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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to worry about seeing older and older children in buggies?

281 replies

mariebl · 05/09/2011 22:16

In the last couple of years I've really started to notice many more children in buggies, some of them must be almost school age.
I also very often see them looking unhappy and bored and trying to get out and being told off for being "naughty".

I'm beginning to think it must be my age as not too many years back there didn't really seem to BE any buggies for older children, babies went in prams, when they started toddling they had reins and when they got tired people picked them up and carried them for a bit.

I appreciate that there are children with conditions where having that transport is helpful and necessary but I also believe that having older and older children in buggies is a recent trend which is in danger of becoming the norm. We are also told we have a child obesity crisis and are told that children do not get enough exercise.
Am I being judgemental to say is this kind of trend a part of it?

OP posts:
shinyhappypeople · 05/09/2011 22:36

You may have also seen me pushing my almost 4 year old in her buggy from the car park to the shopping centre all because she had to spend 6 months in a hip spica cast and then learn how to walk again at the age of 3! But like you say, some children have conditions!

StealthPolarBear · 05/09/2011 22:37

we rarely use the pushchair
we drive everywhere - so that's OK then

niccibabe · 05/09/2011 22:37

In the 70s (and probably before then ) the giant silver cross prams had toddler seats that fitted on to them - so it was commonplace for an older child to be riding on the pram - my brother certainly was in a toddler seat on my pram until he was over 3yo.

The double buggies are newer than this, but just do the same job with a more modern design. Mind you, my mum assumes that all double buggies contain twins.

We rarely use a buggy for our 2yo - but still need it for distance, and it's handy if we will be out at nap time.

DecapitatedLegoman · 05/09/2011 22:37

I'm always surprised at how little distance children can walk before reportedly getting tired. Makes me wonder if perhaps they did a bit more walking it might get easier for them. DS could easily manage a mile each way at 2.5. He just turned 4 and we did 8 miles the other weekend, in a morning, with no problems. And he is not physically extraordinary in any way.

lachesis · 05/09/2011 22:41

My 2-year-old son is as tall as my 5-year-old daughter. People think he's 4.

YABU.

You didn't notice so many buggies for these 'older children' because you weren't registering them.

Get a life.

pigletmania · 05/09/2011 22:41

OP you do not know anything of the circumstances, of whether the child has SN or health problems, some have hidden SN that you cannot tell by looking at them. Some children look older than they are, when in a buggy even the youngest of toddlers looks big. My dd 4.5 ) used a buggy until 3 year (dev delay and autistic traits) as it was the only way I could control her in certain situations, instead of her running off. She hated reigns and harnesses so would meltdown when they were put on. I did not care what people thought, all that matters is that I did what was best for us. As her understanding got better and her behaviour improved, the buggy was ditched.

fatlazymummy · 05/09/2011 22:41

Of course it's not a new thing. I can remember my little sister going in a pushchair when she was quite old, and I think some of us older ones used to hitch a lift as well if we could. That is because my Mum couldn't drive and we couldn't afford busfares so we had to walk miles.
Probably the new thing is judgy people that think they know best about how other people look after their children.

worraliberty · 05/09/2011 22:42

I don't see many older children in buggies but I do constantly see kids being driven everywhere.

DS's senior school is literally a five minute walk and most of his friends who live around here, get lifts to and from school....especially if it's rayyy-ninng.

Like a bit of water falling from the sky is going to kill the lazy little darlings Hmm

MugglesandLuna · 05/09/2011 22:43

I love my Maclaren Major. So does DS and he will be 5 in March.

Cleverything · 05/09/2011 22:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SlinkingOutsideInSocks · 05/09/2011 22:44

I will only use the car if it really, really is too far to walk.

I have a 13 month old and a 2.5 year old. I have to push the 13 month old as she's not walking yet, and the distances are too far for the 2.5 year so he goes in the pram, and then I usually let him out near-ish to home to walk some of the way.

So, since he/they're in a pram as opposed to a car/car seat, and given the above, does this assuage your 'worry' OP? Wink

EdithWeston · 05/09/2011 22:47

You're right DecapitatedLegoman up to a point - the more a child walks the more accustomed to it and better at it they become.

