How old was your dc before you ventured out without a pushchair?

[maviscrewit]

Just interested in your experiences as I am fed up with double buggy or single buggy and backpack for walking the dog (not far just round village!) Dd 1 will be 3 in March and dd2 is 16 months. I would love dd1 to walk and just have dd2 in pushchair but she refuses to go very far at all! I do have a buggy board but its not suitable for off roading!! Am I being too optimistic or will I have to wait until dd1 is 4??

About a year ago there was an article by a professor complaining about the number of larger children that you see in buggies. Her/His comments really made me annoyed. Most 3 or 4 year old children cannot easily do a 2-4 mile round trip quickly. The fact of the matter is that most mothers do not walk 2-4 mile round trips either, so the majority of journeys this length are made by children strapped into car seats. These children are not so visible so they do not attract Daily Mail style condemnation.

btw I am a driver so am guilty of this too. My four year old walks around the local shops, but she has not walked to get to them. My sister does not drive, and her 4 year old still uses a buggy for long journeys because it makes sense.

completely depends on how much you walk etc. Just around the village souinds maybe a mile or so?>?? If so then dd1 is 2 and could walk it now ds has had to walk from being 2.6yrs as I found out I was expecting dd2 with only a 12mth age gap so no choice. DD1 will walk the mile and a bit to ds school each morning and back quite happily however if I am in a rush then I use the double or if we are out all day I take the double and she pops in and out.

I've been asking myself this question today as I'm desperate for a mini cooper now that I have less stuff to cart around all the time but I don't think there's a pushchair small enough to fit in the boot! Does anyone know of a pocket sized pushchair out of interest????

Will maybe reconsider buying a double buggy after reading these posts. New DC due in May when DS will be 2.2. Problem is i cannot imagine walking to the city, going into more than one shop and getting home again without an incident of some kind, even though DS is generally extremely well behaved. How do you all manage shopping?!

Stacy I know what you mean. I dont' drive so I walk or bike everywhere. DS is 32 months and can manage the walk to the park and chase the ducks, to nursery, or to the local shops. But there is NO WAY he could manage the walk into town (2 miles) and then going round town.

tbh most of the time he can't walk to nursery either as I am dropping him off before biking off to Uni or work. And I can't manage to push the bike AND control him by a very busy main road.

I can't be a*d to fight this one! he can happily stay in the pushchair until he is 4 for all I care. I know he gets exercise in safe locations (park, soft play etc). Its a lovely idea to 'walk at your childs pace' which was the tip I got given by my HV on getting him to walk, but in reality in the mornings on the way to nursery going at his pace would take twice as long, which either emans everyone getting up earlier or me being late to work!

My son is 3 next month and we still use the pushchair most of the time when we're out on the street / shopping / to and from the park etc. He gets tired very easily, but much more importantly, he is a complete wild card and will run out into the middle of the road if I let go of his hand for 1 second, which makes shopping trips etc very impractical. I plan to start taking him for very short walks ( 5 mins to corner shop etc) to start getting him used to it and more road aware.

DD is 4.8 and still goes in the pushchair occasionally. Not for everyday walks to kindergarten/town though, and when we actually 'go for a walk' (ie to the park or countryside) she will walk a long way.

If we are going to do a big shop, the pushchair comes too, partly for her and partly for the shopping. Or if we are going out in the late afternoon, or won't be back until late, or if she is very tired or not well.

We don't have a car though which makes it slighly different - we walk distances that most children would be driven, such as two miles each way to Lidl once a week.

Its not just about walking when it comes to double buggies - if you are in the middle of a shop and your 2/3 year old scoots off its quite difficult to chase after them if you also have another child in a buggy - in the past I have had to leave DD with a member of M&S staff while I tracked down DS.

I agree with others that I think pushing a child around in a buggy is preferable to clocking up the same miles in a car.

Anyway, to return to the question, DS was chucked out of the buggy at about 3.5 when he could no longer fit in it. I am sure he would have been happy to be pushed around for quite a while longer though.

DS is 2.3 and still in a buggy most of the time. He would much rather walk than be in it but he is a terror for running off and will lay on the floor and scream rather than hold your hand. Given the choice between holding hands or going in the buggy he goes for the buggy
I try and practice with him as much as poss... we quite often go for country walks where there are less dangers when he runs round and he walks for ages then. i also go to the local shop (5 mins walk, about 15 with him walking!) without the pram and either use a wrist strap or let him walk loose and only hold hands (with him yelling) at any roads. When we walk into town (its a 30 min walk my pace) I push the pram and let him walk beside me the first 5 mins or so until we get to the busier roads. Hopefully all this is giving him a bit of practice so that as he gets a bit older he'll get a bit more sensible and will be able to walk better on his own!! Although saying that, DC2 is due in 5 weeks and will obv be harder to push him and keep eye on Ds1 walking, so will have pram for a while longer I think (have P&T so easy to change from double to single as needed!)

I haven't taken DSs out with him since he was about 15 months - he is a nightmare in it, much prefers just to walk and won't even go in trolleys anymore (now 21 months). It makes life easier in a way, but I know he will walk wherever it is and not want to go in the buggy anyway, if he is flagging DH will just carry him.

