To still use buggy for 3 year old DD?

[pennypineapple]

DD goes to nursery four days per week. She turned 3 in April.

We recently bought her a scooter, which she loves. But at the end of the day at pick up she often says she is too tired to ride it and we have tears and tantrums and her demanding to be carried all the way home.(Due to our working patterns, 90% of the time DH does drop off and I do pick up so it's me who gets the pleasure of this).

The walk home from nursery is just under half a mile and there is no way I can carry DD, my work bag and the scooter so the journey home is torturous.(Just to add to the fun I'm also pregnant!)

I think we should reintroduce the buggy. DH is adamant that DD is too old and points out that very few of her peers use a buggy now, they all walk or use scooters (and he is right).

I honestly don't know if I am being unreasonable or not to think that it's ok to keep using the buggy for a while longer. Is she too old? AIBU?

My oldest 4 were all out of buggies at 2.5. I had a very short school run, so they were fine walking it, the shops were close by etc. Then we moved.

My youngest didn't even start walking till he was nearly 2. School was 1.5 miles away. So 3 miles there and back. And when he started pre-school he did 2.5 days. So after a full day there there was no way he was walking to school and back. I tried it once. The screaming from tiredness was horrendous! He stayed in the buggy till he started reception. (And a few times after that if he was ill)

And at 12 it doesn't seem to have done him any harm. He walks just as far as his older brothers now. As a family we go on long hikes and he has no trouble.

I'm more worried about those kids that never walk anywhere because they are delivered by car to every single place they go and can't even manage a walk in the local area without moaning about how long it is, and how their legs hurt - when I worked in a school that happened a lot, and we're talking a half mile walk to the shop/church/park.

Also for the few posters who plan activities around toddlers getting tired so they can walk and never use a buggy. What do you do the rest of tne time? Surely the only time you take your toddler out carnt be pre planned activities for them, your life would stop you need to take them places which have nothing directly to do with them. How do you manage then? Car? If so you make a mockery of yourself, buggy are the equivalent of using a car for those of us who don't drive. You are either lying that your toddler walks every where or you only ever go out for toddler activities.

Nothing like a cheeky cocktail on holiday whilst your 3 or 4 year old is having a kip in the buggy. They look cute and are peaceful and you get some quiet time.

You are either lying that your toddler walks every where or you only ever go out for toddler activities.

No, not lying. She's three and has been walking for well over a year and has learned to be much better in that time than she used to be. We use public transport for longer trips and allow time for her to walk to the station/bus stop. So an extra 5 minutes if we're going to the tube, which is 5 minutes for us without her. She walks to the shops, library, play parks, childminder etc happily. Maybe it's a London thing - none of her three year old friends use buggies now.

It's not a moral issue. They are tiny and tired. The buggy is perfect for a mile walk. Even if she's scooting you can toss your work bag in it.

Op your pregnant, make life easier on yourself

Maybe it's a London thing - none of her three year old friends use buggies now.

Londoner here. Mine still does, but that's because we rarely use public transport and often are walking 2 miles there and back. Won't use buggy just for going to the local parks or the local shops, but the ones farther out we will.

Also London born and bred and my 3.5 yo still uses his. I really fail to see how dragging them along on a scooter is in any way preferable.

Tavanack if you are using public transport your 3 year old isn't walking everywhere which was the point of my post

DS1 was sick at school once, so I bundled the almost four year old into the buggy, strapped my 3 month old to my chest and almost ran the two mile uphill walk to his school then took him home on the buggy board. S'pose I should've dawdled the whole way there with the whingy 3yo walking while DS1 vommed into a wastepaper bin then bullied the poorly 5yo into walking home too, so that the yummy mummies who drive their kiddies everywhere in their 4x4s didn't worry about my kids being obese, lol.

Do all those people who are saying "allow extra time for your toddler" have no time constraints? Do they never actually have to be somewhere after school? And do they really expect me to allow 2 hours each way for travelling to a medical appointment, or only to allow my older child to take part in extra-curricular activities if there is time for a tired and grumpy toddler with a cold to walk there between the end of school and the start of the activity?

