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??

my naive thoughts are that the more my ds walks, the better he will get at going longer and longer distances, and that if we do without reins he will learn roadsense earlier. it scares me half to death of course when we go walking anywhere near a road, but im definately of the persuasion that if you put the work and stress in early it pays off later. however, this is my first!
i guess giving up the buggy for us means that im less likely to be carrying ds AND pushing an empty buggy along! i imagine if my ds was more placid and able to sit in a buggy i might be up for keeping it a bit longer.
parenting by least resistance, whatever that is for you and your kids i suppose

Sorry - only read about half the replies, but here goes anyway....

DD2 was born when DD1 was exactly 24 months (a couple of days betwen their birthdays). Being a complete scrooge I refused to buy a double buggy and so DD1 was effectively turfed out of the buggy then. I'd been training her for a couple of months prior to DD2s arrival taking her for short walks to the shops or on the bus without the buggy. That said, I did still use it a bit for DD1 (with DD2 in the sling) until DD1 was about 27 months at which point I no longer found I needed to. I did have a buggy board, but only used it once or twice as I found it so exhausting to push. Every child is different though. DD1 was a very early walker and so had had a lot of practice, but I do think that it is easy to keep using the pushchair out of convenience (they are strapped in and can't run off which is bliss!!), long after it is really needed.

ok, dd2 is nearly 3.5 and rather lazy. i am starting to feel that she shouldnt be using th buggy as much as she does. am trying to wean her off it. our holiday at half term will be our first without!

just a thought...does anyone think taht the people who've responded to this thread might be mainly the parents of those who ditched their buggy early? very few over 3s on this thread use a buggy- ever. am not sure that this is representative of the population as a whole.

i have a theory that many posters on this thread have managed without buggies especially early on, and have come on here to tell us how they did it. am sure there are many older buggy users out there!

DD will be 3 a month tomorrow (aargh! Have to start planning a party!!) and still uses her buggy on occasion. I find that I take it along as insurance - and it makes a great shopping trolley! - just in case she's too tired to walk home, which sometimes happens if we've been out all day (we live a 15min walk from the shops but can spend several hours walking around them, the library, the gallery, the coffee shop etc).

Mine has a carrying handle on the side of it which dd has claimed as 'hers' to hold onto as we walk along (she's not one for hand-holding) so I find if I take the buggy with us, she will walk a lot more enthusiastically than if we just dawdle along together.

Mind you, on Thursday I'm going to Liverpool by train to visit my parents and am NOT taking the buggy (too many steps at the train stations to manage that AND luggage) so am dreading it a bit - but I'm sure we'll be fine - I've bought dd her own backpack and she is very excited at the prospect of carrying her own colouring books, juice and toys with her... we'll see how we get on!