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?

Jesus Christ, some of the responses on here.

DS is 2.8, still use a buggy, or a balance bike, or a scooter, or his legs, whatever works on the day. No shame and no fucks given for other people's opinions of our choice of transport.

OP use the buggy, she's 3, you're pregnant, it's fucking boiling.

YANBU at all.

At all.

At all.

@Caucho I would have said the opposite.. Among the working class mums I knew it was almost a competition to have them out of the buggy sooner, whereas the middle class mums were much more likely to use a pushchair. I used a nursery in quite a “naice” area, and there were lots of 3 and 4 year olds collected with a buggy.

It's threads like this that makes me think Mumsnet really is a parallel universe. How the hell is it uncouth for a 3 year old to be in a buggy??

Mine's 3.5 and we live v close to school but sometimes we use a buggy if he's cranky and I have loads of pe kits/lunchboxes/bags etc. I often wish he'd agree to sit in it a lot more - like when we're late for a hospital appointment and have to park miles away and he won't walk, or be carried or or...

You have nothing to prove here. There's no prizes. I used a buggy for a long time with my older dc years ago, and they're both super sporty these days so it's not had any negative impacts.

@Caucho. “Uncouth”??!!! Honestly, why?? Do you drive or rely on walking everywhere ?

I cant believe someone actually said it was uncouth and common! Honestly op according to most of the posts on here no one would even notice that a 3 yo would be in a pushchair. Only a couple of overthinking, judgy pants who you hopefully wont have to meet in real life!

Do whatever works for you and your DD, not according to what others do. When my DD was that age, the walk to nursery took me on my own 25min. A lot longer with DD walking. We would normally walk there with a buggy, scooter and a dog regardless of the weather. She chose what to do and sometime she’d just want to walk all the way. Leave scooter and buggy at nursery and let her decide what to do on the way back. Sometimes I’d pick up by car if we needed to be somewhere at a certain time.

I'd go back to using it, life's too short to have to put up with all that whining and tears when there's such a simple solution. We walked everywhere when my DC were small, I kept the pushchair going for way longer than the mums who drove their kids everywhere and then just walked the last bit, because it's no fun at all when they're tired out! Actually I went back to the pram set up as a pushchair because the basket underneath was so useful for their random stuff like scooters and easier to manoeuvre/push with the extra weight of an older child.

It is funny how buggies can provoke strong negative reactions, but kids who spent their lives in car seats are absolutely fine.

My 4 year old still goes in a buggy if we are on holiday/long day out/up late. Recent examples - exhausted from 3 hours swimming in 30 degree heat, sleeping at a family wedding last 10pm.

Couldn't give a monkeys. Specifically bought a buggy the right size so we wouldn't have to continuously be home for bedtime or have to drive everywhere. We do long days out, we do lots of walking on those days- 15,000-20,000 steps for me seems like a lot for a small person. My child is pretty ace at travelling and dealing with lots of situations like weddings, etc so it absolutely works for us.

I've got a friend with a child the same age who is scandalised and won't let the child so much as touch a buggy my child is in.

I still used DD's buggy until she was nearly 4, she had walking delays (didn't walk until 19months old) we lived at the top of the hill, and it snowed a lot in the winter. It would have taken an age if I made her walk to get home.

She was tall so I got a few looks but I didn't give a flying fuck.

“Uncouth”???! I don’t think I’ve heard anyone describe anything as uncouth since my granny, who died in 1989

Anyway, some of the proper posh families at my children’s primary school use buggies for their 3 and 4 year olds. And I rather envy them at the end of term, when the teachers decide to send home every workbook, art work and single-bloody-scribble my children have committed to paper since September, all in one go. They could bung theirs in the bottom of the buggy while we had to carry the whole sodding lot home, via the park and shops.

whatever gets you through the day easier penny; 4/5 no but just gone three, yes, absolutely fine.

Nothing wrong with using the buggy, although at that age my youngest preferred the push along trike. Might be a good option if your DH is worried about the buggy being too babyish?

DD is 3 (and a giant) and in nursery from 8am-5pm every day. I use the pushchair. I also have elder DC to pick up and get home. I don’t drive. She’s always exhausted, I’m exhausted, forcing her to walk is not the hill I want to die on.

Yeah I'd use it. Or maybe get a trike with a handle so she can choose to cycle or you can push her on it.

There are two types of buggy in the world -

Disgusting smelly ones that guzzle petrol and cause pollution and nice ecologically sound ones that guzzle the chocolate biscuits I ate last night and cause my health and mood to improve.

My buggy sitting 4 year old is now a 9 year old triathlete.

It’s uncouth to use a buggy for a 3 year old?!

I thought I’d seen it all on MN, but clearly not!

I live in a very naice area, and the very well to do, nay couth, folk here wouldn’t bat an eyelid at a 3 year old in a buggy.

I’m actually wracking my brains to remember whether I have actually ever met a 3 year old who wasn’t uncouth. They’re kind of renowned for their lack of social graces.

Let's face it, this is one you can't win as a mother:

• You'll be judged for having a three year-old in a buggy.
• You'll be judged if you have to carry your three year-old all or part of the way.
• You'll be judged if you drive the short journey to and from nursery (contributing to the obesity epidemic!).
• You'll sure as hell be judged if you're dragging an overtired, wailing child along by the arm.

So you might as well ignore everyone else and pick the option that works for you.

You nailed it cantbebothered.

In fact, your reasoning, at a high level, covers 99% of parenting dilemmas

What about a baby carrier?

Oh just saw you're pregnant. Maybe not suitable with the big bump

The being too old for a buggy thing is daft, so many parents drive their children home from school. It’s just a seat with wheels. What’s the big deal..Unless parents are insisting their child walk everywhere and never using a car, it’s just illogical. Do what makes sense for you and don’t worry about anyone else.

Also, yes, yes to what Cantbebotheredtogotobed said