AIBU to buy pushchair weight limit 2.4 stone, child is 3 stone but.....

[infinityforever]

Have already had to spend far too much time looking for a buggy.

Child has just turned 4 but will need a buggy for as long as poss as we go on massive trips and no car.

Been using a Maxi Cosi that i've only just realised he is 0.6 stone too heavy for. He's really cramped in it for lying down, a key feature for us. Mama's and Papa's Armadillo has loads of room but same weight restriction, WIBU unreasonable to buy it? I've heard that the US often certify pushchairs for much higher weights just because they have a better system for assessing them (or something?) than the UK has.
Please help, pushed for time!

Is a childedicated traveling by car or bus also ridiculous? If not why not? Those of us without cars use buggy in the same way others use a car.

@onegiftedgal what is also ridiculous is use the cars for short journeys that can easily be walked. or make a tired child stand on the buggyboard of an empty buggy (which also makes pushing it extremely hard work)

^A child in a pushchair at 4 years old is ridiculous op. Children go to school at this age.
If you really have to do it then get a buggy board and put all of your shopping in the buggy seat.^

So it is ridiculous to use a buggy for a 4 year old in the way it is intended but not ridiculous to use one in an awkward way while pretending not to be using it?

@myself2020

'what is also ridiculous is use the cars for short journeys that can easily be walked'.

Exactly - the child should be walking them.

Crazy thread 😂. Why are people regularly going on 12 mile hikes with 4 year olds who don’t want to / can’t walk that far and thinking the solution is to stick them in a buggy?!
Hoofing to another town on foot (and pushing a buggy) for a play date when you don’t drive is fairly weird and unnecessary.

For OP that is the solution. What would your solution be?

Don't buy a buggy, buy a scooter and child can scoot about.

Oh god, not scooters again. This thread is like Groundhog Day.

I’m not sure, Cecily, tbh. But I wouldn’t go to another town for a child’s play date pushing said child in a buggy.
Wouldn’t any school age child be mortified to rock up to their friend’s house in a buggy?! Meeting in the middle must surely be a better option.
Or op could host the play dates herself until she has transport sorted out.

The kid can get out of the buggy if they don't want to, at any time! They don't have to actually turn up at the front door in it if they don't want to!

Do people on this thread understand that taking a buggy with you does not mean that the child is actually sitting there every single second? It's usually a place to crash when they get tired of walking.

A child in a pushchair at 4 years old is ridiculous op. Children go to school at this age.
If you really have to do it then get a buggy board and put all of your shopping in the buggy seat.

Translated: Hi! I care more about how things look than how they really are.

Do people on this thread understand that taking a buggy with you does not mean that the child is actually sitting there every single second? It's usually a place to crash when they get tired of walking.

This.

In my experience, I find that activities and events are organised assuming that attenders will be picking up and dropping off by car, and they prioritise car parking and so on when picking the location. As a knock-on effect, they don't think about walking access or bus links. In order for my children to have the same opportunities a child of my own generation had, I typically had to walk a bit further than my own parents would have done, and time it more precisely.

This is VERY true. Even an ordinary outing with a few mums from my local area would almost invariably be arranged around the idea of everyone travelling some distance by car instead of going to the nearest park. They even chose a more distant swimming pool because it was nicer than the local one.

If you cadge lifts, you are judged- not least on MN. If you don't socialise, you are judged.

Meeting in the middle is frequently awkward and expensive. Maybe op has no plans to get a car in the near future. Not everyone's life revolves around having a car? I find this quite bizarre.

I agree not everyone’s life revolves around a car (I rarely drive myself, actually) but I live very close to a tube station. We chose the house for it's amazing transport links, tbh.
If I lived miles from civilisation I’d need to rethink. I wouldn’t be traipsing to the next towns on foot for play dates, for sure.

Do people on this thread understand that taking a buggy with you does not mean that the child is actually sitting there every single second? It's usually a place to crash when they get tired of walking.

A-ha! Is this what is at the root of all this? Because car-drivers go from full pushchair use+car to short journeys+car, they don't realise that those children gradually walk more and more of the journey until we don't need it at all?

Is this the origin of the regular bewildering MN comments that pushchair use produces lazier children than driving them everywhere?

If I lived miles from civilisation I’d need to rethink. I wouldn’t be traipsing to the next towns on foot for play dates, for sure.

Nor would I. I am far too lazy to do that kind of thing. OP is less lazy. Good for her, tbh.

If I lived miles from civilisation I’d need to rethink. I wouldn’t be traipsing to the next towns on foot for play dates, for sure.
Whereas I'd happily walk a few miles no problem, have a bike and a trailer bike etc. But I wouldn't be doing long treks in bad weather on evenings, messing with bed routines etc because if I was looking at accessing clubs and doing evening activities then that would be factored into my decisions about where to live.

I'd love to be a bit more rural than I am now, but we picked our location with some consideration for facilities, schools, nurseries etc. I would imagine other people did as well as it's quite a family friendly area with lots of paths and cycle tracks etc.

Omg the scooter comments! Have none of you got preschoolers?! Scooters need energy, and concentration on the part of your child. If you have somewhere to be, they are not a sensible option.
My DD is generally really well behaved, energetic, and smart. I like to think I'm a good mum. But to get her scooting to and from the bus to nursery would require at least an extra 15 minutes each way, and a couple of hours therapy a week for me.
Just leave mums alone who walk places and make choices that make their lives a bit easier!

I have a 4yo who goes in the pushchair.
Reasons include
Tiredness, dc will still nap after a busy day out.
Going to football etc where dc will do 45min exercise and every single other child has been driven there and back. And i often go to the park too.
I manage to go to trips out by bus where close to 0 other families ever go by bus but need the pushchair to carry stuff. Some of these places also a bit of a walk from the main road, (one being a 15 min walk).
I literally cannot carry food, drink and change of clothes etc for me and 2 kids. Without the car you do need these things as you cant bundle a kid on a bus with no trousers on etc. And they need extra clothes for an up to 1h bus wait.

For eg today. Soft play/trampoline out of town. Would be
10min walk to bus
Bus
then 40min walk at my speed.
90min play
Reverse.
So total 100min walking my speed and 90min play.

Had car for once and in reality dc was asleep on the way back.
Not one person i know has made this journey walking let alone walking their dc! They all drive.
I also think it's easy to underestimate how exhausting travelling by bus, waiting etc is. With some journeys 4 bus rides. So no i dont feel bad if dc then seems unusually tired walking/or riding around a zoo when every other child has got in a comfy car.

Someone even said to me that their kid had been out of a pushchair since 2yo. LOL they were driving them literally everywhere. Im not kidding, a 2min walk.

But i do understand why kids are driven - time saving. And the pushchair is no different. But with the pushchair they can be popping in and out.
However i can see the driven ones could be fitter as in some locations they are accessing more clubs/softplays/zoos etc.