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?

16 months. We needed it for the new baby, so DD walked on toddler reins from 16 months. Much better for health and muscle strength, than sitting in a buggy all the time. Also, we live in Scotland, so DD got used to hill climbing from very young.

To be fair DD was only 2.6 versus 3 or so for her brother as I refused to buy a double buggy. She got on fine with a buggy board but mainly walked

I think ds2 was about 3.5. Both DC really good walkers, and it was mostly used for days put as a luggage carrier. As a single parent of 2 small DC it was easier to put changes of clothes, beach towels/toys, wellies, picnic, coats etc, on the pushchair.

We often go to the woods/beach/farm park for the day so that's when it was most used.

Just gone 3. DH has put it in the shed behind loads of junk and I can’t be bothered to get it out. Although I would still use it now and again if I could, DD dawdles and like to stop to look at everything when we walk places and sometimes I’m in a rush. Plus the pavements round here are really narrow.

Age 5 when school started 😂

Still using it at 3 yrs 8 months occasionally - it's very useful when I need to go somewhere quickly, or we're out towards the end of the day when he's tired (he'll still nap in the car if he's in there in the afternoon).

We haven't used it for local short walks for at least a year, but sometimes adults need to move faster than small children are capable of doing. We'll use it later today because we need to nip into town to run a few errands, but don't have time to dawdle. It's also handy for carrying stuff - I'm going to miss it when he's too big for the pushchair but too small to help carry bags!

I can't imagine how you stop using it before 2.5, unless you never have to be anywhere on time or you drive everywhere.

We do still use it occasionally and DS is nearly 4 eg day trip to Colchester zoo, anyone enjoys been there knows it's massive and hilly, although DS actually barely got in it it was useful for carrying coolbag, jackets when it got warm, DN got in it towards the end of the day.
We also have weekly seafront fireworks about a mile from our house DS walks there but then likes to take his shoes off and snuggle into the buggy on the way back, it's something we've done since he was tiny and he's always asleep by the time we get home. We put him in thick pyjamas with a puddle suit over the top and brush teeth before we go, so it's party of the routine for him.
This morning we've walked about 4 miles along the coast and he did get on DHs shoulders for part of it. DN's don't use theirs even the one the same age as DS but they also are driven everywhere and don't go for long walks etc so I think it depends on lifestyle and where you live too

When DD2 was born DD1 was 2.9. We used a buggy board for a while but by 3 she was happy without it. We live in a village so mostly drive but would walk up to preschool and back easily. ILs did the same when I went back to work.

DD2 is now 15mo and prefers to walk but has no direction so we anticipate a similar age of coming out of the buggy, but will keep hold of it for trips to Disney etc I think.

A friend kept her stroller and used it at Gatwick when her youngest was 5 - said it was the best idea she’d ever had!

HRTT but the key factors are do you have a car? Do you coparent/ have a partner/ do you have other children as well the child's own stamina like you said.

I've seen loads of parents bang on about how there's no need for a buggy after 3 years old, but turns out they drive everywhere anyway so little legs get a massive break, they can sleep and you don't have to juggle grocery bags and holding tiny hands. Or people who coparent brilliantly but actually run all their errands and do all their shopping when their kid is with the other parent. One of my friends got rid of theirs at 3 but every time I saw them she'd end up carry sleeping DC home, which is just about manageable if you're fit and only have the 1 small child.

But to answer your question our last night went when my youngest started reception but we'd only used it once in a year - his dad brought to us when he'd gotten sick out and we needed to get him home (and he definitely couldn't have gone in a cab.)

We used a double buggy with my eldest whilst she was in reception for trips of 3-5+ miles away, it was high covid times and we were avoiding public transport as per the guidance at the time.

My eldest is currently 3.5 and stopped using it at about 3 . (We had a double as he was 2 when youngest was born) youngest is 18 months and still uses it she hates it though but she is a runner and I don't drive so I really want to keep her in it for a long as I can ! I will miss the basket for my shopping

If we hadn't of had our second my 3.5 year old would probably still be in one though. I left her with her dad when I picked him up from nursery last week and took the stroller and he was so excited to sit in it and have a rest. He's so tall for his age though and his feet kept dragging on the ground!

My eldest was 2 years 8 months when she went in the buggy for the last time. She had been refusing to go in it for a few weeks, the final straw came when I was trying to do some Christmas shopping in John Lewis.
DD was refusing to walk, but also refusing to get in the buggy (god love two year olds) so I was left trying to carry her, plus the items I wanted to buy and manoeuvre an empty pushchair. I was trying to strap her in to it but she kept going rigid. I didn’t have enough hands to push her bum into the seat and do the straps up, so she slid straight through the seat part of the pushchair and ended up in a heap on the shop floor, attracting a tutting crowd.

DS is three and a half, we last used the buggy this summer so he would have been 3 years and 3 months old. It was handy in the evenings on holiday but he’s not been in it since we got home, he just doesn’t need it any more.

DD1 was out of the buggy and on a buggy board at 2.5, when DD2 needed the pram. DD2 is still in it at just turned 3. She is small for her age and definitely tires more easily so still in the buggy, especially for the school run as I don't have the time to meander at the pace her little legs can manage and the 1.5 mile round trip is too much for her to walk. She will probably stay in it until the spring when baby #3 arrives and then do a mix of walking/buggy board. I will probably be quite reluctant to give up the buggy with DC3 and keep it until at least 3.5 as I like it for carrying everything 😂

I never said it was, if I'd said age 6 would I be competing too? Just on these threads you always get the assumptions that it's either buggy or giant petrol buggy.

I said we didn't drive everywhere, not that we didn't drive anywhere. I couldn't have pushed a buggy to the childminder as it was busy roads with a grass verge and no footpath, we drove. We walked or DS rode his bike to the shops, park and so on. I had a back up sling for daytrips.

So anytime you were on a schedule, you drove... Which is fine but makes your first post misleading

I meant exactly what I said.

We drove anywhere I would have driven myself without my child. We walked or he rode a bike anywhere I would have walked. I hate driving short distances.

He was also not particularly compliant, I could not keep him in the buggy if he didn't want to be in it, which was pretty much anytime he wasn't ready for a nap. I struggled to push the buggy while holding the hand of an active toddler who wanted to walk.

We go for v long walks 4/5 hours long so sometimes my toddler and my 6 yo take turns having a sit down in buggy 😅