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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Reception aged kids in pushchairs?

257 replies

RequestInUse · 04/05/2016 15:18

Maybe I just have my judgy pants on, maybe they have a really long walk. But AIBU to think school aged children are generally too old for a pushchair?

OP posts:
Clandestino · 04/05/2016 15:52

FutureGadgetsLab, I do work and commute. I'd rather get out of the house much earlier. I thought it was important for DD to get used to walking so she didn't whinge when we decided to go back to our previous habits of going for long hikes in the mountains.
That's just my opinion and the way I see it. If someone finds it more convenient to use a pushchair, so be it. I just found it easier to be without it too as I didn't have to bother with where to put it on a bus if I was taking it.

Lovepancakes · 04/05/2016 15:54

I used to get our buggy out if for eg they had a fever and I still had to get to the shops and could feel the disapproving looks from people like you OP

Felyne · 04/05/2016 15:54

I like to walk to school rather than adding another car to the hideous school run traffic. DC2 is pre-school and could not manage to walk to school and back home again (two mile round trip) so he goes in the pushchair. I couldn't walk at his pace and be on time, and I can't carry him when he gets tired because of my own dodgy hips.

PPie10 · 04/05/2016 15:54

Yabu, how the hell does it affect your life??
There could be so many reasons, and still each reason has nothing to do with you.

SatsukiKusakabe · 04/05/2016 15:55

When my ds had a wheezy chest before Christmas he got in the buggy and I made the 2 year old walk, so does that balance it out?

Owllady · 04/05/2016 15:55

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Fairylea · 04/05/2016 15:58

My son is nearly 4 and has learning difficulties and autism. He will be using a buggy for a long time yet, not because he can't walk but because he has no sense of danger and will often sprint off towards a road without a second thought. Or if he's having a meltdown being able to put him in a buggy means we don't have to carry him ourselves (he's the size of a 6-7 year old). It's easy to judge until you've lived it.

notagiraffe · 04/05/2016 15:59

YABU. If you don't object to reception children being driven home in cars, why object to them being pushed home in a buggy?

kennypppppppp · 04/05/2016 15:59

a kid i know is in year one and is in a pushchair. mum and kid both have delicate issues, although the majority of people don't know that and probably take free reign to be captain judge of judgeland.

RedToothBrush · 04/05/2016 16:00

Why does it make a difference to you, that someone else's child is in a pushchair OP?

CheshireChat · 04/05/2016 16:00

Sure the majority of children probably won't need a pushchair at that age, but I think there's quite a few instances where it's the better/ only option.

While I don't agree with a PP entirely, I do believe there's also a cultural aspect as in countries with warmer, sunnier weather buggies seem to be ditched sooner. And more sun definitely means less arthritis so I'm guessing there's that at play as well.

Thurlow · 04/05/2016 16:01

Why does it make a difference to you, that someone else's child is in a pushchair OP?

Because it's more fun for her: write, post, step back and somehow get amusement from watching people froth Grin

Moreisnnogedag · 04/05/2016 16:02

Honest to God who gives a shit? I really couldn't give s tiny rats ass how other people ferry their children from A to B.

DH takes DC to school in a bike trailer and I drive. I'm certainly not going to judge anyone for popping their kids in a buggy to make their life easier for whatever reason.

OohMavis · 04/05/2016 16:03

Would you bat an eyelid at a 3yo in a pushchair? No, you wouldn't.

A lot of reception children are barely older than 3 when they start school. It's really not unbelievable to think they won't be able to walk miles and miles after spending all day running and playing and learning.

And that's without taking into consideration possible health issues.

PenelopeChipShop · 04/05/2016 16:03

Mine hasn't started reception yet but I've heard from some mums with DC already at the local school (both with preschoolers at home) that their 4/5 year olds were so knackered during the first term that the younger siblings were often booted out of the buggy on the way home so the older ones could have a rest. It's not a particularly long walk either.

I didn't think that sounded particularly odd tbh. Yes reception children are school age but they have only just started and it's a big adjustment. Even if they don't have SEN I don't think the odd buggy ride to avoid a meltdown is a big deal tbh.

RhodaBull · 04/05/2016 16:08

dd started school when she was 4 and 3 days. I had a mile walk to school with her and older ds. Then dd finished at lunchtime, so I fetched her then. Then back again for 3.30 pick-up of ds and home again. Hell yeah she was in a pushchair on at least one of the legs. And frankly on some days I wished someone could have pushed me!

KittyAndMimi · 04/05/2016 16:10

5 years ago I read a thread like this on mumsnet. My daughter was 3 so I got rid of the buggy as she was tall. It turns out she is autistic and now I wish I had ignored the thread as I made a year of my life hell for no reason.

madamginger · 04/05/2016 16:10

There's a little boy in the same reception class as my DS and he still uses a buggy, but he is the tiniest little thing, he looks about 3. I don't blame mum for using a pram, I probably would too. I do however silently Hmm about him still having a dummy.

TheWeeBabySeamus1 · 04/05/2016 16:11

My mum had to put my sister in a buggy quite a few times up until she was about 7. Sis had severe asthma and often got chest infections and my mum was a single parent with 2 other children to get to school and no car- she couldn't leave her at home so she went in the buggy.

There was also a boy in sisters class who had a disability where he sometimes struggled to walk, so he was often in a buggy. We must have attended quite a nice school as there was never any negative comments or funny looks.

Parents choice at the end of the day. I don't drive and if DS ends up at a school that's a fair walking distance then I'll be keeping the buggy for as long as I think he needs it.

sleeponeday · 04/05/2016 16:12

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hazeyjane · 04/05/2016 16:12

Madamginger - you know nothing of their circumstances. There may be all sorts of reasons, absolutely none of which are your business.

Why can't people just be kind.

megletthesecond · 04/05/2016 16:16

Better than one of those giant, polluting, motorised pushchairs, aka a car.

At least you get sunshine in a pushchair and they can hop in and out en route.

Sparklingbrook · 04/05/2016 16:16

YABU for starting this thread. Hope it isn't the first in a series....

SukeyTakeItOffAgain · 04/05/2016 16:16

I distinctly remember my oldest friend being pushed in a pushchair when we walked to school together in Reception (1980). No disabilities, no hidden conditions, it was just easier for her mum to get her there.

She became a fully rounded, functioning child, adult and human being.

So. Meh. Never affected anyone else.

Hippee · 04/05/2016 16:19

Some children find school exhausting to begin with - DS1 was just 4 when he started school and used to fall asleep in the car on the way home (we used the car because DS2 and DD were 2 and 6mo and I couldn't find a buggy board for the type of double pushchair I had). When I started full-time work for the first time I used to have a nap in my lunchbreak - I would have loved a push home too Wink.