what age did you say goodbye to buggy?

[scanty]

Just curious. My 4 and a half yr old hasn't used his buggy for a few months. Know that people go on at the age of some kids still in buggies - so what age did your child say goodbye to their buggy? To walk him to school in the morning, I feel he still needs it as it's a good 30-40 min walk and he dawdles badly and we would always be late and stressed. Or what if you wanted to go a really long walk?

As ours are so close in age (and I don't have a triple buggy!), the youngest had to be out by 2.3 years for when the next baby arrived (as second youngest still not able to walk). They have just got used to walking reasonable distances and they sleep well for it!

DD used her buggy on the odd occasion unitl she was nearly 5. She's 6.10 now and walks everywhere.

As a single parent with no car, it wasnt exactly possible to go and do the shopping without her! Once a week we used to walk the 2 miles along the canal to Lidl with the big 3 wheeler - she'd sit in it on the way and on the way back it would be full of the shopping and she would walk. If I'd made her walk there she would have been a nightmare getting home again.

We'd also take it if we were going out for the whole day - for example if we wanted to go to the city museums, then for lunch, then shopping.

I think people with a car tend to overlook the fact that their children haven't had to walk a fair distance before they even get started on the actual purpose of the journey, then do the same afterwards to get home again! Its no fun on the way home, laden down with shopping, and with an exhausted whingy 4yo that you don't have the spare arms to carry.

FWIW, I've just subjected DS to a BMI check. He's 100 cm tall and weighs 13kg, he's actually underweight, so I think I'd better keep the pushchair and up the Greggs intake, just in case he wastes away

Agree totally with Riven. There are always going to be exceptions (such as 2 mile walk to go fod shopping!), but generally it MUST be better to encourage your children to walk than sit in a pushchair. The number of children in DD's nursery class (aged between 3.5 and 4.5yo) who just hop straight in the double buggy when they come out of school is unbelieveable. And I have never once heard any of these childrens mothers ask them if they would rather walk.

We walk up a very steep hill to get home, which has no pavements and blind corners. DD is brilliant, and swaps sides without being asked several times during the walk so that she is not on the road side of me. She has got a really good understanding of road safety, and more importantly she sleeps well cos she is shattered from all the exercise .

IMO (with the people I know who have older kids still in buggies) it comes down to ease and time for most people, rather than fitness and setting an example.

Mine were all about 2 and half when we got rid of the buggy. Just fed up pulling out in and out the car and around the shops, only good for putting shopping bags in!

i don't see why using a buggy should carry more stigma than using a buggy board, dad's shoulders, trike or scooter? my dcs were never clumsy and could walk for miles from age 2 but the buggy was useful for emergency trips to the GP, coming off a late flight (my particular buggy counted as hand luggage) or rushing to a late playdate at breakneck speed in severe weather conditions.

"Makes me laugh all the judgey judgey people on here; I bet the 4yo's who do go in the pushchairs are the ones who spend less time strapped into car seats being driven around from school to after-school class, supermarkets etc. " yes, not to mention buses

guess so, there's nothing to say that children who still use a buggy, don't actually walk more overall than kids that don't use a buggy.

My DD still goes in one sometimes and she is nearly four.

We walk a mile four times a day, and she walks it on two of those journeys.

For the morning school run we just can't afford to be late, so I push her once she is tired of walking/scooting. And for the afternoon school run it is her natural nap time, so she goes in the buggy as she usually falls asleep.

If she was my first-born she would not be in the buggy at either of those times, but she also wouldn't be walking, we wouldn't be doing those journeys at all.

Blimey. Never used a buggy after they could walk properly. Certainly not past the age of 2. What an eye opener this thread has been!

DS1 stopped when he was about 2 we knew that when DS2 arrived we didn't need a double, we had a buggy board though for longer walks.
DS2 has stopped having a buggy for the last 4 months (ish) and he is just over 3, we used it for longer mainly because I found it difficult keeping up with DS1 and having ds2 drag his feet.

I used to be smug about this too - ds1 ditched the buggy at just 2 and would walk for miles at an acceptable speed, holding hands and chatting endearingly. I thought it was because we are good, healthy, walking parents and judged people with 4 yr olds in pushchairs. And now ds2 lies on the ground demanding to be carried after about 500m, nursery is about 2 miles away, I refuse to drive that distance (perfectly pleasant walk and I need the exercise), but I also refuse to spend 1 hr a day with him cajoling, begging, bribing, losing my temper and getting to work late and feeling like a horrible mother. So he choses whether to walk or sit in, and when he sits in I tell him stories and comfort myself by feeling superior to all the parents driving by in their chelsea tractors. Can see it would be better all round if I were less judgemental about both myself and everyone else but then I wouldn't be on mn, would I? (And ds1, now 7, will happily walk 10 miles but rarely gets the chance because of ds2)

"""Buggies for parents convenience are just wrong, wrong, wrong".

I don't know why really but this made me laugh and laugh.

Such strong feelings for something so..I dunno...deeply unimportant.""

Kind of agree - my ds will be 4 shortly and he's tall for his age and I still use buggy sometimes and I have a car - I want to take him to the park and I want the exercise - he can walk there - do an hour of being bonkers and then so knackered can't walk back - so I take it.

