Starting school

[lisa270988]

Hi
My little boy is starting school this September he will be 5 in December. We oringal choose a school just down the road but changed our minds last minute due to it being very a large school and he hates busy places and crowds ect. He now has a place at a lovely small school but it's a 20 minute walk away and he isn't a very good with walking. He was born 10 weeks early and very small for his age so this doesn't help.
I'm really worried he won't manage the walk each day! He still uses a buggy a lot! I have tried with a scooter and bike but he can't seem to get the hang of it!
Has anyone got any thoughts on this would it look bad if I took the buggy?

Another recommendation for the Mini Micro Scooter (3 wheeled) and attach a strap to pull him with when he's tired. Gradually it will build up his stamina, core strength, etc.
If you get one now, you can practise a few times a week before school starting - it will pay off massively in the long run.
My daughter is also quite little and some children do comment on it. Not in an intentionally nasty way, just in a way that kids (and adults!) say what they see sometimes - so I wouldn't want to add to that by also putting her in a buggy (only see one buggy at our school and that is for a child with significant special needs).

Former Reception teacher here. I don't see a problem with him using a buggy to start as he will be very tired with the school day at the beginning and, if he hasn't built up stamina yet, will be miserable. Get him to walk the last 5 minutes, then build up from there. You could do a few practise walks now before school starts. He'll be walking to school in no time.

I'd use the buggy as back up. Push him most of the way and then he can walk the last 5 minutes. My oldest used to sleep in the buggy on the way home as he was so exhausted after a day at school. Or get a buggy board and use the pushchair to transport the bags.

Whilst I do not think there is any problem with using a buggy if needed, I would work on building up his stamina to the walk in the build up to starting school. There will likely be times that he is expected to walk a distance with the school out and about. Could you walk to the school a couple of times a week in the holidays to practice? My DD is a teeny tiny summer born with hypermobility and she had a globber scooter that she found easy to use and had mastered by pre school.

This is an interesting read. My child doesn’t start school until next year and she will be 5 in the December after just starting. But she’s a slow reluctant walker and doesn’t like her scooter or bike. Her school is a 1 mile walk away.

looks like I best get cracking on practising with the scooter! At worst you cal pull them along on it.

What about public transport op?

Have to admit I put on my judgy pants if I see a toddler with a dummy. I know that’s terrible and obviously it’s none of my business.

I kind of get why you might give one to a baby (helps soothe etc) but not a toddler. They are starting to babble and develop speech patterns which dummies can obviously impede. As for a a 4/5 year old…I don’t get it.

This is ridiculous.

If the child can't yet walk that far then why is a buggy considered unacceptable but a car / bus / being pulled on a scooter / being on back of a parent's bike is considered OK?

At least with the buggy option the child can walk part way and build up stamina.

My daughter is tiny for her age and was fine with the 20 minute walk to school from nursery, but 90cm is smaller even than her. It's difficult as if you take the buggy now you will enforce that as your routine. Can you leave extra early to do the walk in a relaxed way? Keep trying with the scooter it will suddenly click I'm sure.

My daughter is teeny tiny for her age.
We didn't use the buggy going to and from school because we literally live next door.
But we did use it at other times and if we ever bumped into classmates or older children from the school we would sometimes get asked why she was using it.
The answer I always gave was "well she's only got little legs and they get worn out easily".
The answer from other children was pretty much always "oh...ok".
They were never mean about it.

I've seen scooters with seats would something like this work

My son was youngest in year and the school was a 40 min walk from home! I had no access to car and he couldn’t walk after a full school day for more than 10 mins.

He also didn’t have the stamina after school to do a pedal trike or scooter.

I didn’t do the buggy as all the other kids came and went by car so he would’ve stuck out like a sore thumb.

The absolute life saver for me was the Micro Trike XL made by the micro scooter company. It’s a one handed push scooter seat thing so he didn’t need to pedal. As light as a feather and looks super cool so all his friends were wowed by it.

It got us through that first year and he was much more able to walk from Year 1.

Our journey to school is going to be a 7 minute walk followed by a 24 minute bus ride (probably more during school run hours) and then another 6 minute walk so the push chair will definitely be coming 🤷‍♀️😂 He does have autism though and will most likely still be asleep on the way to school and probably on the way home for the first few months 🤔

My youngest started school just as he turned five but I did use a buggy to collect him from the early learning centre in the school grounds when he was four. I did get comments from the staff about him being a bit too old for that, but we had to wait 20 minutes for his brother to come out and it was helpful for him to have somewhere to sit and have a snack while he waited, otherwise he'd be trying to do a runner! I'd pesevere with a scooter if I were you. Have you tried the three wheeled ones which are much easier to balance on? And did you know you can get a strap to attach to the front to pull them along when they're a bit tired? Then it becomes like a buggy board without the buggy.

This is just for the strap but you get the idea: https://www.micro-scooters.co.uk/products/micro-scooter-pull-carry-eco-blue?variant=54683702985049&currency=GBP&tmsrc=googlead&tmcid=22945501676&tmsid=&tmid=&tmkw=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22939487493&gbraid=0AAAAAD-1_wiYhR7DEqHMXtuIxHSg7SPLy&gclid=CjwKCAjws_DTBhB_EiwAXZknGaAeh7YAzeycn1YmxncqFGyPUocDAe7_xOZaI-XrQTSerG1ehehVeRoCfTgQAvD_BwE

Probably best not to judge if you do. Plenty of reasons why they might use one.

If only my autistic kid would be asleep on the way to school. 😄