To get the double buggy back out for my 7 and 3 yr olds

[Kuio]

No size issue, they are usually petite, and not bothered by the buggy. They probably miss it if anything

My main fitness was walking, long distance and speedy rather than pottering around. It’s so hard with kids, they aren’t bad walkers for their age but can’t really stride fast enough or cover distance in a way that will make a proper dent on my fitness levels.

I’ve still got my double, I live in a hilly area. My husband works long hours and I just don’t have time otherwise. I’m thinking of each afternoon popping them in the buggy for a really brisk hilly 3-4 mile walk. With the double it’s not easy. I do other things, like cycle, but this is a super easy no prep way of actually sticking to something for fitness tat works.

I’m getting flabby, odd? If you saw me regularly would you think it was odd...? We do walk together, but as I said it’s just not going to keep me fit staying at their pace

I don't see the problem if she's happy to go in the buggy, bit if it's freezing or pissing down etc it might be a bit miserable for the kids.

I leave my younger two once a week with the older one/two depending who's in, to go walking with some friends. I put them to bed a little earlier than normal, they listen to a story CD. Mine are really good at just nodding off with no issues so the older kids don't really have to do anything.
Would this be an option for you?

Poor OP. Everyone is telling her to stay in the house and exercise in front of a screen. That's nothing like the benefits of being outdoors! It sounds like OP spends her days cooped up at work, then cooped up at home. She needs to get outside!

Oh and buggy boards are shit if you want to have a decent stride out. I hated mine - kept kicking the back of it.

Actually, you could try the proper walk on your own on Saturdays and Sundays any time you are free when DH can be with the children. Also start with 1 day/week after school with the children and buggy for half an hour then increase to one hour if the children are OK with it. That’s 3 times a week more than if you didn’t try at all. Be flexible about when you do it and for how long and go with the flow. As long as the children are comfortable, happy and warm, I really don’t think it would be a problem.

Passthecherrycoke it may come as a massive shock but I had a job to get to as well.

OP,

I think a 7 year old should be able to walk 3-4 miles. Mine Did it at adult pace (think about 3.5-4mph) but he is quite athletic.

I think the solution to an unfit child is to help them get fit, not push them in a buggy. Even if they are not quite adult pace now, they will be soon.

Why don’t you go for 1-2 fast 30 minute runs at the weekend when your husband is looking after the children?

Probably late to the post.
But I do step aerobics in the kitchen, on my stepper while the kids have some tv time in the living room.
I can see them and keep an eye on them thanks to the stair gate, but I can just get on with it.
I think step aerobics would get most heart rates up while still keeping an eye on the kids and not taking up too much room.

larry The issue is not that the 7yo can't walk 3-4 miles, is that they can't walk at the speed the OP would like to do in order to raise her heart rate and feel like it's more of a work out. A 7yo would need to jog to keep up with the pace I walk at.

If I can't get out of the house to exercise I won't do anything inside - I hate it. Exercise is more than just getting fit, it's the change of scenery, being outside, head space. Being indoors just doesn't do it for me.

If its your only option then dont worry about other peoples opinion, you say she is small but what is the max weight for the pushchair?

I think that it sounds like you need to get out of the house and that's why you've been a bit 'cross' in your replies.

It might seem silly, but I wonder if you'd get more (on a longer term basis) by investing in one of those all terrain buggies and a board? You know, the three wheeled type that are built like a tank and are designed for running with?

I don't know exactly what your DD's needs are, but it's possible that she could benefit from the exercise of standing on a board, rather than being completely passive in a twin buggy. If she has physio, perhaps you could ask there if it would help more for her to stand in terms of her core strength?

I'm also a fan of balance/wobble boards at home for that reason (and they're fun), as well as swimming - well, getting into the pool and moving around, at any rate - it still exercises the muscles and could have the advantage of avoiding the competitive parents at group swimming lessons.

I have to admit, though, that I happily spent extra on another two hours' childcare and a peak membership just so I could spend an hour in the gym after work when mine were small. I needed that time and I was fortunate that my childminder was prepared to work that extra bit. It was worth every penny in terms of my health, both physical and mentally. I realise that not all minders can do it and not everybody can afford it - but it was possible for me and made a huge difference, especially as that meant I could take mine to use the quiet, private pool at the weekend, which conveniently avoided all the usual crowds at the council one.

I think it's fine!

You want to exercise and she's too slow to keep up, it makes sense to me.

Who cares what other people think?

If they fit in the buggy comfortably, go for it! Sounds as though the 7 year old has a lovely time and getting everyone out in the fresh air is great Also, pushing the buggy uphill will give you some good resistance. Please don't feel as though you shouldn't do it and should stay shut up in the house just because some people might be a bit judgy.

On face value, seeing an older child in a buggy, I would judge, yes. But judging is an inward thing and you wouldn’t know it from walking past me. I keep my opinions to myself and wouldn’t dream of openly criticising somebody for the choices they make in this regard, as on face value, I don’t know the individual circumstances. So go ahead and do it and don’t give any more thought to what passersby may be thinking.

