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?

"If a 3 year old is tired and ready to sleep....don't they need to be home in bed?"

Lots of 3 year olds still have afternoon naps.
Lots of people have more than one child so can't do everything around that child.

My 14 year old uses an sn buggy and he is far from obese so using a buggy doesn't mean the child will be obese.

Ok I can understand that. It's just not something I've seen, along the people i know, NT 3 year olds who still regularly nap are very much the minority (I know of only one, and she goes to bed much later than most I know).

2 mile journey with a buggy takes 30 minutes. In the car, by the time you have got them in the car, driven, found somewhere to park, got them out of the car and got to where you are going would be 20 mins at least so not much difference in time and better for the environment.

unless you live on a remote Scottish island I bet you have a bus stop within a half mile?

Yes! I could go there and get a bus to... er, the next bus stop, which is even further from nursery. So not helping.

It seems to me that walking regularly is not really part of your life, if you find it hard to imagine how anyone can manage it while still finding time to cook food and play with their children. Rest assured, most of us get on just fine. Buggies are one of the ways to make that easier - why on earth would we not use them when we need to?

If it's really going to take that long for a 3 year old to walk, or they are SO exhausted they can't manage, I would use a car or public transport as I would feel they clearly needed to be got home quickly & put to bed! But then I am also really surprised by people who will choose a nursery miles and miles away when they don't drive hmm

But it's cheaper, healthier and more environmentally friendly to just let your child use a buggy surely?

My son loved his pushchair!! Walking genuinely made him very tired, so I found the buggy board a huge help when his sibling came along. I drew the line at his 4th birthday ... but (at almost 5) he still occasionally tries to sneak into the pushchair when his sibling is walking 😂. I figure it doesn’t really matter...

I walk loads! This is why I'm surprised. My toddler goes on his bike if we need to go somewhere fast (its actually faster than me pushing him, sometimes i have to jog to keep up!). I have car and drive sometimes, and it doesn't take 20 mins to go 2 miles lol. I don't live in London (I'm in the SE tho), I wouldn't usually drive somewhere that doesn't have reasonable parking as I am terrible at hunting for spaces & parallel parking.

This is why I kind of don't get it, just how long a walk are people doing on a daily basis that their 3 & 4 year olds can't manage it with a scooter or bike, while also fitting in work etc.

I dont "just put him in the buggy" because i notice on the few occasions that we do have a buggy available for my son, it sparks a run for a few days afterwards of him saying he's too tired & asking for a pushchair etc, when he doesn't need to. I don't want to facilitate him being lazy, I want him to be fit & active. Of course a lot of kids love a buggy, it's EASY. It doesn't mean it's the healthiest choice.

. Nursery run home after you’ve been at work all day, they’ve been at nursery all day, you’re both knackered and it’s February and dark and cold and sleeting - you really want that journey to take twice as long as it needs to with a whiny fed-up child

Exactly this. But for some reason people on mn insist on this...well...just because?!

Not all children are particularly good on scooters or balance bikes at 3, especially if for example they're really tired after a long day at nursery and you have an uphill route home in the rain. Buggies are useful. You've already said yourself that you would just use a car/public transport in that situation - why is it so hard to imagine why someone would use a buggy?

I want him to be fit & active.

Take it you don't drive him anywhere then?

I still use pushchair for my 3 nearly 4 year old just for school runs. If I didn't my kids would be late every day. He takes ages to walk anywhere. Do what works for you

I drive him (or use public transport) for longer distances where the time it takes to walk is prohibitive.

It's really about the time for me. Using buggies for long walks takes ages, when not on mat leave I work full time & I literally don't see how it's possible to go a long distance on foot with a buggy to get a child to nursery & get to work on time etc, and do the same at the end of the day, and still have time to prepare meals, bathe the child, get them to bed at a decent hour.

Driving & parking in my nearest town (about 3 miles away) takes me about 10 minutes max, to walk it twice a day using a buggy would take much longer, that would be probably close to 1.5 hours sat in a buggy, whereas if I drive it, 20 mins total my son gets an extra hour being active & playing in the garden and I have time to cook the dinner etc.

I find if I have a buggy with me at all he will refuse to walk even part of the way, whereas he happily walks or rides if there's clearly no buggy available.

Mmm going against the grain here but I think it's a bad idea to reintroduce the buggy. You said it is under half a mile that is not far even for a 3 year old. Could you try s bike/trike push along. I think if you stand firm at this stage she will be more independent when your baby arrives.

DS is 5 and when I walk to pick him up from Summer camp it's a 2 mile walk. There's no way he's going to walk that after an 8 hour day and 30 degree heat so I use one.

I kick him out at the hills though.

@MustardScreams

4 year olds in buggies?! No wonder there’s an obesity epidemic. It’s a mile walk to nursery but we have excellent public transport, so we walk there and bus home.

not everyone has public transport.

Why would I pay to use public transport when I could walk and push a buggy with a 5 year old in? Job done in 40 minutes rather than wait around for 2 connecting buses with a tired child.

Just to say I feel I have been waylaid a bit by people here but back to the original point.... OP is talking about a half mile walk. That is really NOT FAR for even a tired 3 year old to manage under their own steam

Out of interest, the people willing to spend 1.5 hours plus each day pushing an older child in a buggy, do any of you work full time? I just dont see how it is possible to regularly do it when working 9-5, and get a child fed, bathed and in bed by a decent hour.

This is a classic thread where so many posters simply cannot imagine a situation other than their own. Everyone just going "I don't understand why you can't be like meeeee", except they live somewhere totally different, have a different amount of kids, different working pattern, oh and a different 3yr old.

4 year olds in buggies?! No wonder there’s an obesity epidemic. It’s a mile walk to nursery but we have excellent public transport, so we walk there and bus home.

You take a bus rather than walk a mile? No wonder there is an obesity epidemic indeed!

Donotwatchloveisland. Half a mile is a long way for a tired 3 year old to walk after a full day in nursery. If it's true it's not that far for them to manage thete is really no need for them to be ferried in carsl the same distance then is there? Or is that somehow magically different?

We use the buggy for long days out/trips with lots of walking for my son who is 3.5. He walks the majority of the time, but I don't see anything wrong with a bit of a sit down when he's tired (or we need to get somewhere faster than he can go!). A couple of kids at his nursery who are similar ages/older get picked up with pushchairs.

I would use it if I were you. There's no harm at all because she's saying she's tired and then you're pregnant so it's not ideal to be carrying her.

We usually all take a buggy on holiday up until our kids are 4ish so to use it for half a mile a day to make life easier is fine in my opinion