Exercise is good, walking with children is fun. But logistics (especially the horror of double drop off school run-on a tight schedule) mean you just do your best, and if that has to mean a pushchair for the littlest then that's what happened.

SouthernFriedTofu · 05/09/2011 22:47

rushofbloodtothefeet the kid in the pic is about 2x size of buggy - and reading a newspaper Grin

SouthernFriedTofu · 05/09/2011 22:51

If a chlid has SN and say 4 or 5 won't they be in a push chair designed to fit them? I have seen kids being pushed around in mall in cheap plastic strollers clearly designed 1-3 year olds.

halcyondays · 05/09/2011 22:52

Child obesity and children not getting enough exercise have more to do with children being driven everywhere. If you drive everywhere, your children aren't likely to need a buggy for long. If you don't drive and cover fairly long distances on foot, then you are more likely to need a buggy for longer.

learningtofly · 05/09/2011 22:54

While ds (nearly 2) would easily walk a fair distance he is equally likely to run off in the opposite direction (and he can move pdq), sit down in the road, be a total liability in a shop (think demolition derby) and generally be a real danger to himself.

At least in the buggy he is contained and safe. He has plenty of opportunities to blow off steam and run round though. It's a question of balance.

A1980 · 05/09/2011 22:54

It depends on the context IMO. I had a friend who had her 4+ year old DS in a buggy whenever he went out with her as it was the only way she could control him. He did not have special needs, he was just extremely badly behaved as she let him do what he liked and I never heard her tell him no. He would run away in the street, scream and shout until he got what he wanted, etc. So she kept him in a buggy so he couldn't run riot. His behaviour ought to have been nipped in the bud by her rather than her using a buggy to keep him restrained in the street for ordinary outings.

However if it's a long day out or on holiday or with an ill child, then a child under 5 gets tired and they are much too heavy to carry. Nother friend of mine took her children to Disneyland Paris and yes she took a buggy with her to put her 4 year old dd into when she got tired. It's too much for a 4 year old to walk around all day and she's too heavy to carry.

Feminine · 05/09/2011 22:55

Not this again ...

YABU :)

You have no idea why the child is in a buggy!

Please forget about it ,and get a good nights kip.

halcyondays · 05/09/2011 22:55

Not necessarily, SFT. Plenty of four and even five year olds can fit in a standard buggy if they aren't particularly big for their age. How do you know what age the children you see in the mall are anyway?

pigletmania · 05/09/2011 22:58

My (tallish) dd 4.5 years fits into my friends Quinny Buzz

ouryve · 05/09/2011 22:58

OP: How can you tell why the child is in a buggy? I take DS2 to a lot of places in a buggy - he is 5 and has ASD and a tendency to run off or roll on the floor and fixate on things - we tried to wean him off it on shopping trips earlier in the year and I ended up sat on the floor, phoning DH to come and rescue us because he'd decided he wanted to move in a particular direction, but would not budge and i could not move him - I don't have the physical strength. The only other kids i ever see in buggies appear to be pretty much like him.

Unless you have a 6th sense, YABU.

Kladdkaka · 05/09/2011 22:58

What is it with some people on this site? Why are they so worried about what others are doing? The net curtains may have gone but their spirit lives on!

MrsFlittersnoop · 05/09/2011 23:00

Quite right Halcyon. I was a single parent when DS was a toddler and I don't drive. We ha to walk everywhere or use public transport so a buggy was essential, and very useful for for hanging bags of groceries off the handles.

I can remember still using a pushchair when I was about 4 - and that was back in the mid '60s.

purplepidjin · 05/09/2011 23:01

As far as I can see, a child with SN will be in a buggy that fits them

I think it's horrible when you see a child dragging their feet along the floor because their legs are too long to fit comfortably on the foot rest Hmm

But then, I also hoiked my judgy pants further up the other day when i saw a child who appeared to be around 4 running around with a dummy. I figure if you're old enough to run around and play rough and tumble with the big boys, you're old enough to leave the dummy behind! before you smash your teeth in on the damn thing oh no too late whoopsie have a nice drink of coke

Glitterknickaz · 05/09/2011 23:02

DD uses one because she's too small for a paediatric wheelchair or major buggy.
DS2 had a major buggy until he was 5 then got a paediatric wheelchair.

Shit happens.

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