7 is too old for a pushchair unless they have special needs. My 3 year old is almost too old now. Get a single buggy and get 7 year to ride a bike, scoot next to you x

7 is too old for a pushchair unless they have special needs

She does now

The three year old would be fine but you can’t put a seven year old in a pushchair. My DD is seven and the thought of her even fitting into a pushchair is really quite something...

I dunno why you’re being arsey when people are making suggestions, how would we know you have 5 kids and a ‘tiny’ house? That you keep the buggy in the shed? Odd.

Just do it if you want but I think it’s ridiculous.

OP as you said that you have a Wii, buy a copy of Just Dance 4. It's the only one I know of that actually had a workout program in it, so like going to an aerobics class. It will get you fit and maybe your kids will want to join in too.

Oh look #memorygarden has diagnosed. I haven’t used the words SEN or special needs. I’ve described her difficulties with a range of things but she is not diagnosed disabled or with a specific condition. Maybe she will be, but right now just because she’s learning slower than your children and outside the average doesn’t mean she gets a diagnosis. Hopefully in the future they’ll be some catch up. Right now she’s just the kid that is struggling a lot with a lot of things.

Yes she has a lot of interventions at school, but it’s actually not so simple that she gets services or diagnosed. Yes of course I’m always fighting for this, but the reality is a child who is learning very slow and is physically clumsy and young struggles a lot and doesn’t meet the bar for services. Physio rejected as her gait walking is normal and she doesn’t have muscle stiffness or meet their criteria, not being able to turn pedals, or scoot, falling over, going into danger isn’t on the criteria. He bar here is crazily high for services, children with significant mobility issues get a sheet of exercises and discharge. She can’t read, fails phonic tests etc but hasn’t seen the Ed psych even, just more and more synthetic phonics every year. At the same level. Her speech sounds are fine, but there’s not a tick sheet for receptive language they are using.

This is an ongoing fight for her, but it’s really presumptuous that you can just label her as special needs when I’m not saying she is. She is as I’ve said very very young and small, a very late walker, very clumsy, limited impulse control etc that all wound together really are hard for her. But I haven’t used the tag special needs or disabled as no one is applying them to her and it seems disingenuous for me to use the term when some people reading this will have disabled children who are really unable to walk or move. I’m supporting her a lot, and she’s making progress. But she cannot either walk briskly for miles, scoot, cycle or be left along with siblings regularly with me miles away.

I’m sure I’m not the only one with a kid inbetween disabled and cycling miles at 7.

I totally get it.

I also have no time. Genuinely have very little spare time. Just like you.

A year ago I started walking for 40 minutes every night at 9pm. As fast as I can. Have rarely missed a night. Have a small powerful torch. And my phone in my hand. I pick as safe a route as possible. I did a risk assessment for myself - the risk of a lone woman out at 9pm in a (relatively) safe area vs the risk of early death through the diseases associated with inactivity (my full time job is very very demanding but largely sedentary). I decided to take the risk of walking at 9pm each night. By then DH was home. Older children doing their own thing and younger son in bed. It works for me.

@TheDarkPassenger the point was it is really odd to tell someone to sell their buggy for space when most people don’t keep a buggy indoors all the time. How can it be odd not to know it’s in the shed, but fine for someone to presume I need to sell it? It’s just as strange a thing to ‘know’. The irritating thing was people are either making tangental and irrelevant directives in many cases, or I’ve had to explain sideways something I said at the beginning. I said right at the beginning she fits in the buggy and can’t keep up. If people just grasped that there wouldn’t be pages of ‘she won’t fit’ or ‘she can keep up with you’. I’ve had to instead explain over and over that yes I meant what I said whilst people pickier it apart. Some people got that and made useful suggestions for outdoor exercise that I hadn’t thought of, but others just repeated ad repeated things I’d explained sure they were correct

Oh look #memorygarden has diagnosed

Oh really

It doesn't matter what words you used. That's fact is in your OP you mentioned nothing about your child having problems and as the thread went on you drip, drip, dripped about one thing or another.

It look like you posted an inflammatory subject then sat back and waited to gradually, bit by bit, drop in reasons why everyone was wrong.

But yeah, have a go at me, one poster. Never mind the others who have mentioned it, or the ones who pointed out how rude you were being yesterday.

Sound.

@LadyMacbethWasMisunderstood maybe I should try the much later thing and at least see how it feels, I think I’ve been wary for safety and tiredness. But the right route and maybe it’ll energise me.

but it’s really presumptuous that you can just label her as special needs when I’m not saying she is.

Oh ffs, read everything you have written about her!

Diagnosis is not what makes needs greater. That's ability.

@memorygarden I’m picking you up as a type of poster, most recent on here that’s posted. There are some who when someone is down like to kick and pick. Why, I don’t know. I can’t relate. Answering questions or even trying to work through other’s reading comprehension skills slowly isn’t ‘drip drip’, your type would be the first to have a go if I just kept repeating ‘we can’t travel alongside me’ without offering further explanation. You’d be shouting away I wasn’t answering so how could you help, or if I tried to squeeze every detail in the OP you’d be moaning I wrote an essay. There’s a type of poster in aibu you can’t win with, and will be shouty and snotty pretty much for anything outside their narrow experiences.

And I'm picking you up as 'one of those' who doesn't really relevant information in the OP, and then gets pissed off because people answer according to what little they actually know 🤷‍♀️