to worry about seeing older and older children in buggies?

[mariebl]

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?

YABVU.

Maybe the parent doesn't have a car and its a long walk, too far for a small child. Maybe the child already walked 2 miles earlier in the day. Maybe the parent is trying to lose weight so is walking rather than driving.

DS1 went home in a buggy from school in reception. It was a mile walk, uphill and he was exhausted at the end of the day (he walked in the morning). At least DD walked. If I'd have driven then neither would have had exercise.

No judging for driving, but judging if your 4 year old is in a buggy. WTF.

Absolutely none of your business - why are you "worried"?

I used a buggy for one of my DCs occasionally until she was 5 and the reason is none of your concern.

Snout out.

No one has commented on my link to an American discussion board where the discussion was over a 7yr (no SN) needing a "stroller" to do Disney. Is anyone willing to discuss this /is this where we are heading?

totally depends on the child and also how many kids you have imo! I just have one dd and so there was no littler one to kick her out of the buggy! The last time I can remember her using the buggy she was 4yo and that was when we went away for a few days and did lots of walking, she used it as a hop on and off service and also very handily had a kip in it in the afternoons - judge away!

But that's it no one seems to be questioning up to and inc 4 (to an extent up to 5 , by the sounds of posts) . Where does it stop?

Not read all the posts so forgive me if this has already been said but many children, although capable of walking, are also mentally/learning disabled and can pose a danger to themselves and others if 'untethered'; running into traffic, running away and getting lost, throwing themselves down with anxiety and distress etc...
My youngest was in a wheelchair buggy til he was about 7. He could walk alright, oh yeah, he could bloody run fast an' all!
At one time i had a double wheelchair buggy which weighed an absolute tonne especially with both heavy boys in it, but it was a Godsend as it meant I could actually leave the house occasionally!
I wouldn't worry about it OP, really. There are way more important things to spend your time worrying about

To all those "when I was a child..." posters:
I wonder how many bus services have been cut since you were a child?
I wonder how many local amenities (surgeries, corner shops, schools, playgrounds, sports centres etc, etc) have been cut since you were a child?
I wonder how much society has changed, such that you cannot just pop to the shops and leave your DC in the care of your neighbour/relative, since you were a child?

I also wonder how many judgemental posters here are actually a bit on the porky side themselves and are more likely than not to get in the car to do anything that entails more than a 5 minute walk with no heavy lifting (kids/shopping) involved?

kuamana - I don't think times have changed. i think people have just got more judgemental.

TPPSS:

1None (increased)

1. Increased, child of the 70's ....couldn't get worse..

3.More so than ever, I can name all all my neighbours/family live round the corner.

What the bollocking hell has the above got to do with using a buggy over a certain age ! Seriously WTF?!!

yabu - it's just they are all fatter than they used to be so they look older

Good grief

Poor old op.
I think all she was asking was 'are we increasingly using buggies more and is this a bad thing?'

She isn't pointing and judging. She specifically said that many children may need to use buggies for all sorts of reasons. She also came back and corrected her own use of 'worried' and said wondered would have been more accurate.

Yet the queue of people accusing her of judging their particular child grows ever longer.

Is it not possible to discuss a general trend without it being taken personally and all 'snout out judge pants'

I have a dc with sn. I am pretty bloody fast to see sneery judginess.
I honestly don't think that was what op was doing.
She was doing a variation of 'dc tend to eat more fast food. I can't help thinking that is a bad thing' but everyone is making it ' stop feeding your dc shit you bad mother'

I suppose it is aibu but blimey

Thanks Pag!

I feel the same , shame that we couldn't have an open discussion about this.

That's just it Pagwatch. What evidence is there that people use buggies more now than they did in the 1960s? I know I had a buggy at age 4 in 1972. My older sisters rode on it, as did most of the shopping. Where is the evidence that it's a general trend to use them for longer now? Apart from the op saying she's seen some big dcs in buggies. If anything I'd say they're used less, as more people have cars now.

We are heading the American way - we always do- we rarely take the good ideas but seem to snap up the shite!

