Refusing to walk

[Freddielovesbus]

Help me my 3 and half year old will not walk with me nicely he will lay on the floor turn the opposite way walk a few steps then sit down and won't move need advice please can't carry on like this No More ...

I'm assuming you've tried bribery?

Yes i have from sweets to kinder egg tried everything Thank you

It is odd that a 3YR old is not motivated to walk - as soon as toddlers discover the 'power and freedom' that comes with walking then they will try their hardest to walk (and eventually run), walking is an emergent skill. Could there be a physical issue that is not allowing him to walk? has he ever walked normally? at 3YRs old he should be running....

He was almost walking on his first birthday he walks fine in house and can climb run hop jump with no problem it's just when we go out where ever we go he won't walk will walk a few steps and sit down lays on the floor wants to go the opposite way just won't walk really dread going out

My 3 and a half year old does similar. To be honest if I'm in a hurry or if it's a long walk I still put him in a push chair. If he is walking I use a variety of tactics to keep him moving - often if I just give him no attention for being on the floor - (eg. get my phone out and go on mumsnet ) he gets bored quickly and decides himself to stand up and keep walking. Or I think of a natural consequence of something he won't be able to do if we run out of time if we take too long walking. Or when he was smaller I would say he could walk or I would carry him and count to 3 and he would usually choose to walk, but he's getting too big and heavy now for me to carry him far so I don't use this any more! Or sometimes I try to find something to get him motivated to kerp walking eg. seeing what colour the doors on the houses are so he keeps walking to see the next door, or jumping over all the paving stones that are a certain colour or finding the next puddle to jump in. Hope those ideas help, it's hard though isn't it!!

I know two boys that refused to walk as toddlers - one was diagnosed as autistic very early on and is now in a mobility pushchair. His mum used to carry him everywhere but he was getting too heavy and would throw himself about. She had a hip seat with a safety harness for a while. He would slam his feet down on the ground when in his pushchair if he didn't want to be moved. She finds it very difficult.

The other boy has recently been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. As a toddler his mum was advised to give lots of praise and encouragement. The thing that seemed to work with him was a scooter.

I think the physiotherapists/hospital said it was low muscle tone or hypermobility that was connected to the refusal to walk and not the autism/aspergers itself.

I'm fairly sure this is also within the range of what's normal behaviour at this age - I wouldn't worry about it unless there's other concerns. I know there's no physical issues with mine because he's fine at walking when it's somewhere he wants to go that isn't too far away!

I am taking him to the doctors Monday to check there's nothing wrong with his legs or feet he won't get in his pushchair put he's feet down and stops the pushchair from moving or just climbs out it's hard to get out and about and i can't drive Thank you for the advice

Good luck on Monday, I hope there's nothing serious wrong with your LO. I've thought of something else as well - a lot of people I know find using a scooter helps get their 3 year old to co-operate with getting to places out and about, my DS isn't into using his scooter unfortunately! Also if you've got good bus routes then using the bus to go at least part of the way might help for longer journeys maybe

Thank you going to try him with the scooter hopefully we might get more than a few steps like we normally do