to be annoyed at the nursery workers comment re DS still using a buggy?

[choceyes]

My DS is 3.4yrs and this morning when I dropped him and his sister, 18 months off at nursery this morning, nursery worker commented to DS , "ah you are a big boy now DS, you should be walking" .
Argh...I told her that we walk 2.5miles into nursery. It would take me about an hour to walk that with a dwadling DS, it takes me a good 30mins in a brisk walk. And most days I am late for work anyway.
I don't need the stress of making him walk all that way first thing in the morning. I just want to get to work!

Just annoyed me really as, most parents drop their kids off in a car at the nursery entrance and walk in. They never get commented on. I know some drive the same distance that I walk. If i took DS off the buggy just before we get to nursery and let him walk in, I'm sure that would be OK too
I just hate the assumption that just because DS is in a buggy that he is being lazy
He walks back home some days, when he is not too worn out from nursery.

So AIBU to let DS be in a buggy at his age?

Sorry, this is a monday morning rant above all really!

That's the one drawback of buggy boards - you need the ballast of a younger child to make them work.

DD2 would love one, but I'm still only cooking her ballast, so she'll have to wait :o

I have considered pushing a sack of potatoes around.

Someone mentioned scooters - do you have to carry them home again?

I often wish it was customary for children to get to nursery by tricycle or scooter, and there was space to leave them.

Nothing makes up for short legs like pedalling or scooting.

Ds1 walked the 2 miles into town at a good pace from 20 months onwards and I often wondered why friends took their older children in their buggies. Then I had ds2 who was still in his buggy at 4. If I didn't take it I ended up carrying him. Luckily he was a tiny little thing so no one noticed . Ds3 was a good walker!

DS does scoot well. HE has a mini micro and can scoot the distance to nursery. Thing is he eats on the way to nursery, as he is too hungry to wait for the nusery breakfast, so snacks on the way there, so it might be a lot of stops and starts if he is eating and trying to scoot there. But yes, I do like it if he would scoot there. I can leave the scooter at nursery or take it along with the buggy to my workplace.

""I also had to factor in things like whether I was risking someone make a sneery remark, or the risk of a nursery staff member writing my child off as lazy or spoilt."

No, you really didn't."

Yes, I really did. I don't mean it was the overriding consideration, of course it wasn't! But was it something that would cross my mind every time I wondered if I could use the buggy, when my child got past a certain size? Yes it was.

I let my DS go in a pushchair until she wanted to walk (from about 3.6 yrs). Just don't see the big deal about rushing them out of it. And you sound amazing to walk that distance every day with a sling AND pushchair and then go to work!

YANBU.

DC1 was still in the tandem pushchair around half the time until he was about three and a half and I physically couldn't push both him and his sister. He was in it because he alternated between being a bolter and a dawdler, which was a nightmare.

DC2 ended up in one of those monster pushchairs, sprung chassis affairs, when she got too heavy for me to push her in her regular buggy, and we were still using it once or twice a week when she was coming up to four (Sept b'day) to get home from toddler groups in time for DC1's school pick-up.

Often we would go out with DC1's seat in the tandem/DC2's monster pushchair empty with the child walking, but the pushchair would be needed for the return journey due either to tired child or time restrictions.

When anybody commented on the age of the children and the pushchair, my stock response was 'It's my car' and, since the comments invariably came from people who drove pretty much everywhere, there really wasn't anything they could come back with.

Yes, I carry the scooter back home.

I have a pushchair for Baby Goo so I put it over the handlebar. But I have seen a carry strap thing, so if the time comes, I suppose I'll attach a strap to it. They are aluminium so light, and fold down small :)

I didn't consider a buggy board cause I thought I'd never get him off it.

The thought of having my children on scooters to school give me the cold shivers - although the distance is not far both routes involve steepish slopes towards a busy road and the number of 3 yo on scooters heading at a breakneck speeds towards said busy road with parent in hot pursuit screaming the childs name.... [shudders]

3 yo olds on scooters that I have witnessed - that should say.

"When anybody commented on the age of the children and the pushchair, my stock response was 'It's my car'"

Smart :o

roastveg - it's a shame you felt that way :(

bigmouthstrikesagain - yes that is my concern too with the scooter. We live in the outskirts of the city and have to walk into the city centre. We pass the "busiest bus route" in Europe on our way in(there are 5 universities in the vicinity served by this bus route). It is mega busy. I could do without that kind of stress first thing in the morning!

yy I did have to consider the route pretty carefully. We only have one big road to get over, right at the start. He's also well trained to stop at corners/ junctions etc.

It's none of her business. You are the 'customer' and in any other service industry environment she would not think of being critical. I am horrified to hear that children are being rewarded by the school for walking. It's just another example of the state using emotional blackmail to pressurise parents. By that token, if you work full time and don't have time to walk, your kids are discriminated against. Oh, of course, that old chestnut - more guilt for working mums....

That aside, pushing two kids 2.5 miles in a buggy isn't exactly lazy is it? I don't let my daughter walk on Prague streets at all - it's far too dangerous in an inner city environment and they drive like psychos here.

Are those buggy board things any good?

I have a very irritating friend that, everytime she sees my toddler DS, starts saying 'You should be wearing pants now, mister. You're a lazy boy' so I know how irritated you must feel.

Next time she says anything just say 'I am very happy about him going in the buggy, thank you' in a firm way.

I use the buggy for my 3.5 year old when he is tired. it is cheaper on shoe leather. dragging a child along wears shoes out very quickly and social services get a bit twitchy. we get comments at school pick up time if he is in the buggy but he has often just woken up and I got fed up of chasing him down the school field as he is a bolter. he seems to have decided that he likes walking enough to stay on the school playground now. he gets to do walking and running around during the day when i only have him to concentrate on. dd is hypermobile so until recently needed extra support.

we walk further (just) than some parents who live on the road we park on as we have a couple of flights of stairs and a massive carpark to negotiate. we also chose to go to a church school in the suburbs rather than the local innercity primary. (though that would be a long walk too)

I do not fancy them stropping /falling in the dog/human poo, human vomit, broken glass, and occasional needle or used condom that are found on the route home from town.

Gosh yes, because one should never ever use dead time like a walk to nursery for something like a snack.

DD often had breakfast in the car after the school run if she had an activity to go to. The extra sleep did her more good than a prim and proper breakfast at one would have done.

It's not a snack though, it's his breakfast.

Making a hungry child eat on the move rather than giving them a proper breakfast when they wake up seems like priorities are askew.

It's no wonder the child can't walk the journey if he's had no food since the previous evening.

I'm sometimes surprised at the extent to which people expect little children to fit into their lives.

Wouldn't it be better to get up a little earlier?

" he is too hungry to wait for the nusery breakfast, so snacks on the way there"

I assumed, because it mentions that he snacks on the way, that he has breakfast as nursery and the snack tides him over.

DId it say somewhere he has a full breakfast and doesn't have it at nursery then?

Actually, I think it would be worse to wake a child early so they can eat and then have to walk briskly for, perhaps, 40 minutes on a full stomach. And then be grumpy for the rest of the day.

Breakfast is the first thing you eat when you wake up.

You can call it a "snack" all you want, and designate a meal several hours after waking as "breakfast" if you chose, but the reality is that the child is being expected to break his fast on the move.

I can't for the life of me see how getting up earlier and eating at the table soon after rising could be bad for him, but whatever...

Why would a child be grumpy all day because they woke early, ate breakfast and then walked to nursery?

Which bit of a cometely normal morning for children all over the world would be so devastating to a child's mood for the entire day?