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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

When to give up the buggy?

19 replies

hayleylou · 02/05/2005 14:13

Have looked through old threads but could not find anything on this. What age did your child give up their buggy and prefer to walk?

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motherinferior · 02/05/2005 14:14

I brutally forced DD1 out of hers when I was pregnant for the second time; she was around two when I started scaling it down drastically. Looking back on it I bullied her a fair bit to walk and we had some blazing rows; but she hasn't been in it at all since two and a half.

Hermione1 · 02/05/2005 14:16

I think it depends really my dd1 sort of gave up around 21/2, but my ds2 was/is small for his age so he was in it till about 4( . it was just quicker than him dawdling.

vickiyumyum · 02/05/2005 14:18

depends on the child. lots of factors influence it as weel, such as distance to walk, other children walking with them etc.
my ds1 gave up his buggy completley when he was about 3 3/4, but we still took it on holiday with us when he was 4 for him to sleep in when he had his siesta. many of my friends kids had given up their buggies at 2 1/2.
my ds 2 is just 3 and still uses his buggy for shopping trips, mainly cos hes bored i think, he just gets in his buggy and reads a book or plays with his car, but when we are just going to the papershop etc he will walk.
i also still find it handy to take the buggy, especially for days out a s can use it to put bags, jackets etc on and don't have to worry about being left to carry the coats and bags of 2 kids plus your stuff.

nailpolish · 02/05/2005 14:19

my dd1 decided to walk when she was exactly 2 and dd2 was born - i had bought a buggyboard but she prefered to walk, only using the buggy board when she was really tired or it was a long walk, but dh hates the buggy board and has never used it, dd1 prefers to walk as i say

so 2 yrs old

Louise1980 · 02/05/2005 14:21

My ds1 was about 2.5 when the tandem became too heavy for me to push, ds2 was 18mths at the time so I encouraged him to walk more. But even tho he is four now he still likes to get in when we have a distance to go.
I still take Ds2 becuse althought he wants to walk he gets tired feet easily.
Going to blackpool in october and taking 2 buggys even tho kids will be 3.5 and almost 5.

Rinkydink · 02/05/2005 14:54

Dd was walking from 10 months, and enjoyed walking to shop etc. But to go into town, we took buggy (mainly to carry shoppping bags!)until she was about 2.
Ds, however, does like to walk, but very slowly, and in town, will run riot, so he's still in buggy at every outing, he's 2.2yrs.

purpleturtle · 02/05/2005 15:01

Ds was 2 in January and we hardly use the buggy at all now. Dd was a little bit older, because it was easier to put them both in the double buggy, but once that got too heavy she was made, sorry - encouraged - to walk. That said, we drive a lot, and don't do a lot of walking from A to B, more walking for fun.

WideWebWitch · 02/05/2005 15:06

Gosh, I'm so glad to read this and see that you all gave it up so young, I seemed to remember still having mine until ds was 3 or 4 but it was a while ago so I think maybe I've rememberd that wrongly. Have just been ranting on another thread about how much I hate pushing the damn thing and so I'm glad to see this! 2.5 it is then!

roisin · 02/05/2005 15:10

DS1 gave up mostly at 2, totally at 2 1/4, and we walked a LOT. But I have only 22 month age gap, ds1 was big, and I had a dodgy back; so he wasn't exactly given any option!

DS2 gave up later - about 2.5-3, but I didn't exactly encourage him, as I liked having a buggy to hang the bags/shopping on, and somewhere to strap him in when they were being stroppy, so I only had one to concentrate on!