Broomstick, they live in the land of pampering to the needs of 1 toddler 24/7. They are in for a huge reality slap if they have more kids.

You are either lying that your toddler walks every where or you only ever go out for toddler activities.

Dc1 who is 4 has walked everywhere since he was about 2, including the 3 mile round trip to his 2s group and now preschool. He could walk 2 miles at 14 months albeit fairly slowly without any need to stop other than to poke stuff with a handy stick. He also stopped napping at around 14 months. I suspect his little sister will want the buggy longer but we will see.

I will add I can drive but because of my anxiety, I don't currently. My eldest and I walk everywhere, I either wear his sister (currently 13 months) or put her in the buggy. On a good day we can get the mile and a half up the cliffs to preschool in 30 minutes, less if I'm wearing dd because then we can use the steps.

We've just come back from a fairly active trip to Snowdonia and we didn't take the buggy at all. Some of the time they both walked, some of the time one of us carried dd or I wore her and it was fine.

There's been some research showing that children have more stamina than professional endurance athletes. Their muscles don't get fatigued and they don't get worn out. I mean think about it - they can literally sprint, climb and tumble around a soft play centre for 3 solid hours but somehow they can't do a leisurely 30 minute walk into town? Of course they can - it's purely boredom that makes them want to stop walking.

I'm not saying 3 year olds shouldn't be in buggies because sometimes you just need to get a kid from A to B quickly without a fuss, but I'm saying the "they've only got small legs" thing is definitely BS!

I mean think about it - they can literally sprint, climb and tumble around a soft play centre for 3 solid hours but somehow they can't do a leisurely 30 minute walk into town?

They aren't all like that. Mine isn't. He needs plenty of quiet time and rest.

No-one is a better parent because their 3 year old walks everywhere. No-one is a worse parent because their child doesn't.

Not this fucking thread again

My eldest refused to go in the buggy by the time he was 2, and I silently judged those with 4 year olds still in the buggy. However, my youngest was still in the buggy at 4. He was just one of those pre-schoolers that had two speeds half way to the next town or carry me, and it didn't help that his older brother's school was a long way up a steep hill. At 4.5 years he's doing ok with the walking now and will do the 1.5 miles round trip to and from school fine in September. It doesn't last. Enjoy.

On a slightly separate note, I work in a school office and I've had parents pick up their poorly KS1 kids with a buggy as they had no way to get them home otherwise.

It's the kids whose parents drive them everywhere that need to worry about childhood obesity, not the ones who have been witnessing healthy lifestyles since birth.

I’d use the buggy. Even if she doesn’t go in it every day you can use it for your bag and she can hold onto the buggy. It doesn’t matter what other people think - do what makes it easier for you and your DD

Jesus, you're pregnant, use the buggy! Make life easy on yourself. Who cares what her peers are doing - I know loads of three and some four year olds who still use theirs.

My daughter used her buggy when she first started school at just turned 4. We have about a mile walk and rarely took the car. She was out of it by November of reception and it was far.better to walk to school for me and her brother than take the car. She's a perfectly fit and active 7 year old now!

Normally I'd say 3 yrs is too old for a buggy, but there are obvious exceptions such as

1. It's bloody hot right now.
2. You are pregnant right now.
3. Your DC is very tired after nursery ( also due to temp I'm sure.

Maybe you could use something else rather than the scooter until the above conditions change ?
I used to have my DC ride a 3 wheel bike to nursery which had a removable handle. DC rode it themselves to nursery and I'd attach the handle at home time and push DC along. Maybe there's something like that you could buy ?

www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/outdoor/trikes/trikes/trike-funbee/p/170195

It's up to you whether you'd want something like this ? but it's an option which might be preferable for your DC now that they're 'big' and at nursery ?

My DC is 3.5 and we use the buggy a lot, usually it's because he doesn't want to go on the school run / leave the park etc, so I have to bundle him in, and on the way back from nursery we go up a huge hill any child that age would struggle with. We do use the scooter a lot but he's too tired even to be pulled along on it and I couldn't safely pull him up the hill anyway. I do worry a bit he's lazy, but I don't see any other alternative.

No I wouldn't. How about a trike that you can push?