How can I encourage my toddler to walk with me?

[SunshineIndoors123]

I have a 17 month old, very confident walker, who has been walking since just turned 10 months old. He doesn't particularly like being in the pushchair, but he'll tolerate it. Any time I've tried to let him walk it has been a disaster. He won't hold my hand at all. I've got some reins for him which are fine in terms of holding onto him, but in no way can I guide or encourage him to walk with me/in the direction I want us to go. He obviously doesn't understand and he just wants to go his own way/explore, which is great at the park or wherever, but then putting him back in the pushchair to go home causes a huge tantrum. But it is impossible to guide him in any direction that makes walking home possible. I don't know if I'm expecting too much too young from him, because he walked so early it feels like he's been walking for absolutely ages, and I feel like we should be moving on to walking outside. I'd be grateful for any advice on how to make that transition, or if it is better to wait a but, until he might have a better grasp of the idea of walking along with me. Thanks.

It's unheard of for a child to be walking on the streets at that age in my area, as it's busy with pedestrians and traffic and unsafe if they ran out. It doesn't seem realistic to expect a toddler that young to be walking to and from places - just within safe places like a park or other areas with no traffic. Mine have always been fine sitting in the buggy with sometimes a snack for a bribe. Some toddlers use a balance bike but that's always seemed unsafe as they can race ahead into traffic.

My DD was/is the same and is 20m now.

I practiced a lot in the park where it "can't go wrong" as no cars... I basically did what I did when training the dog 🙈
So I would get down to her level, get her attention and draw a line with my finger "lets go this way" and try and get her to go round with me. I also did "destinations".

Let's go to the playground. Let's go to the cafe. Can you run to the tree?

Once that improved a bit what I did was start letting her walk on familiar "pram walks" so she knew the way/routine on residential quiet roads and I would essentially fence her in with the pram so she would walk nearest the houses and I would run offence between her and the road.

she was then forcibly rammed into the pram when we got to a main road as it was in no way safe 😅

She's still not 100% reliable and a bit of a liability but we took her up to our London local high street today and she was walking nicely. I would only do this when it's me and my husband so we can man mark effectively.
We do a lot of work on crossings and have been doing that since she was about 16m.

She is an AMAZING walker she can do about a mile and a half now!

He's very young. Keep walking for the park otherwise you'll both just get frustrated. We had a globber scooter than converts to a ride on scooter and DD preferred that to buggy as it made her feel like a big girl but I could direct the travel.

Thanks all. I thought it was probably the case that I was expecting too much. I just feel like he's been walking for ages (because he has) and didn't want to be holding him back if he was ready to be doing a bit of walking out and about. But obviously he isnt. I'll keep us confined to the park for now and try again when he's older.

Just explain it to him. They understand far more than you think.

Tell him 'you need to hold my hand or go in the buggy'. Let him make his choice. They're very quick learners!

Also, have the buggy facing you, not outwards.

You're expecting too much. Most don't achieve functional walking ie going in the direction you want and covering a reasonable distance reliably until at least 2. Persevere with the buggy and reins. Trikes can work well for buggy haters.