When did you say goodbye to the pushchair for good?

[LunaNova]

DD is 2.5 so I know where not there yet but just wondered what age your little ones were when you took the pushchair away as an option.

DD has pretty good stamina for walking, we go on a dog walk daily and she can easily manage 45mins - 1hr at toddler pace (we meander around the woods so it's not like we have to be anywhere). If I go on a short trip to the supermarket or the library I don't bother taking the pushchair (supermarket is a drive away so I have the car on hand, library is about 5-10 min walk from our house).

We typically use the pushchair for days out and longer walks, but through the summer she wasn't happy about being in it much and wanted to walk. I've noticed since the weather is colder, she's asking for the pushchair more (and a blanket to wrap up in 🤣) and it just got me thinking about what age you remove it as an option for longer walks/days out or do you just wait until they no longer want to be in it?

I think it depends if you drive or not sometimes. I remember coming back from nursery in the pouring rain with her squeezed into it under the rain cover. It was much easier pushing that than dragging a toddler. I got drenched though.

There was a mum at school who used it for ages, like her DD was coming up for 5. Used it as a form on control. She was very odd though. I think school had a word with her about it (she lived very close to school as well).

We stopped using it consistently around 3, now 3.9 and have only recently used it when we've been in our local big city. She now sees it as fun so is happy with a snack if I need to get some shopping! I'd definitely take it to Disney etc for the next year or two though!

About 2.5 but i used to have a back carrier instead, so DD could start walking and then i could carry her when she got tired. By 3 she was scooting or riding her balance bike so didn't use carrier much

We stopped at 4! Just got back off holiday and it was so worth taking it. Especially in the evenings when they are cranky.

Around 4 but we don't have a car so it was important to us when we needed to get somewhere fast - used for nursery run, hospital appointments, going somewhere by train preferred having him strapped in and safe

DC1 was just before 3, just dwindled away over a couple of months as I realised I kept spending the day pushing an empty pushchair.
DC2 was 2 years and 2 months, the pushchair broke and I decided not to replace it.

We used to get public transport a lot (no car) which was a pain with a pushchair anyway, so I was very happy to ditch it.
Managed fine on long days out, it was never an issue, just sometimes had to walk at a slower pace, though I did get adept at carrying a sleeping toddler off the bus.

Friend’s dc tended to run off without warning and needed a pushchair until nearly 4 for safety, everyone’s situation is different.

He didn't use it much from two and a half upwards but I liked having it along as it carried all the bags and other toddler clutter so I think probably 3.5 when I finally managed to get rid of it.

Around his second birthday. Before anyone says, we didn't drive everywhere either.

First child around 2.8, as she wasn't a very good walker - would whinge after half a mile. Second child, just after she turned 2 - she is a very energetic child.

I don't think it is true that people who use the car are more likely to ditch the pushchair earlier. I don't drive, so my kids had lots of opportunities to get used to walking places, getting in a bus with a pram is also a right faff so I wanted to get rid asap.

It also helps that I worked part time for a little while after my first, which meant that our schedule was not very tight - plenty of time for dealing with tantrums and stand-offs about having to walk. Our childminder also insisted that kids were out of the pushchair by 1.5. With the second, I didn't go back to work until she was 18 months, due to redundancy, so again, we were working with a loose schedule and could take long, slow walks together.

Not until youngest was 5, was handy for shopping

I meant 2.5, that the CM insisted on toddlers walking!

@trilbydoll we ended up renting a pushchair at Disney when dd was 6, she was so tired, couple of times exh carried her and older dd jumped in at 8 (both girls were small for age)

I think it's that point around schedule really - we both work nearly full time so we didn't have time to muck about, the walk to nursery with the buggy was 15 mins, if the 2 year old walked it, 40 mins which is a big difference if you need to get to work

We stopped using it with my kids right before they started school, a I guess a little bit after their 4th birthdays, maybe 4 1/2?

At the end of the school year, just before DD turned 3, by that point we were only using it for older siblings school run, so seemed a good time. At around that time my mum started babysitting my nephew, so it was easy to tell her "baby X needs it at grandma's hours now your a big girl"

About three, three and a half.

It isn't a contest though

You must have had a very competent, compliant and quick walking child. How on earth did you get places like nursery or work on time walking at a 2 year olds pace?

It would take me about 3 times as long to get anywhere even now DS is almost 3!

Sometime around 2.5. They refused to go in it after that, just screamed and carried on. On family walks we just choose one that she will manage. Her scooter helps her go longer distances.

4, 4.5

At about 5 1/2. Both of mine were really tired after school in reception, so I often popped them into the buggy for the walk home. Also, i used to go running with the buggy and 4 year old regularly, otherwise I’d have needed to sort out a babysitter.

2y 9m when we forgot to pick it up from the conveyor belt at the airport coming back from a holiday.

Mine refused to go in the pushchair from around his second birthday - tbh it was a struggle to get him in since he learnt to walk but around that age he just wouldn't go in for love nor money. But he accepted one of those push trikes.

Also we rarely drive anywhere.

As she turned three and went into the big class at nursery. None of her new classmates used a pushchair, so she stopped too (of her own volition) we kept it for a few months just in case. But didn't use it.