To have 3.5 year old ds in a buggy?

[MrsCobain]

I meet up with this group of Mum's about once a week. I always take ds (who's almost 3 and a half) in his jogging buggy.

I do this partly because walking is the only exercise I get (I kind of walk-jog) and partly as my car is a bit of a gas guzzling monster and I only use it when I absolutely have to.

It's 2 miles each way so 4 in total. Ds actually walks a large part of it but is usually knackered on the way back as he's walked most of the way there and played like a nutter for a couple of hours. It's also nap time, he normally falls asleep on the way home. He spends probably about 50-70% of his waking hours outside on the go, he's really active.

Anyway, I thought I'd seen some raised eyebrows at me coming in with a buggy before but today one of them made a really snippy little comment "so ridiculous he's still in a stroller" and all of the others (bar one) all jumped in and agreed that their kids the same age were never allowed in them anymore and were all sneery about kids being babied these days.

Aibu in thinking a, it's fine for ds to do part of the journey in a buggy and b, it's a bit bloody rich considering they all drive anyway?

Scooters are also only practical in very safe areas road wise. I don't think they are the answer to everything like some would have you think I hate the things on footpaths

He is probably walking further than most of the children of the judgemental parents ever do!

DD was in a buggy to and from nursery until 4.5 - well, she got out and ran regularly but a) I wasn't waking us all up 30 minutes earlier just to get her to nursery on time for me to catch my train if she decided to dawdle, and b) if she'd walked most of the way there and spent 8 hours running around like a lunatic, I'd rather wheel her a mile than drag an overtired, screaming child home.

Same thing - no car. Plenty of parents who drove made eyes at us when we all picked our children up.

Ps i'd put money on the fact that all those snippy mums brought their kids in the car or lived a far shorter distance.
Ignore and carry on.

I used to feel self concious with my ds 3.5 who was not a great walker so I often didn't take the buggy and dragged him along when he was so tired. I now look back and think wtf was i thinking poor little thing. Now with my 3rd child who is 3.1 I encourage her to go in the buggy and she fell asleep in it today. Makes all our lives easier. I also walk most places so it is necessary. Do not listen to these idiots.

All of them drive there. All of them but one are hugely overweight too. I'm no Kate Moss myself but I'm talking will drive from the store to the post office when it's less than a minute's walk away.

I'm aware that makes me sound like a right judgement asshole but it's a fact. And as I said, I don't give two shits how they live heir lives but think it's sodding rich they felt the need to comment on mine!

My four year old is still in a buggy! He'll be five soon! He walks lost places but when he's tired it's all his

When ds was younger (thus lighter) I used to carry him in a baby carrier 99% of the time and they all said that was ridiculous and he should be in a buggy. Ffs.

*most

They sound like a right bunch of tedious tossers. My 3.9 year old walks just under a mile to nursery. I usually an rushing to get somewhere so pick her up in the car and she then does both legs again later in the day on the school run. I'd most definitely get the buggy out for a two mile walk both ways.

They are wankers.

I sometimes had my five year old in a buggy with three year old on his knee.

Suck on that buggy bitches..!

If I could fit in the pushchair I would get DH to push me around so I feel a bit of a fraud forcing DD to walk

I want to walk, and I want to get places quickly and that is not necessarily compatible with a 3yo walking/scooting. Maybe it's me being selfish, but I figure she has the opportunity to walk and if she doesn't fancy it, why have an unnecessary battle?

People who found pushchairs a faff - do you not mind carrying everything? I hate carrying bags, really hate it, I love loading up the pushchair like a giant trolley!

Double buggy faux pas

I thought of my pushchair as a massive handbag extension.

Fuckers. Mind you I'm still smarting from a thread I did 2 years ago when my kids were much the same age as your boy. "Oh, my 3 yo walked 5 miles with us at the weekend, their legs just have to get used to it." Oh do they you smug fucker? And I suppose my arms will get used to carrying lunches and changing gear, jackets etc and then also one and perhaps two of my twins when they get too tired to walk?

Nah! YANBU. I had both of mine in pushchairs until nearly four, but we didn't have a car at all until youngest was one and a half, and even then it was DH who used it for work. If anyone queried it I would just say that it's my car, we did a lot of walking as well as using public transport. When we had the tandem, we would often go out with him walking and his seat empty but he needed it by the return journey.

Gawd OP I didn't realise buggy-judging was A Thing!

Maybe I'm just not noticing everyone judging me

DD is just 4 and we use the buggy a LOT. Any time we ACTUALLY NEED TO GET SOMEWHERE in fact, like nursery or an activity. She is the orld's most nightmare walker, forever stopping to pronounce on some earth-shattering issue, or getting distracted by a dandelion. She also moans that her legs get tired (she's quite hypermobile so in fairness to her, it's not just poor conditioning, her legs DO get tired a lot quicker than eg my nieces who will trudge for miles).

She will RUN around a park etc for HOURS. She just hates walking and finds it boring and I don't have the blood pressure to cope with the shenanigans. Plus I have recently lost half a stone by making it my mission to walk EVERYWHERE rather than (unless vital obv) drive. I also have a tedious health condition that means brisk walking is essential for myself. Walking with my daughter NOT in a buggy is never ever brisk. It's painful

Staggered by people whose similar age kids will walk 4 miles tbh!

4 miles is a decent distance.

It always amazes me that people are stringent on not letting puppies do too much walking because of growing joints but feel that it's a boast worthy point when their toddler walks 3-4 miles.

Of course I'm basing that on no scientific evidence, just that I know more about puppy raising than child raising. My child does now sit on command though so not sure I'm a great human parents per se....

When I said 'him' with the tandem, I meant DC1, who's nearly three years older than DC2.

Oh and where we live, scooters are honestly just not safe. Lots of concealed driveways etc, it makes my heart stop every time I see a 3 yo hurtle across one without looking to see if a car is reversing...

Yeah, here's my thread from two years ago. Someone accused me of being a troll because I added a detail about blackberry picking and the blackberries weren't out yet where she was

The ins and outs aren't important. These women are cunts.

DC1 was out of his pram at 2y 2m (on a sit down buggy board as DC2 arrived) and was in full time preschool by 3y 2m so no nap but he still can't walk any where near as far as your DS.

And I would never have made a sarky comment (or 'ganged up') on someone who used a pram for their child in your situation OP.

Like most pp said, people who judge about this drive everywhere! When dd1 was that age I didn't have a car and it was nearly two miles to nursery, so she went in the buggy. We did use a scooter quite a lot too. She had a 3 wheel one. I had a strap, and I do live up a big hill so I would pull her up it, and hold onto the strap on the way down to stop her going too fast. Sometimes she was too tired to stand on it though, so that didn't always work!

Right! Part of it is that I want to walk fast occasionally as there's no gym where we live and it's my only exercise. When ds does walk (which is a lot) I kind of annoyingly jog on the spot. It's starting to piss him off though (and dh, especially when I do it at home ).

In that case, next time one of them mentions it I'd go ahead and ask how it's different to him riding in a car for the same distance. Tell them how far he's already walked that day and ask if they or their children have done the same!

I don't have a car and I walk about 6 miles a day. If I have my 4 year old with me she might occasionally go in the buggy, but she still walks and scoots further than lots of her peers. I like to think I'm sitting a good example to her with all the passive exercise I get.