4 year old still using pushchair - how to stop it ??

[sparkle1977]

I'm after some useful hints and tips to try and persuade my just 4 year old to stop using the pushchair.

He can walk fine and will hold hands, not run off etc etc however if I have the pushchair with me (which I pretty much always do) he chooses to hop into it and bleats on and on if I try and make him walk instead.

The reason I have the pushchair (a double phil & teds) is mainly for my youngest 2.5 who still occasionally naps in there etc etc.

MIL is also on my back about this one saying I should ditch the pushchair altogether thereby not giving either child the option. But to be honest she doesn't have to walk around the local shops etc when she needs them to be contained so she can do a few chores.

Will my oldest DS stop using the pushchair naturally of his own choosing sometime before school or should I force him out of it on every occasion ?

Still can't see why it's such an issue tbh. As long as he gets enough exercise, so what? Genuinely flummoxed by the strong feelings this seems to have provoked. Is it down to people being worried about what others may think? There are so many far more important choices we have to make for DC that this seems neither here nor there. It's not really any of MIL's business either, IMO.

You got rid of your buggy at 2, my god that must have been hard work?

I was in the same situation as you earlier in the year. My DS1 (he was 4 in March) loved his buggy, I've got a 20 month gap between DS1 and DS2 so had a P&T's, and DS1 did not want to get out of his pram. Eventually I moved DS2 into a Mama's and papa's buggy which had a sort of built in buggy board on the back, DS1 loved this!

I started warning DS1 that when he was 4 he'd be too big for the step, and stuck to it. From his 4th birthday we didn't let him on. It did cause a bit of whinging initially but he soon got used to the idea.

DS1 isn't a lazy child, plays football for hours, swims, runs around with his friends, but if there's a chair he'd like to sit in it instead of walking long distances. Feel the same myself sometimes!!!
x

It really does depend on where you live. If you live in a rural area and drive everywhere then yes you can ditch the buggy at 2 or never have one if you are that extreme. If you can't drive and walk along lots of very busy roads in a town centre full of people the buggy can see the safest/easiest option.

P&T backseat is great for shopping/bags etc.. but loses its usage when there is a lump of a 4 year old in it I find

I ditched buggy because DC (then just 3 and just 2) wanted to walk everywhere!!! Nothing harsh about it. In fact, having to WALK them everywhere was pretty harsh for me for the first couple of months!!! I can see the upside of strapping them in and off you go, but they just weren't really having it and I actually thought, they are not babies, so let's go for it.

And now (3 years on) they will walk anywhere, for miles if necessary.

I got rid of my buggy for DD at two as well.
It wasn't hard work tbh because I was really really lucky and rarely had to be anywhere in a hurry. She walked to nursery or the shops. She is fit as a butchers dog now

But I think I did it because DS2 wouldn't walk ( he has ASD) and actually the less he was made to walk the less he did. By four he would tantrum every time he had to. It was so bloody limiting. I took a year and got him walking every where again.

I expect that is why I tend to the view that children should be as active as is reasonably possible.
but of course it is the ops choice.

For DS1 I pretty much ditched the buggy as soon as he started walking. He is very light so I just used to carry him when he got fed-up of walking. He is 4 next week and would be horrified at the suggestion of a buggy.

His younger brother is 18 months and even though he is walking, it is a lot more difficult to ditch the buggy because he walks so slowly and his brother so quickly. It is difficult especially when they run off in different directions. But, I'll definitely be looking to lose the buggy in the next few months.

The only 4 year olds I know in buggies are those with doubles. I think it is a definite case of opportunity rather than need.

My little girl is 5 and very small, if we go out and she is expected to walk for several miles she will get tired and ask her dad to carry her. We got rid of her buggy when she was 4 and 3 months because she started school and I said school chidren could not be in buggys. When does your DS start school?

How far are you expecting him to walk and for how long? if its for a short space of time then ditch the 2nd seat .. we went to disney this year and even my 7 year old was shattered by the end of the day and asking why he didn't have one (as yes I had taken a buggy for the 5 year old)

Also where we live I know lots of people who also out 4 year olds in buggys so dont feel bad :-)

My DS starts school in Sept 2011 so a while off yet but we are going to start the no buggy thing now.

I explained to him last night that now he's 4 and a big boy etc etc he will no longer go in the pushchair. He looked somewhat put out but didn't say anything. We'll see what he says when the buggy is actually used for DS2 and there is no seat for him. Suspect lots of whinging and whining but hopefully as lots of you say that will quickly pass.

I really don't expect him to walk huge distances at all, little walks around shops, short walk to parks nearby, when we are out for longer like to our local arboretum he has his balance bike so doesn't strictly walk the entire way.

I think my biggest fears about outing DS1 from the pushchair have been that once DS1 is walking DS2 then wants to hop out of the pushchair and walk also. Fine but then the two get excitable and run riot and yours truly is then chasing the pair of them getting sliiiiightly stressed out. However I guess them behaving and walking nicely etc will come in time. I hope.