To struggle to cope with sit-down toddler protests

[mizzles]

Posting here for traffic in the knowledge that it will get some sarcastic responses...

DD (2.8) has taken to moaning for me to carry her then plonking herself down in the middle of the pavement if I say know (e.g.if I've got heavy bags or just because it's not that far and there's no reason why she cant walk). I try to avoid taking a pushchair unless we're going out for the whole day. I've tried calmly explaining why I can't carry her and asking her nicely to walk, pretending to walk off and telling her off, none of which produced any degree of cooperation. I don't think it's a physical issue, just stubbornness. Anyone have a magic solution for me? It drives me bananas and of course it's quite embarrassing. I've made her walk as much as possible since she could walk at 15 months, so it's not from lack of opportunity to practise.

Imo your expectations are high...

Just use a pushchair. I want to cry at the unhappy memories of the battle to get my girl to walk. Miserable memories for me and for her.
Seriously. Use a pushchair.

Why don't you want to use a pushchair

Bring the pram. She's tiny, and only she knows if her legs are tired.

Just use a pushchair. She’s got little legs.

Pushchair! She'll soon get bored and want to walk again for her own independence.

*pushchair

I saw a 3 day nanny technique for this. You encourage them to sit down and have a little rest, then move on whenever they are ready. You don't get anywhere in a hurry, but it's less argumentative!

Just take the buggy!

Pushchair most definitely. Even for just slinging the bags into. Why wouldnt u

Why are you trying to force her to walk everywhere from being a 15mth old baby? Just use a pushchair.
DS walked from being 9mths, heaps of energy, always very active. He is happy to walk a lot, but unless we're just popping out for a short trip we always take the pushchair. Little legs get tired and he still naps in it (25mths)

Use the pushchair, for the toddler and the heavy bags. Win win.

Take a pushchair, hang your bags off it.
Only don't take the pushchair when you can afford to wait for cooperation.

Sit down beside her. Seriously. Both mine did a sit down protest once, and only once each. They were so surprised at the idea that mummy would just sit down in the street or supermarket (that was the two locations) they just got up, and the humour of it broke the temper they were in. On the rare occasion dc2 looked like he was going to do it again, I'd suggest sitting down on the ground again. He never took me up on the offer thankfully!

Choice?

Hold mummy’s hand and we can walk

Or

We go home (and do it if you’ve said it)

Or a smart trike type thing? Lots in charity shops/eBay.

Maybe invest in a travelling rucksack (again eBay or charity shop) so you can put the majority of heavy stuff in so your hands are free.

I used bribery.

We just stopped and had a rest sometimes.

I checked if she was hungry/thirsty.

And sometimes I just carried her/took the pushchair to begin with because she had little legs and was still tiny and keeping up with a grownup is hard work sometimes.

People who are snobby about using a pushchair tend not to walk very far. It's great you want to encourage walking but surely what you are trying to encourage is being outside and not using a car so why don't you take the pushchair so that it is a happy experience for you all and let her do it in her own time. She's really little!

Pushchair.

I think most toddlers go through this phase, my dd certainly did, and I honestly don’t think it’s a battle worth having.

I have back issues which meant I was unable to carry/pick up dd earlier than most people and in all honesty if the choice was cajoling a toddler in the midst of a tantrum or using a buggy and just getting where we needed to be it was a no brainer.

They are still little and I suspect (even now at 4) my dd at least just finds walking for long periods boring. We have a constant narrative/game going on the whole time on our daily thirty minute walk home from preschool.

We used a pushchair until DS was 3. I think your expectations are probably too high.

I would sit with them and wait.

Then use positive praise.

It’s not embarrassing. They are two, and all been there.

I think DD was at least 3 and a half before we stopped taking the buggy everywhere. If she wanted to walk, great, it carried the bags. If she got tired we would carry her for 5 minutes. Longer than that she went in the buggy and could nap or just chill out and let her legs rest.

Their legs are little and growing a lot. Get a small umbrella fold buggy for shorter walks if you have a cumbersome heavy buggy. We took the umbrella fold on holidays, for busy places etc. Big travel solution buggy for her comfort if we were going to be wandering shops or if she was likely to be in it for a long time.

Take a pushchair.

Or. Make her walk shorter distances. So say, we are going to go from X to X and then have a sit down, okay? And then another bit. So break up the long walks.
Also I never carry. Ever. I am not very big and I just can’t carry my kids beyond the 18m stage. So either they go in the pushchair or they walk. They get it pretty quickly and never ask me to carry them because I say (honestly) that Mummy can’t. (I can carry them upstairs or to give them a cuddle but not as a replacement for getting from A to B). So they don’t ask and know that they either have to walk or ask to get into the pushchair.

Pushchair. 2 of my 3 have gone through this phase and I just chuck them in the pushchair and carry on. They both eventually stopped. I feel like if you engage and make a "thing" of it they just do it more.
"Oh dear you don't want to walk, into the buggy then" and crack on. None of mine used the buggy at all past about 3 so it certainly didn't hinder their development or walking ability.

Also sometimes you can't sit with them and wait so then you're having to be inconsistent. I can't sit and wait when we're on the school run and 2 year old decides his legs can no longer carry him or its pissing down with rain so nope, buggy.

I hear what you're saying about the pushchair -the reluctance is partly because I think she's a bit old for it, and also a practical issue because we often have to take the Tube and I can't get it up and down the steps on my own. She's not super-athletic - i mean, no gross motor delays as such but certainly not advanced either, and she often prefers to play complicated imaginative games to running around. So I get her to walk as much as possible to make up for that and make sure her bones and muscles are getting the exercise they need.

Sadly a scooter isn't a solution - she has one and can ride it competently, but she's equally stubborn about that and certainly wouldn't be guaranteed to ride it if she's kicking off about walking.

Thank you for all the responses so far - I might just need a lighter pushchair which folds up more easily.