how do you cope with 3 kids?

[misdee]

with my 2 dd's i can wlak holding a hand of each of them, and find it easy. but from next week i'll have 3 to cope with. will either be pushign a buggy on trips out or sing a carrier. is it harder? argh!!

A buggy board would be helpful misdee. I only have 2 kids but should imagine a bb would come in handy

I don't go out with 3- sorry! Well except in the car for a drive without getting out. If I did then I would put ds2 and ds3 in a double (I have one I can push with one hand- ds2 would moan but tough) and put ds1 on his harness.

I may try ds1 and ds3 tomorrow (as I took ds1 out by himself today and he was fairly calm and ds2 is at nursery tomorrow am).- ds1 will be on his harness and I'll have to put ds3 in the sling as I may have to run after ds1.

Really though I'd only take all 3 out in an emergency (but my situation isn't normal obviously). I've made dh pick ds2 up from nursery every lunch time this week as I couldn't see how I could manage it otherwise (would have had to ask one of the nursery staff to bring ds2 out to me I guess).

Thinking about it if I could I would put baby and ds1 in a buggy and get ds2 to walk- that would be safe. unfortunately ds1 dooesn't fit.
If I was you I would have the most sensible child walking, then the other 2 eiither in a double buggy or one in the buggy and baby in a sling.

i have an e3, which will be good, but dd2 wants to walk more. i know its gonna be a struggle with the school run etc. what have i let myself in for?!

Have to admit I was very pleased that I never had to do the school run with 3 (ds1 got transport 2 days after ds3 was born)

thats fortunate. is that minibus or taxi? (mieows dd was collected in a taxi each day). but i havent passed my test yet, and dh wont be able to drive for a while. so have to get my walking legs on and walk each day, which takes an hour all together.

When DD2 was born (DD1 was just 4, DS1 was 22 months), I used to "sling" DD2, DS1 in a buggy and DD1 walked. Friend lent me her "Maclaren Twin" and occasionally used that for DD2 and DS1 on longer outings (ie, zoo trips/days out etc etc).

we had care of 5 under 5's one xmas,it was mayhem,i dindt even attemp to take them out alone

when ds2 was born I had 3 under 4 and a quarter.....not sure how i did it but to be honest if you can manage 2 then you can manage 3. The 3rd one just fits in tbh.

With regards to walking, mine hold on to the pushchair and its fine.

Dont panic hun....you will be fine {{{HUGS}}}

Misdee, how old is your dc1? I had my dc3 when dc1 was 3 yrs 8 months. I managed by putting dc2 and dc3 in the double buggy and dc1 walked, holding on to the buggy. Actually, we had a length of "ribbon" (you know, the paper sort that balloons have attached to them) hanging from the buggy and he quite liked being a cowboy and holding onto that! Luckily we never had to walk long distances and he was quite an obedient, sensible child so I didn't have to worry about him running into road. He never liked the buggy board so we gave up with that.

Someone I knew used a wrist strap and persuaded a reluctant dc1 to use it by saying "You need to hold this to stop Mummy running away!"

dd1 is almost 5, and is very good. will stop at rds etc. just i'll miss walking round town holding their hands etc. feel like its a step backwards.

I used a babybjorn sling for dd when she was a baby until about 18 months. I sometimes had the pushchair with dd in & a buggy board for dd (from age 2). The board was ok but it broke the pushchair (a maxi-taxi) with the sheer force put onto it when I had to turn with dd on the buggy board - plus I found it tough on the back as I had to lean to push it with dd in the way (iyswim) on the board. DD1 walked along holding onto the pushchair with DD2 holding onto the other side when board not in use. I drive to near the school as too far to walk in difficult weather (50 mins for smallest dd!!) - then when I'm taking dds from car to school the oldest (7yrs) walks along the next (4yrs) holds my hand & I carry the smallest one (23 months)in my left arm. Your arms will get V. Strong!! For the supermarket I used the babysling with dd2 in the trolley seat & dd1 walking next to me. When I couldn't carry dd3 in sling (as I'm preg with no.4!!) I put her in the trolley & the other dds walk next to it. They fortunately love the supermarket and always stay close. I did think about a tandem pushchair but never got round to getting one - I think I will this time though. Best wishes - you will find your system.