy (which was ds1's) is almost falling apart and v.dirty. We only use it occasionally( when I am late for school pick up and need to run up rather than crawl at ds2's pace) , but I will not buy a new one as, in my heart of hearts, i know he shouldnt be using it. Ds1 was out of a buggy by 3 ( to make way for ds2) and really it is for my convinience, not ds2s!!

worraliberty · 19/05/2011 13:45

Since when has a child no longer needing a buggy because it's quite capable of walking a few miles become 'turfing them out'?? Confused

HeadfirstForHalos · 19/05/2011 13:47

My ds is 3 1/2 years he uses the pushchair for about a third of our daily journeys- shops, school runs, walking the dog. I walk about 5/6 miles a day he is still slightly too little to manage it, but is getting close! You have to build up his toddler miles weekly, he will be less tired as time goes on.

I also fully intend on getting a shopping trolley when the buggy goes to the tip, after 9 years of having pushchairs I won't be able to cope Grin

YABU to buy a new buggy, unless it really is filthy and you would just be buying a cheapy stroller .

beetrootchipsandvinegar · 19/05/2011 14:05

I'm not sure I'd buy a new one just because the old one was dirty - I'd suspect myself of just having a Frivolous Shopping Urge ;). But I wouldn't on principle not buy a buggy for a three year old. After all, I save on car costs compared to some families. I don't drive and have arthritis and for me the buggy was an essential part of our travel planning - it probably did mean ds was in it slightly more than other children but not so much he was deprived of exercise or that I couldn't get him out of it when I finally knocked it on the head.

We went much further with the buggy than we would have without it, both because it could carry stuff and because he could sit down in it and have a rest.

The 'what will you do when they're too old for the buggy?' question isn't really that important. If a pushchair is useful for a three year old, then fine, use it. The fact that you won't want to be using it for a five year old doesn't change that.

People with cars have the luxury of deciding not to walk at all on days their child is tired, or they're going a long way, or they've got a lot of stuff. I know many of the children who never go in pushchairs past three do walk a lot way every day - but I know there are also quite a few who only walk on the easy days and are carried around in cars the rest of the time.