Ideas for encouraging a reluctant walker (3.6)?

[normanthehairdresser]

Not physically but mentally reluctant, I'm afraid!

DS (3.6) is an active little boy who will happily be on his feet exploring railway museums or trundling about the house and garden for many hours. Not by any means a couch potato - but getting him to walk in one direction for a meaningful amount of time is quite a challenge. Tend to get decent walking for 5 to 10 minutes and then 'Mummy carry'.

I feel he isn't building up his stamina for continuous walking as he should. His nursery school do regular walks with a mixed reception/nursery group which involve walking to a local park then around it - total duration about 1 1/2 hours. Yes, he is one of the youngest (summer birthday) but he was visibly flaked out by the end, which most of the others weren't.

I'm not quite sure how best to build up his stamina. If we take the buggy he sits in it, of course! Is there another hop-on, hop-off solution where he could walk a bit, rest a bit, etc? I've wondered about a hip seat - he is about 15kg. He has, and loves, a balance bike but is getting a bit lethal on it for trips round town. In any case he sometimes demands that I push him on the bike which is tricky!

Any ideas short of the obvious option of refusing to carry him ever again?!

A scooter maybe? When he's sick of scooting he can stand on it and you can pull it along by the handle.

Sounds like ds1! he is ok most of the time now (he is 4.1) but what really did the trick was his scooter. its a mini micro and he still loves to scoot everywhere!

Would he like to walk when pushing something? My DS absolutely loves to go for walks when he can take his little buggy with Pingu in it. Maybe walking to somewhere exciting for him might help too?

I think you need a bit of tough love, and make him walk and not pick him, he is old enough to go out for a couple of hours and not need to be picked up. The fact that you say he will quite happily walk when exploring railway museums and such suggest that it isn't his energy that is low, more his interest. I would keep taking him out, for walks to the park, around the park, to the shops, and be firm and not pick him up.

Your poor back

We have DD who is almost 5 and she has pretty much walked everywhere we go for the last 2+ years now. DS who is just 3, we got rid of the buggy about 4 months ago. Previous to that we only used it when he was asleep and I had to collect DD from Nursery at odd times in the day.

I would get rid of the buggy and do some tough love. Ours walk enough that we did Disneyland Paris for the week with no buggies. Just made sure we had plenty of time to stop and have a rest now and then. no complaints, no hassle and no carrying until the very end of the day.

I also like the idea of scooters or buggys or little wheelbarrow works quite well.
Try pointing out something a little way ahead and saying 'Oh lets just get to lampost (bad example) or something ahead and distract from carrying.

Good luck

Yes, I think he has an unfair advantage in that I'm quite tall and strong so can JUST still carry him - and he has Daddy in charge half the week, who can do shoulder carries. Also as he is an only one he doesn't have to give way to baby sibling as so many kids would.

Thanks for the suggestions. The scooter sounds worth a thought, he certainly looks at them very longingly and they would probably be less cumbersome than his balance bike. I'm sure a certain amount of tough love is in order too. I have been pushing the idea that he needs to exercise his legs to make sure he grows big and strong (soon he will work out that this also applies to Mummy )

Thanks again

God I hated this stage - still haven't got DS to a decent range - but second the idea of a buggy he can push, and a scooter if you're ready to run and hoick him out of the gutter every 2minutes.

My ds was exactly the same and as I don't drive I was very relliant on the pushchair.

I agree with cookielove, it is what worked for us in the end. He turned 4 at the end of October and I haven't used the puchchair since June (apart from one day when a walked a couple of miles to my friends house in the summer). I have however at times walked home dragging him along clinging to my legs screaming to be carried. I refused, partly out of neccessity. He was over 18 kg and 107 cm tall when I last checked in May and is just too big for me to carry.

It is hard but it has worked as he now happily walks to and from pre school (probably about a mile each way). We visited London the other week and my pedometer read 5.8 miles one day. Given the dashing around he did, he probably did double! We've done 4 miles today, just out shopping. Unfortunatley this tired him out enough to fall asleep on the way home, and as a result he is currently still hopping out of bed upstairs now. Grrr!

My DS was very similar and when he had decided he'd had enough, he would just throw himself on the ground and scream.(Suggest stepping over and keep walking is the best policy) I found that incentive worked, when we get up there you can see... when we go round there we might find... I saw the other day a ..... up by ...... shop. He's now a big hulking sports psychologist which makes me laugh!!