4yr olds in pushchairs

[SEH23]

aaaaahhh!!! i made my annual trip into the town shopping centre for christmas shopping today with my 5 month old DD.

LIFTS!! wow i hate them more than ever. waiting alongside 4 other pushchairs and then the mom with her 3-4yr old in pushchair pushes infront of me... WHAT?!?

a) wait your fucking turn
b) do you really need a buggy for children that old?

i hate my pushchair and can't wait for my DD to start walking so i can leave it behind. absolutely acknowledge shopping centres are busy etc but this child looked miserable, had a dummy stuck in his mouth and could be on reigns? surely?

I should say she's heavy because she'a 98th centile tall, not because she's obese . I doubt extended buggy use is ever the cause of obesity...

"I would love to hear from all these people who didn't use a buggy from 18 mths(or whatever) after they've spent a week without their car and not having left their children at home. "

I didn't use a buggy from younger than that, but that was because I used a backpack. My kids are 3 years apart almost exactly and I never owned a double buggy or a buggyboard at all. And no, I didn't drive everywhere or leave the kids at home, and no, my kids didn't walk especially early - they were both the best part of 18 months.

I do think there's a subset of people who make rods for their own backs by always taking the buggy just in case. A 4 year old (heck, I'd say a 3 year old and I practiced what I preached) can be told "I'm sorry you are tired but you have to walk anyway." Sure there will be some kids who have medical reasons why this doesn't apply, but not the vast majority you'd think from the sheer numbers of older children who get pushed everywhere.

I ditched my buggy at around 4
A. I didnt drive I walked everywhere
b. It was my shopping trolley
c. if you have a very tight schedule ie 15 minutes to do over a mile walk, which i had to do between school and nursery then its far quicker to use a buggy than drag a 3 year old along.
My dcs were fit little ones, and they probably walked far more than most children whose parents had stopped using the buggy at 2. There were times when it was much easier with it than without.

I think posters are misunderstanding me. OP said should a 4 year old be in a buggy ?People came on to say it might be necessary if for example you don't drive. I came to say it is possible to not drive and not use a buggy much after 2. I explained how we did this by starting early and doing tiny trips which took ages to start with.I also said that in many areas with low car use eg: inner London boroughs there is a massive childhood obesity problem, many of these reception age dcs have an unbelievably low exercise tolerance, they have simply never walked more than 100m. This is a real problem when they start school.

It's not all or nothing though. You use a buggy when you need to be somewhere (I used one for a nearly four year old to get to nursery as walking took twice as long and I had to get to work) and let them walk the rest of the time. They're not glued to the seat.

Mrs Devere if you are part of a child development team you will be aware of thresholds for referral and not walking at 18 months is one because most normally developing children will be doing so by then. I am not suggesting for a second that not using a buggy will make a child learn to walk- that would be ridiculous. But once they are walking they need to practice and build up some stamina.

And despite being able to walk miles at that age, the nursery walk could not be completed without having to stop and examine every fag end. So we used the buggy for the journey there, and frequently walked home.

'Oh sorry I'm late boss, but we did find three marlborough lights and a regal'.

Exactly, Bernice. My two year old can, if necessary, walk for over an hour, stumping along purposefully, and I'll generally let him walk for weekend trips to the shop or the playground or whatever, anything where I'm not in a rush. He's extremely active, an enthusiastic (some might say too enthusiastic) climber, and far from obese. But if I, say, need to get his brother to school on time, or it's raining, he'll go in his buggy. I'm still using the buggy, I haven't superglued him to it.

Mrs D you will also be aware of all the hard work that the physios, OTs and most of all parents put in to get children with additional needs to mobilise. To suggest it just happens is disingenuous.

I suspect that most people who stop using a buggy at 2 years old don't actually do very much walking. I don't have a car, and often walk for 2-3 hours per day (we also cycle).

At 3.8 DD is a capable walker and we only rarely use a buggy now, possibly once a month. However it does have its uses once in a while. For instance, if we need to be somewhere quickly, it is a couple of miles away, DD is very tired/ under the weather and it is pouring with rain then really the buggy is a no-brainer.

We only started using a buggy at all at 8 months old- before that I exclusively used a sling, which is much more practical for a busy shopping centre with crowds and lifts. I would suggest that the OP tries doing the same.

Actually, I never had a buggy. I had a big full on mamas and papas pram. And I loved it.

skylark I would suggest the argument is the same for a backpack as a buggy. Hats off to you, I never got to grips with the backpack/sling thing despite wanting to too.

bernice I agree. But others don't.

Still your posts are blinkered. Are you not reading other posts? Your approach is great if you have time and everything is very close by.

Why on earth am I getting wound up by this thread when my dc's are 9 and 11? time to go and do something else.

at my childs school in the nursery department they don't like parents using pushchairs because when it come to a nursery trip its difficult to get the pushchair users to walk. but then the same could be said for the car drivers. so theres not an answer to that one really.

i live on a really long road with quite a steep hill. i see one of the mums from the school she asked where i was of to i said home she said omg you walking up the hill with the kids. mine would not walk up there we get the bus. her youngest is 7. it would take about 15 mins to walk the hill. it takes me about 30 mins because i have to walk the hill and some more.

my daughter came out of buggy around 3.5 not because she could not walk or was lazy. it was because she was a pain in the butt. would rather she was in a buggy than trying to do a runner near busy roads. and she was my counter weight for my shopping. also not everyone has the time to walk toddler speed

2013 Jan 15;346:e8687. doi: 10.1136/bmj.e8687.

A 4 year old (heck, I'd say a 3 year old and I practiced what I preached) can be told "I'm sorry you are tired but you have to walk anyway."

Honestly, stabbing myself in the eye with a fork, would have been preferable to trying to negotiate with my screaming 3.8 year old dd2, lying on the pavement, whilst 4 month old ds wailed in his buggy, knowing that we had to get to school to pick up 5 year old dd1. Using a double buggy for a short time, saved my sanity, helped dd2 and meant that dd1 wasn't greeted by a wrecked mother.

Still, my ds has mobility issues, he has had physio, OT and uses a sn buggy. He started walking at 28 months - it did take work, and we used standing frames and walkers, but the fact remains that he could only walk when he was ready to walk.

Interestingly his friend started walking nearly a whole year later than him, but doesn't have the physical issues that my ds has. Now, whilst my ds can't run, or jump and struggles to walk to the end of the road, his friend runs and climbs and is like a flash of lightening (and at 4 and half uses a buggy, because he has zero sense of danger and massive meltdowns)

I am really glad your ds has done so well Hazy.

so easy to criticise other parents isn't it?
the last time I had my huge 4 year old boy in a pushchair was when he had stepped on a drawing pin.

and nor did I frusso when my dd did not start walking til over 18 months

How is your dc now Frusso ? There are some dcs who this can be normal for. Also there are very long waiting lists in a lot of places which is why we like referral at 18 months.

I have linked a bmj article which suggests 18 months also. It isn't something I have just invented honestly.