I went out with a friend who has 7 DC- baby in sling and all others walking (ages 2-11) - she thinks buggies cumbersome - ARF at all this I need one as I have so many DC

mothi - Well I can honestly say I have no pics of me /sis/ my wee pals and me in "buggies" so I assume I/we got around on my/our own two feet! This was in the 1970s.

i guess i've just seen this thread too many times on mumsnet. all the car drivers say - well my two year old walks everywhere. and all those without cars say - well that would be impossible for us - we have to walk miles a day for activities, taking siblings to school, shopping etc. it's nothing to do with obesity. the op implies dcs are being kept in buggies against their will. anyone with a young dc knows you can't keep them in a buggy for any length of time against their will - the straps are just not strong enough to do that. pointless debate highlighthing nothing. just having a go at those who use a buggy beyond age 2. i'll go away now.

my ds4 is 3yrs 5mths and until recently was in the buggy, not for walks to the park or local shops etc, but for the half hour walk to town or school, it takes half an hour walking at a good pace, with him stopping to look at bits of grass, stones, dog poo etc it would take forever.

he did sometimes walk on the way home when not in a hurry to get to a club etc, but in the mornings, we have to be out by 8:10am to get there and that was with him in the buggy, once he was almost 3 and over 3 he would walk some of the way (we go over a field and he would then run with his elder brothers) but if like a toddler he refused or had a tantrum or was just tired then he would get in the phil and teds.

dd is 9mths now and i have just started using the single pushchair (nipper) for her, it has a plastic footrest bit and occasionally when ds4 is tired he will sit on that to get a ride, or if i am in a hurry and need to walk faster.

we went to legoland at the weekend, i put dd in the sling and ds4 in the pushchair, laid it back a bit, gave him his blanket so he would suck his thumb and took his shoes off so i could get him in for under three and not pay!!! he then walked pretty much the entire day around legoland.

my eldest was out of a pushchair at 2, but i didnt have younger kids to deal with, or elder ones to get to school etc, ditto ds2 and ds3, then the elder two started school so i used a buggy board for ds3 and then got a double when i had dd, its the first time ihave had a double and tbh i DID need it purely for school runs. but it has def meant that he is less inclined to walk. something we put a stop to over the summer holidays when i didnt have the school run to worry about.

tomorrow is the first day back and ds4 will be on his scooter!

oh he is also big, 10lb 13oz at birth and tall, so he looks older, i have had judgey comments and just rolled my eyes at them.

i dont drive and we walk everywhere, he runs around like a nutter in the garden, park and when on the field, but yes he probably did look big to be in a buggy, but as i spend two or three hours a day doing school/pre-school runs he needed to be in one.

Mothiman

then fair enough. That is a point of view. I don't think i agree but I can see what you mean.

I had my eldest son 18 years ago and I am not sure buggies were used as much even as recently as then. Yes we used them but ds walked a lot too.

I think part of my perception that buggies are used more is where I see them which is in town. But spending hours at a time at the shops was less of a leisure activity back then too. I think putting a child in a buggy to spend a long time going around the shops and meeting in cafes etc is far more common than it used to be. When ds1 was small i never did that and when i met other mums it was at their homes or gardens. But maybe I am just seeing that because of where I live.

But buggies were also more basic and probably less easy to move around. Nor did they seem so comfortable for toddlers. I think we legged it home because our dc looked all squished up and uncomfortable. The guilt got you in the end

But on the flip side I think some of the bigger dc in buggies are to do with sn. I think we are much more bolshi about getting our kids out and about because we know it is good for them and we don't feel the pressure to hide away that perhaps we used.

X-posted mothiman

{mothi} - I don't think in anyway the OP was talking about 2+, more the 4-8 years old, sorry you have felt chastised in some way...

kaumana - i don't feel "chastised". I'm just disagreeing with you.

Oh look at all of us disagreeing nicely.

Well why should I feel "chastised" for goodness sake. Is this not a debate or have I wondered into a strange cult?

I didn't say you should feel chastised. I am not in a cult. I thought I was debating.

I am going to bed I think.

Sorry, if I seemed condescending, I kind of like it when people disagree with me ;-),