Never thought about hte age thing - must say I did notice that I was only person with a buggy when I took him for a class last week - everyone else went by car but I wanted the exercise and he likes being in it.

He's not overweight at all - don't think obesity is due really to buggies - surely bad food and just staying indoors with tv must be more important than a jaunt in the buggy.

I'll now notice everyone laughing at us and I'll laugh straight back no doubt......

but as you said, some of those will be laughing as they strap their kids into the car for the ride home cos that's so much better than using a buggy.

We got rid of ours when DS was 4 and a bit and DD was 2 and a bit.

DS would be so moody that DD was getting a ride and he wasn't, he'd want to perch on the back/front etc etc, and generally be very dramatic that he was soooooo tired. DD much happier to walk so I found it was easier just not to have the pushchair debate at all.

But we didn't need DD to walk anywhere by a specific time, nursery is a car journey away - I can totally see why older DC would need to be in them.

Shortly before 3.

Scanty - it's only better than a buggy if you have loads of kids or don't like exercise.

I'm happy for ds to have use of buggy sometimes as long as he fits in it. It would be sad if he decided he didn't want it based on other people.

At his nursery which serves a very small area the majority of parents take their buggies.

IME children that use a buggy 'late' tend to be children from a non-car owning family.

We had to make every journey by foot for at least the first mile (the distance to the bus/train station). Even if we then got on a train/bus, we'd often have to walk another mile at the other end, do whatever we'd gone for, walk back to the train station, go back on the train, then walk back home after a full day out.

Like I said before, anyone with a car would have simply driven door-to-door. We may have taken DD's buggy along when she was 4, but she still would have been walking half the time!

As for the thing about it being for the ease/convenience of the parents - well, yeah, to some extent, it was. I could have made her walk, however long it took, however much shopping I was lugging with me, whatever the weather, however much whining. It was a battle I chose not to have. DD walked when she wanted to, and gradually she got more stamina, and by the time she was 5 she was able to walk everywhere we went. Including the 4 mile round shopping trips - though we still take the buggy for the shopping. No luck so far in making that walk

I'm surprised that quite a few hated their buggy and couldn't wait to get rid of it. I loved pushing my buggy, remember with no1 the first time I went out on my own withought pushing it and it felt really strange. Now my buggy days seem to be behind me and I'm really sad about that, might also be the reason I was happy to use it till an older age. Do miss it for carrying all the junk and shopping as well.

I'm looking forward to losing the buggy as I miss my shopping trolley.

well, i do see pensioners with old buggies being used as trolleys so you could prob get away with it - if anyone asks, just say that you have just dropped him/her off at nursery!

I swear I will cry when I have to get rid of the buggy (read: cameleon, so not exactly lightweight umbrella fold!). I walk everywhere and am not patient at all. Am so not looking forward to occasionally having to walk at DS's pace. As far as I'm concerned he can be a walking refusenik (still not interested at over 16 months) for a little bit longer if he wants!

Seriously though, in an ideal world I'll have DC2 when DS is somewhere between 2.2 and 2.6 [TTC emoticon] and I'm not planning on buying a double pram - will sling the second one in the early days then make DS walk everywhere. May invest in a buggy board.

I haven't read all the responses but I'm always shocked by this debate (which seems to come up a lot!!) and how long some kids are in the buggy for. DD1 was exactly 2 when DD2 was born so she was basically turfed out at 2 (although she still went in it occasionally until about 2.3 with DD2 in the sling). DD2 turfed out when DS arrived when she was 2.2. Maybe I'm old fashioned or something but i believe that children are quite capable of walking reasonable distances if given the chance and get used to it. If they expect to be pushed around in a buggy then no wonder they dawdle etc when asked to walk!

A scooter is the answer for longer distances. DD1 and DD2 both used theirs on the school run from approx 2.6 when they started nursery in the mornings.

Or what's wrong with a bike!!?

About 2.5 yrs for my ds. We had dd when he was 2 and used a double buggy for a bit but tbh i started to find it too heavy as they both got bigger. Ds has always been a good little walker, he was just a bit of a nightmare in shops for a bit and wouldn't wear reigns. Now he will walk everywhere and we just put dd (1.5) in a little travel stroller, so much easier, she can't walk yet lol! Dp's dd was not such a good walker and always moaned to be carried but we still got rid of the pushchair at about 2.5 and made her walk.

DS was pretty much out of his buggy at 2.5.
We walk to and from Nursery every day, for me it would be less than a 10 minute walk, with DS it takes closer to 15 minutes. Easy way to get round it, we leave 20 minutes before we are due at nursery, we have never been late.
Must admit did miss the buggy on shopping trips, when I want to browse problem solved by only going shopping when he is at nursery!

I asked my mother about this, wondering what she did as I was fifteen months when my brother was born and apparently I was basically turfed out to walk right then. No slings in those days so I had to walk or share a pram with my brother. We were both walking everywhere by the time I was two and a bit and he was one. Of course, prams were larger in the 70s so we shared the pram on and off for a year or so but after that we both walked wherever and however far we were going (bro was an early and enthusiastic walker). Apparently my mum used to just grasp us firmly by the wrists and pull.

We are both still good walkers in that we walk fast and don't mind how far. I know a fair few adults who would balk at a couple of miles of walking.