But THEN ds2 started afternoon nursery, and just couldn't cope with walking home (0.6 mile - not flat) at the end of the day. So we got the buggy out again!
We didn't finally ditch it until it broke when he was nearly 4

RachelsAunty · 02/05/2005 15:14

My ds was still in his at 3, I used to walk him to nursery in it, with lots of funny looks from the other mums, but I felt it was too far for him to walk and he would dawdle...... He was the youngest in the class, he is an August baby. The wheel fell off the buggy one day in Novenber (about age 3.2) so he had to walk and I refused to buy another buggy. I think because he coulld see the buggy was broken, it was much easier than it would have been if there had been a choice to make!

beki · 02/05/2005 16:04

My ds1 hated walking and so when ds2 came along i bought a buggy board which went down really well.
ds1 must of been about 3yrs old when he didn't have it anymore and ds2 was about 2 1/2yrs old, but he loved walking.
It really does depend whether your child likes to walk or not and if you are in a rush as it does tend to double the time it takes to get any where!

bobbybob · 03/05/2005 03:33

I walk for fitness, and it will be a long time before ds is up to that sort of walking. At present he is just over 2 and will walk about 2km of my 7km walk, and then gets back in the buggy for the rest.

For short trips I never take the buggy, I can't be bothered with the hassle, he walks and if he gets tired I pop him on the hip seat.

We are currently working on his walking on pavements as he has a tendency to go and lie under peoples bushes in their gardens. Once he has mastered this the buggy will be retired.

clary · 03/05/2005 13:19

Blimey! at some of you.
Mind you this is a parenting bugbear of mine (see thread on that subject).
My first 2 were out of buggy and onto buggyboard at 2.5 yrs. DD is 4 in June and hasn?t been on b/board since last autumn when she was 3 and a bit. Buggy well out of bounds to her now as DS2 has been in it for last 18 mo.
Poor little ds2 has no chance of b/board (in fact we?ve just sold it ) as of course no new baby in buggy, so he?s going to go cold turkey this summer and by autumn aged 2.5 will be walkign everywhere if I have anything to do with it (and I will, believe me).
He is a good walker tho, I guess if yr child was very small or not such a great walker you might want to be sticking with it for longer. Me, I really don?t like the buggy palaver, much prefer it when eg out with just ds1 (nearly 6) or ds1 and dd and no buggy needed.
just a thought, pushign a dolls buggy is a fantastic way to get an unwilling toddler to walk somewhere.

nailpolish · 03/05/2005 13:22

clary, i used the dolly buggy thing with dd1.. i pushed dd2 in the buggy and she pushed teddy. i had got her a buggy board but she didnt really like it. she also had to have a tesco bag hanging off the handles!

its great when you get to go out and dont push a buggy, feels like total freedom. mind you, i dont really have to walk very far to anywhere, shops, swing park, bus stop, etc etc

think thats the key, the distance

BROWNY · 03/05/2005 13:23

My ds had just started nursery at 3 years old, when one day he asked me not to take him in the buggy anymore as his friends were laughing at him , so that was the end of his buggy days!

handlemecarefully · 03/05/2005 13:26

i have a Phil n Ted kiwi explorer and I have noticed that when I take it out dd (2.10) parks her little arse in it and enjoys being pushed along, however if I take the backpack for baby ds (13 months) and leave the buggy at home then dd happily walks quite a distance.

motherinferior · 03/05/2005 13:28

I honestly do think children will walk a lot further than our culture tends to assume. DD1 is so not the sportif type, but doesn't balk at a walk of around half a mile to and back from her childminder - and I reckon she'll have to walk both ways when she starts school in Sept.

gingerbear · 03/05/2005 13:28

'he has a tendency to go and lie under peoples bushes in their gardens'

LOL bobbybob! When we go for walks with the dog, my dd (almost 3) will either run off and lie flat in the long grass, refusing to get up or run towards the river bank to play in the mud!!

She walks most places now, but if it is a day out or a long shopping trip, I always take the buggy.

roisin · 04/05/2005 09:29

Ha Clary! Used to be a bugbear of mine as well - I hated to see 'older children' in buggies ... But then we had this real struggle with ds2 walking home from nursery, so I had to eat my words! At the time though he would happily do 4-5 miles on a family walk, he just found nursery so exhausting, and couldn't cope with that uphill slog at the end of the day.

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