When could your toddler walk confidently without wanting to be picked up

[1stimeboymum]

My son is 26 months and he's been walking for a long time now but everytime we go for a walk he walks for a couple of minutes and then refuses and wants to be picked up and cries if he's in his pram. If he does walk he ends up walking the wrong way or stays in the same spot for ages

2.5yo, started walking at 11mo. Very competent but often wants to be carried when we're out and about 🙄 always take the buggy!

Being able to walk confidently and wanting to be picked up are not necessarily related at all. One child may be a great walker when chasing a pigeon but demand to be carried when it's time for the school run. Another may be wobbly and falling over yet refuse to be picked up.

I just kept the buggy until DS was 3.

When did they stop wanting to be picked up ever? About 6! 😂The general rule of thumb with toddlers is they have unending energy for walking at the times you want to hurry up and would rather carry them, and no resilience for it at all on the occasions you were banking on it and didn't bring the pushchair+have a bad back (swap for whatever other reason applies to you that day).

Mine were good walkers but I still needed to take the buggy with me until they were 3yo!

We got rid at 18 months and could have earlier. DD was allergic to control, both buggy and carrying.

Thank your lucky stars frankly!

DD1 started walking about 2 weeks after her first birthday. She was in and out of the pushchair from then on but I took it nearly everywhere. DD2 arrived when DD1 was 3yo and DD1 walked everywhere from then onwards. We had a buggyboard but she never used it.

DD1 liked reins; she liked knowing that I was on the other end and couldn't get away. The only time I remember her refusing to walk was on holiday at a busy zoo. In retrospect, I think she was overwhelmed. Oh, and we went on a country walk and bribed her with the promise of crisps to walk to the pub.

This.

Mine could walk quite confidently by 2YO. Actually relying on then to get where they need to be in a hurry without dithering about? The jury is still out on that. They're 9YO and 7YO!

Probably about 2.5 to actually walk without complaint (on a good day). He was definitely still sitting down and refusing to move at just turned 2, as that was during lockdown when I used to drag him out for a 'walk' every day and ended up carrying him.

We still use the pushchair occasionally at nearly 4, just in order to get places quickly or for a long day.

My son is 3.5 and I still can't take him for a long walk without the pram. He's too heavy for me to carry, so I still take the pram and let him walk but it's there for him to get into.

I could walk around a supermarket with him walking for example, but I couldn't go and nip to the shops to head into a few shops with him walking.

Take the option away?

I built up my 16 mo's stamina by going for a short walk every day - he can walk almost a mile in about 40 minutes now (of course he generally doesn't do so much). It took a lot of patience to get to that point! His first outside walks were about a quarter mile in 30ish minutes.

If we're going to a specific place, though, the buggy still has to come. Thinking about getting a buggy board so he's not sitting all the time, but we're still going at a respectable pace