3 year old still use a buggy

[lisa270988]

Hi does anyone 3 year old still use a pushchair a lot? My little boy is 3 years 4 months and he does walk a lot but still use a pushchair it's 50/50. I'm worried he should be walking more.
Also does anyone else have to take there child to preschool in a buggy

My three still used the pushchair at 3 even though they could (and did) walk quite a lot. It was extremely useful when they got too tired to walk far and wanted to be carried!

What's wrong with 3 year olds using a pushchair when needed? Most that I ever knew still did when necessary.

Yes, I used to take them to preschool in it too. Again, why not? I used to leave it there hung on the coat racks ready for bringing them back afterwards.

I think people who ‘never’ use a pushchair at 3 (like my sister and sil) also very rarely walk anywhere. If that’s what your child needs it’s fine. My son used to walk to pre school but I’d collect him in the pram as he was shattered and it’s up a big hill on the way home. He’d hop in and out as suited him. The closer he got to 4 the less he seemed to jump in.

It really depends on how far they need to walk!

When DD2 was in preschool I was aware lots of her friends did use buggies until 4yo. But... they would walk in the morning (about a mile), then home at lunch time. Then have to come back to school to pick up older siblings, then home (so a 2 mike round trip) then maybe out again later. That is A LOT at their age. It was usually the sibling pick up in buggies.

Other children didn't but never had to walk more than half a mile...

It's fine.
With my eldest I made a big deal of her not using her buggy when she was 3 and a bit, she started nursery which was a 10 minute walk from home and I made a battle of it. Frequent tantrums every afternoon because she was tired. She's 21 now and I wished I just brought the buggy. It's a pointless battle.
My younger 2 used a buggy a lot at 3 (my eldest is severely autis6and still in a special needs buggy age 10).
3 is fine.

In didn’t at all from 3 yrs and 2 months and DD had to walk or scoot (scooter was a god send) 0.8 miles to school for nursery, back at lunchtime and there and back to pick her sister up.

It all depends on how much you walk. If you have long journey then walking isn’t always practical or other people use the car a lot.

Lifestyle dependent! I didn’t drive and so we walked miles. People who never walk more than 100m with their kids can manage without. For holidays I took my double when they were 2&4!

We walk absolutely every where, including to preschool. (Live in a large village/small town where you can walk to everything you need and no public transport needed either) Got both of mine out of pushchairs 6 months before they started school. They weren’t in it constantly, but always with us as we’d cover big distances and hills. They wouldn’t have been able to walk home after preschool for example as so tired, but they walked there in the morning most of the time.

My DD was 3 in Feb. We don’t use the pushchair often so we swapped our big one for a basic stroller at Xmas. But she does still use it for: big days out (going to legoland this week for instance), for long walks to somewhere including if we walk from her grandparents to pre school which is about a mile, if we need to walk somewhere in a hurry, if I want to walk at a good pace for some exercise, if I need to get a lot of shopping done then I will take it in to town, if she is unwell or very tired.
We don’t use it for things like trips to the park, walks in the woods, afternoon out at a national trust site, dog walks etc
On average we probably use it once a week or so.

I agree that it depends on how much you walk. I take mine when it's a fair walk but not long enough to need to drive (if that makes sense) so that ds has it if he gets tired and/or if I need to hurry us up! DS is a similar age to yours and I have had comments from others about it but they drive their kids everywhere so yes they won't need a buggy

Join the “It’s Orlando time” facebook page, it’ll make you feel much better. People on there are pushing perfectly healthy and able children aged up to 12 (I kid you not) in pushchairs round Florida theme parks and come out fighting if anyone suggests that’s a BIT old.

So did you leave the buggy there

Nobody wins any prizes for being the first to get their child out of a buggy. We used ours until school age. I found it easier and quicker, and we didn't get any of the teasing that others complain about, so I saw no reason to stop. DD competes in cross country running, dance and gymnastics now so it obviously did her no harm!

we only use it for the school run, brother is in year 2. she’s 4 in June and that’s when we will stop.
It’s an 18 minute walk each way
she will start at the school in September

too many fast roads for scooter ,
we have done it a few times with scooters but neither of them listen well enough and it just ends up me shouting at them to stop

They’re all different, my eldest didn’t use a buggy at all from a month before she turned 3. My youngest did use one until after 3, mainly in the afternoons for school pickup for the eldest because we couldn’t be late and she was tired by that time of the afternoon. She is a January baby and had definitely stopped using it by the time she started preschool though, so I guess by around 3.5

Agree. My BIL made a big deal of his 3yo never using a buggy but then every time we saw them he'd end up carrying her and their bags and moaning about it. Ridiculous.
My nearly 3yo has the benefit of a younger sibling so I take the double everywhere. My mum seems obsessed with the idea that I should be using a single and buggy board by now but he quite often sits down in the double for 5 mins here and there, and for 30 mins walk to town, then back. No way could he walk that far, and I can't quite trust him to just stand sensibly still on a buggy board. Only the other day I had to forcibly strap him in during a tantrum by a busy road, for his own safety.

My DS has just turned 3 and still uses his buggy daily.
On nursery days we need to drop him off quickly in the morning to get to work on time but on the way home he gets the choice of walking or sitting in the buggy.
We live in London and don't have a car so we take the buggy everywhere on public transport but he walks a lot in between.
I've told him that when he's older and doesn't need a buggy we can leave it at home and go on the top deck of the bus, so that's my sweetener to get him walking more and building up his stamina.
It's also handy for me to stash the travel potty underneath so I'm still happy to bring it with us on adventure days.

There are two types of pushchairs that three year olds use. Polluting ones (some people call these “cars”) and non polluting ones.

For some reason the polluters seem to think that this makes them superior. I once read on mumsnet on a similar post to this “oh my child is only 2 but we already try to leave the buggy in the car boot as much as possible. It just isn’t necessary.”

Totally agree: it’s how far they do walk that is relevant.

No one ever grew up infantile or without their legs working because their mum let them ride in the buggy age 3. Do what you both need to do op and don’t stress.

It's fine. You're getting exercise, he can hop in and out when there's time, it's free and you're not pumping out any emissions as you go.
Mine didn't stop using the buggy until 4.6, the spring before reception year. We still walk almost everywhere even though eldest has passed his driving test.

Yup. Says it all.

My daughter used it until she started school. And even now at 5.5 I end up pulling her along on her scooter most of the way to school and back. She's perfectly active and healthy but doesn't like walking the school route, and it's quite a long way when we are rushing in the am!

There’s a 6yr old in our estate (perfectly healthy and well able to walk) who gets the buggy to the top of road for the school bus every day, about a 2minute walk 🤷‍♀️

i love having a buggy keep it as long as you can ,towards the end of use she had learnt to hold my hand when walking around .I kept the buggy for long days out at that point because although she could walk everywhere she still occasionally got tired especially if were out all day and what was really good was its such a good pack mule .All the crap the drinks, picnics spare clothes all the junk just load it up .Just bring it out when needed

It’s completely dependent on how far away pre school is, and where you need to go afterwards. If it’s far, or if you need to drive to work after dropping them off, then obviously they can’t walk it.
My nearly 3 year old walks 20 mins to nursery (and back again in the evening) but if it was further she wouldn’t.
It’s also a lot to do with family circumstances - my two DDs have always walked loads but that’s because DH is unable to drive for medical reasons so walks a lot, so he has always taken them out a lot on foot.

Same situation here, we also have quite a walk. When I felt it was no longer socially acceptable to use the buggy (upon starting school) I just bought a lead for the scooter and I pull her along on it when next to the busy road bit (and when going up the hill!) It speeds us up and we make it to school on time...