Reception aged kids in pushchairs?

[RequestInUse]

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?

I don't think the OP meant to judge anyone whose child had an illness or disability.
My dd is reception age and I'd be curious if any of the kids in her class still arrived in buggies.
I'd assume there would be a good reason behind it though

Better than trying to carry a sleeping 4yo after a tough day at Forest School and finger painting that's for sure

Hope you have your hard hat on OP

Generally I would say yes but as you can see there are many exceptions to the presumption

I find this sort of judgement astounding and hilarious.

A poster put it well above by saying that some people only see the world through their own narrow range of experience.

Apart from that, why the hell does anyone CARE enough about this sort of thing to actually start a thread?! Even mentioning it in passing to a pal would be odd, but an actual thread...?

It always reminds me, oddly enough, of the sort of bizarrely dim comments you get from people when eg Harper Beckham is photographed being carried from front door to car. "That child should be walking!" etc etc... Have no particular love for Beckhams in any way but don't people realise that if photos are being taken, there is high likelihood that pavement in front of house is thronged with large and rather scart, pushing men with big cameras... and yet some people get very hoity-toity about a child they have no relationto whatsoever being carried, as if the world will end...

It's odd, and all very Hyacinth Bouquet, and I really do wonder if some people need to have more to do with their time...

Yabu.
My own experience of push chairs is that those who use them do more walking, both themselves and their children, than those who don't, who tend to drive everywhere.
Anyway, hundreds of reasons why a reception child may be in a pushchair.

1. Disability
2. Long walk.
3. Dangerous walk
4. Speedy walk required.
5. Shopping to be carried my buggy on way back

Etc etc as infinitum. Noyb.

I find that in countries where people are more used to outdoors and long walks or mountain hiking there is less use of pushchairs once children are over 2.

We don't have a car so are children are used to walking for miles in all weathers. Yet we still used pushchair when they were four - youngest was more three but were many times glad to have the option.

They all walked over 15 + miles one day this weekend so I really don't think it has harmed that at all.

Days out would be all day - you can't just pop into the car and drive back when you've all had enough.

My IL were very critical of even three year old being in pushchairs- one day out youngest was on her feet all day so they insisted we didn't need a pushchair on holiday month later. Two days into holiday - tantrums with tiredness her sitting down refusing to budge trying to carry her and realise just how heavy she was - and it was a very different tune they were desperate for us to get one.

Sometime having a pushchair is easier - sometime not having to take a pushchair is easier - I assume most parents are perfectly capable of judging their particular circumstances. I wouldn't assume convenience precluded medical condition either - not all people want to have explain complex medical conditions to strangers who really don't need to know.

Any further thoughts op?

Both my Neices were August babies so had just turned four when they went reception. One sis took buggy but other one was too embarassed... Neice was so tired that she would often fall asleep in buggy and be ok to get on with the evening routine when they got home. Other niece would get so tired on way home and the whole evening sis had to deal with a cranky kid.
I don't think she ever gave in but did sometimes ask if her girl can hitch a ride on cousins buggy lol.

But AIBU to think school aged children are generally too old for a pushchair?

They are GENERALLY too old for a pushchair. But as the perfect and righteous above have pointed out there can be lots of reasons why they might still need one.

Maybe they have a long walk? DD is 3.4 and I haven't weaned her off the pushchair yet. Sometimes we walk a distance that she couldn't manage easily otherwise, or if she did it would take forever. I also find the pushchair quite useful for carrying everything.

And it's possible a child could have mobility problems or a health condition that isn't obvious.

I used to ride in a double pushchair when I was in Reception. It was a long walk which would have taken too long otherwise, and my mum had the pushchair for my younger sister anyway. (I seem to recollect that she always made me walk back - presumably we had more time in the afternoon for me to dawdle along).

I don't think it has affected me as an adult. In fact, I am more likely to walk to places rather than get in the car, so perhaps having a long walk to school rather than driving, albeit that I was in a pushchair for some of it, has had a positive effect on me .

Frankly I think people should be praised for walking to school rather than driving whenever possible, and if using a buggy for a 4 year old helps with that, then great! After all, they won't be travelling in the buggy forever, so will soon get the health benefits of a walk to school and back.

Oh, another new user of MN, just taking the plunge with a judgey thread. Oh, how we will laugh about it later...

I still use a pushchair on the school run for my soon to be 4 year old dc.

Because I just don't have tine in my life for fannying small children and dc isn't reliable yet on the scooter.

What all the judgy arseholes cant see though is that I have a 'hidden disability'. So yeah, I could ditch the buggy, carry the protesting dc home the best part of a mile and then spend the rest of the evening led out flat because the pain levels mean I am no longer able to stand

Get yer beak out, Op

Moistly, of course. Posters never mean children with special needs......however

1. how do judgers know which children have special needs?

2. it doesn't stop the fact that people stare, say daft things,let their children be rude.

I have taught my children to be kind, not to talk about people and not to stare. They understand this and have done since they were little, why don't adults?

pushchairs, dummies, I wonder what is coming next?

I used to think this, now I have a 3 year old who won't walk. Unless her personality changes in the next year we will be using the pushchair. Especially for long walks and days out. Like another person says, is it better to use the car?

Well, if you ask a question in AIBU about why someone does something, that pretty much says everything about the kind of question you're asking.

Lilac, is there? A single parent?

My 9 year old loves his buggy.

No op?

Thurlow yes indeed.

For the record, I'm also a single parent but my 7 year old doesn't have a dummy and all three of mine were done with their pushchairs by the age of 3.

I expect I'm failing somewhere else though, being a single parent and all.

Off to the workhouse with me and my brood!