How old was your toddler when he/she started walking on pavements?

[OhHolyJesus]

My DS is 18 mo and doesn't hold my hand but walks really well at the park, just don't want to risk it yet anywhere near cars. Not sure about getting a back pack with reins, does it train them to walk close to you? Maybe he's just too young so interested to know how others do it? X

My 21 month old will walk on residential roads but not on main roads, I worry too much. I just say hold mummy's hand or sit in buggy. She now knows if she doesn't hold my hand she goes straight into the buggy.

9-10 months? As soon as he could walk at all.
Would reins make you feel better?

I 'trained' mine to hold onto the buggy. If we weren't near any roads etc he could walk on his own, or if somewhere more busy then he had to hold hands. Rest of the time he held the buggy.
I did it by showing him what I meant one day and telling him the part to hold onto, and after that if he refused I told him he'd have to sit in the buggy or hold my hand instead. He used to walk pretty nicely by the side of me so think it worked, but maybe depends how compliant your child is!

Same as a pp, residential roads, no main roads. We have reins, but she just sits down. Refuses to hold hands for any length of time.

She's 22 months.

As soon as he could walk. Now he more wilful independent at 23 months he doesn't like holding my hand so I have a backpack with reins or he holds onto the pram. If he doesn't do it nicely he goes in the pram.

If they won't reliably hold your hand or are at all likely to bolt then you should use reins. No harm and could literally save their life

As soon as they could walk. No reins, no buggy, but frequently carried for a few minutes or a few miles - for safety or transportation.

under 1 year. I made them hold hands though or they had to get back in the sling. didn't like to let them walk when I was pushing an empty buggy because I like to have my hands free when walking a toddler.

Recommend reins for child's safety and your own peace of mind.
Used them on both my children and grandchildren.

Mine was as soon as she could walk but if she refused to hold hands she'd have to be carried. She always complied though, would have used reigns if needed.

As soon as they could walk. I used the back pack all the time when they were starting out and if we were walking by a main road they would have to hold my hand. If they refused I put them back in the buggy. They soon learnt to hold my hand if they wanted to walk places.

Ds is 19 months and I'm just starting to let him walk on safer roads holding my hands. He's been walking on pavements on easy busy roads with reins on for a while though, basically as soon as he was walking confidently. Was a nightmare at first as he stopped to investigate EVERYTHING!

Ds only walked at 15 months, and I have only recently started to let him walk on pavements at 20 months old. It doesn't last long as he usually tries to walk in the wrong direction, and I have to move fast so that his big sister doesn't scoot off into the distance. He will sometimes hold his sister's hand, otherwise he has reins as he thinks cars are his friends.

This is an interesting thread. We are in the process of trying to get our 18mo to hold onto the buggy and walk nicely but only on the quiet streets.

I feel very bad for her when she's in the buggy for large amounts of time but I'm away to have baby #2 and don't know if I have the mental energy for a newborn and a new pavement-walking toddler

Reins. DS will walk without them on residential roads but I don't trust him on busier roads. He hates holding hands so i have to grab his wrist and he tries to pull away all the time.

Mine just went from one day refusing to hold hands, to the next day being ok with it! So now it's easy and we go out for lots of walks holding hands or with him pushing the buggy.

Before he would hold hands I bought a backpack/reigns thing. Maybe we will use it in the future if he starts to bolt. But the few times I used it I didn't find it trained him to do anything, you can't make them change direction with it or anything (!) but obviously you are managing the safety aspect.

Backpack / reins (held loosely) means you can let them do their own thing but save their life if that includes suddenly flinging themselves into the road. I found them very reassuring but was heavily pregnant at the time which may have been why. I just used them until I was sure dc understood (very) basic road safety and then let him get on with it (plus holding hands for crossing the road etc). Will be doing the same with dc2.

As soon as she could walk. She hasn't been in a pushchair since 15 months (she's just 2 now) so has kind of just got used to the fact that she has to hold hands. The rule is that if she doesn't hold my hand she has to be carried, which she hates so she generally just holds my hand.

Thanks for all your replies. He really likes his buggy and being carried (my back doesn't like that all) but I want to encourage walking short distances, I'm just going to work on the hand holding for a bit, maybe practicing in empty car parks or ditch the buggy and get reins.

I'm pleased that others had younger DC or of similar age when they did this, I feel like I'm pushing him sometimes but he can't learn if we don't practise x

Dd turned 1 last week. I took her out of her pram to let her stretch her legs a bit but she was trying to go off in every direction apart from the one I wanted her to.
We walked to the shop yesterday (it's 30 seconds from our house) took about 5 minutes but she did very well holding hands.
Longer distances can wait for us for a while.

11 months ish- as soon as they could walk really. Both have used the little life back packs though which I've found really useful. Ds is 3.8 and we've only recently let him off them. I almost always have a buggy (19 month age gap) so I just couldn't hold ds's hand all of the time so I liked that I could just hook the reins strap around my wrist and he could walk alongside me but I had the security if he decided to bolt.

You really don't need to practice in a car park! Just take him to the shops!