I hate shopping, so go in get, food and leave. I can't browse with DS walking!

I do use reigns, but also hold hands. Sometimes DS doesn't want to hold hands, and yes we have had some screaming and thumping the floor. This has happened less recently.

DS sometimes likes to be carried part way through a trip, so I get him to push the buggy and can then load shopping, so in emergencies (usually half way up hill with shpping and DS 20months) can give the choice... walk or go in the buggy.

We have always walked a lot, so it is part of daily routine/life. I think it depends on your lifestyle, and the task at hand!

I was ever so pleased when we managed to evict dd from the buggy by her 3rd birthday. Didn't realise then that I'd spend her preteen years pushing her around in a wheelchair.

Ds was out of the buggy by the time he was 2...but he's now starting to complain of pains in his feet and he's also hypermobile- what's a double wheelchair like?

On a lighter note, I found reins really handy; they are less restrictive than holding hands- and much less so than the buggy.

fascinating reading. i have been trying to work out when to stop too. i have been trying to work out when my son is too heavy for the buggie - about 3.5 or 15kg - so i'm pleased i've started to get my 2.25y (12.4kg) son to walk about half way home each night in the hope of increasing his exercise tolerance for when he is too heavy for the buggie.

Both of my sons wer out of pushchairs by the age of 3. Try and make walking nteresting by having their own bag or umbrella to carry/ my youngest son will go anywhere with his scooter! Its surprising how bribary works too!!!

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I think you shouldn't necessarily "worry" when you see big toddlers in pushchairs. My DD is 15 months and still not even standing up, she is just slow to develop..and I know when she is bigger I will be really embarrassed if she is still in a pushchair, even though there is nothing I could do about it!! It's a bit like when I had to bottle feed her as she couldn't breastfeed, and I got funny looks even though I was actually expressing ALL of her milk, just feeding it to her in a bottle!!

I think you shouldn't necessarily "worry" when you see big toddlers in pushchairs. My DD is 15 months and still not even standing up, she is just slow to develop..and I know when she is bigger I will be really embarrassed if she is still in a pushchair, even though there is nothing I could do about it!! It's a bit like when I had to bottle feed her as she couldn't breastfeed, and I got funny looks even though I was actually expressing ALL of her milk, just feeding it to her in a bottle!!

oops, I did not mean to hit that button twice

my 15mth ds has never been overkeen on being strapped into a buggy. he wouldn't go IN one until he was about 4mths in the first place, and now he won't stay in it more than an hour, and thats only if theres plenty going on.
we walk to the local playgroup together, and i just pick him up and carry him on main road bits. hes pretty heavy though, so it can do my back in! he also has tantrums sometimes if i carry him and he wants to walk and vice versa but im not prepared to go down the reins route.

i expect by 2 the buggy will be redundant, except for long walks. we don't have a car, so we do have to walk everywhere, but i too feel uncomfortable seeing much older kids in buggies. its probably my own issues! like the reins one. i guess i think bondage is just for consenting adults!

Well, I just hope my DD hurries up and walks then, so i don't have to make people feel uncomfortable if she still needs a buggy!

IME its a chicken and egg situation. If dd1 doesn't walk she will be lazy and expect pushing, but she needs to practice to become fit enough to go further. I say go for no more than 20mins at first and build up. My dd was 16mths and would do about 10mins at that age. about 1/4 of a mile.

I live really close to the shops 2-3 minute adult walk. I would walk dd down to the shops from probably 15 months if I was only going to one shope say for milk or a paper or something. By the time ds was born when she was 2.7 she never used a buggy, I took it into town when I thought it would involve a long day once or twice but gave that up quickly as she ended up walking anyway.

DS who is 20 months has never walked to the shops yet because he was a bit later walking than dd was but if I am going to town and know I am only going to 1 or 2 places I don't take the buggy out the car and he walks around and he walks the few minutes there and abck for dd's nursery twice a day.

manoo one of the big differences between a walk to the co-op and running about on a hike with other kids is the boredom factor. You know he can walk the distance to the co because he does the equivellant or more on the hike the trip to the shops just isn't as much fun. I have exhausted myself at times trying to make these trips fun and must look like a total loony singing rand old duke of yourk to ger dd marching or similar marching/action songs. Trip is over before you know it.

Reins are great.....! My DD is 19 months old, likes walking for a while, until she gets so slow she stops to look at random stones etc just to avoid walking. If it's just us two, she goes in the pushchair at that point. If DP is there too, she gets a shoulder ride. Our road is too busy to allow her to walk holding hands on the pavement, so buggy or reins reign. We have an infrequent but regular bus to town, so we go in with a buggy and she sometimes walks in town if we are not rushing somewhere. DC2 is due in April so I am wondering now what kind of double buggy to get, how long I can stick with DD in buggy/walking and other LO in a sling, that kind of thought. I hope DD can be walking all the time by this time next year, but maybe that's wishful thinking.

My ds loves to walk (1.11), but scares me as he would merrily walk in the road... he will walk for ages if I let him take his toy buggy. Not much good for off-roading, though...