How far does your 2.5yo walk?

[SamanthaVimes]

We were out yesterday and DH and I had a different expectation of how far DD could walk. We were going from a coffee shop to the library with Google reckons is 0.4miles.

I thought she’d be able to walk it (although it obviously takes an age at toddler pace) DH thought it would be a really long way for her.

I don’t know many other kids the same age so curious as to what is “normal”

She could have sat on the pushchair if she was tired btw so she didn’t “have” to walk, just given the opportunity she normally prefers walking herself.

My 17 mo can manage a mile. He walks at least half a mile outside daily

When we first started going out I would record it on Strava as a reference point so I've been able to see his progress over the months

0.4 of a mile at 2.5 is completely fine, if a little slow!

Assuming no physical disabilities, I think the general "rule" among walking folk is one mile per year of age, so 3 miles at 3. If children are not used to walking regularly it might be less than this.

So your walk to the library should have been fine for her. I found that playing games and the occasional bribe meant that my DC would walk without really noticing the distance.

My DD loves the pram (just about to turn 2.5) but at places like the zoo will happily walk longer than 0.4 miles. Where we live, the pavements are very uneven and slanted and to go either way is up a hill, so I'm not sure she'd manage a huge distance from the front door so to speak. She'd have a good go but we do still use the pram a lot given the above.

My 2.5 yo dd2 walked around a mile today. She might have managed more but it was a bit cold, rainy and windy. She's been walking since she was 1.

I think it's important to look at context though. My dd1 (4) couldn't walk anywhere near as far at 2.5 but she was an extremely late walker. She was 20 months when she walked for the first time.

I can barely get DD to walk to the end of our driveway, which is about two car-lengths. She's a nightmare - hates walking. I think she's physically capable of walking a mile, she just absolutely doesn't want to. If anyone has any tips . . .

Mine wouldn't. He would scotch on his scooter for miles but not walk very far at all. He's a pain in the bum He could do it if he wanted to but won't. My eldest would walk miles at this age no problem.

Scooch on his scooter. There is no alcohol involved. Bloody auto wonk!

Ah I hadn’t heard that rule before! That sort of matches up with my expectation.

DD is 3.5 and can probably walk about 1.5 miles before she starts to complain and wanting to be carried

My 2.5 year easily can do a mile (probably more) but it just takes forever after she inspects every leaf and stone along the way!

At 2.5 I frequently picked her up from nursery at lunch time, took her to the park to play with friends for 30mins then walked the 1.5 miles home. Option of buggy board but she walked (baby in pushchair)

At 3yo she walked up Snowdon and half the way down. Option of carrier, but having too much fun examining everything...

Younger DD however was a right lazy little thing, which I partly put down to not having the same time t let her walk at toddler pace as we had to get to preschool, then school or club to pick her sister up.

Same here. I feel a bit self conscious taking a 3.5 year old out in a buggy but if I need to be somewhere in a hurry there’s no other choice as she stops to look at EVERYTHING and wave at every dog she sees. Plus the slow walking generally due to little legs!

Your problem with this question is that the answer depends entirely on the child.

My DS1 was in a buggy and would refuse to walk anywhere until he was about 5 (and no, you couldn't force him or not take the buggy, as you would just never manage to get anywhere without mega meltdowns) - He is a happy and healthy adult now who can walk distances fine.

DS2 happily walked from 18 months onwards and preferred it away from the buggy. We would end up walking with a 5yo in the buggy and a 2yo walking often.

Our local park is 0.4 miles away and DS (2y7m) walks. We don't even bring the pushchair.

I would guess he could walk about 2 miles, but might get whiny near the end.

This is really interesting as I had no idea how much little ones are supposed to walk.

My 2 year old (he just turned 2) and I walk for about an hour each day. I think it's between 1 to 1.5 miles but depends on his speed! I didn't know if it was enough but it looks like it is from this thread. He gets tired towards the end.

My short, just turned 3 year old walked half a mile with me to a toddler group on Friday. Then another 0.8 miles to the library. Then we got the bus back but he refused to get off at our stop 🙄so we had another 0.8 mile walk home. So about 2 miles in total, with breaks in tbe middle. That's fairly normal for him. He's in a much better mood on the days he does lots of walking.

His little brother was born in April and he was pretty much turfed out of the buggy then - I didn't want to get a double buggy. and he didn't like the buggy board. So he's been walking more since then.

At that age they could do a mile, any further and I'd take the scooter

It depends. Doing something she enjoys? Probably 1.5-2 miles over any terrain. Walking to nursery or the corner shop? About 10 steps.