Age to stop strollers .... is age 6 normal??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a question every week on this site.

You are not required to read or respond.

Thanks for the info! I'll probably post the same thing on the same post about strollers next week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes it depends how you are using it. For your commute? Than it may be the fastest thing. Whatever works.

But even for a trip to Disney I would not bring a stroller for my 6 year old. She weight 50 lbs, I don't want to push her around!!! So that's us. My little one is about to turn 4 and I think we'll ditch the stroller next spring for sure. We rarely use it as is.

Personally I'd go with a single, and let the older one ride when the little one is walking or being carried. If the 6/7 year old *really* needed it.

Such a rational response. We almost never drive so most of the time we are on foot with our daughter, whether it's to the playground or the pediatrician or (someday, hopefully) to school. I will often grab our stroller because while she is old enough to walk everywhere, this is a LOT of walking for a 5 year old. If I bring it and she doesn't use it, I can throw my bag and her school stuff in it and that's something. And if we have to book it to get in an errand on the way home, or if the weather is bad and she wants to be dry or out of the wind, or if she's just had a very busy day and wants a quick ride, I'm so grateful to have it.

I could easily see doing this next year when she is 6.

Should I post a thread titled "Age to stop driving children around in cars... is 6 normal??"

[Anonymous]

By age 5 mine wouldn’t do it at all. Though realistically, we probably used it less than 10 times between 4 and 5. It drops off really fast close to age 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone just posted in my FB moms group about if she should hold onto her double stroller for next summer- her kids are currently 6 and 2. I was like... are there still 5 and 6 year olds out there in strollers? And people considering using one for an almost 7 year old next summer?

Yep, it makes sense and yes, kids who are 6, 7. 8 will sit in a stroller when they get tired - think long outings at amusement parks, festivals and so on. I see these quite often in this area. So yeah, she is doing the right thing by hanging on to it.

[Anonymous]

I feel like folks (especially OP) are missing the "double stroller" aspect here. I had an only and never used a stroller, but if I had a double stroller that I preferred to use over... what? Maybe she has a really babyish old single one from before she had Kid #2? I mean, why wouldn't I keep the double stroller I'd been using for years, at the very least for my youngest, who will only be 3 next year, and maybe I put toys/shopping bags in the other part, or let the 7-y-o hop in occasionally if they feel like it... I don't see why this is confusing.

[Anonymous]

Not common no, but I could see a reason for holding on to it if your family situation requires. Long walks with kids who prefer to lounge?

For us, we were done with strollers by age 4. At age 6 my kids can walk a mile with no issues, and can ride a bike for hours on end, so those would have been our solutions. But, every family is different, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like folks (especially OP) are missing the "double stroller" aspect here. I had an only and never used a stroller, but if I had a double stroller that I preferred to use over... what? Maybe she has a really babyish old single one from before she had Kid #2? I mean, why wouldn't I keep the double stroller I'd been using for years, at the very least for my youngest, who will only be 3 next year, and maybe I put toys/shopping bags in the other part, or let the 7-y-o hop in occasionally if they feel like it... I don't see why this is confusing.

Adding: I do find it a bit odd for folks to think it's unrealistic to expect *most* kids (w/o special needs) over 4, and especially 5, to walk. Even a mile+ commute every day, even at the zoo, etc. But it's also none of my business if they do use a stroller past preschool.

[Anonymous]

My kid rode in one until 6. No car and the nearest grocery store was a hike. The only thing worse than walking a mile with a kid to the grocery store is walking back carrying a ton of groceries with a whiny child who is tired. It was also nice to have the cargo space. She eventually refused to ride anymore because adults would go out of their way to say mean things in front of her about an older kid in a stroller (and she's small so she definitely read as 5 if not younger).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think any of my kids were in strollers after about 4 years old. By the time my kids were 6 they walked around the disney parks with me 6 hours per day three days in a row. So I definitely wouldn't stroller them for something mundane like the mall or a park.

We went to Disney when my kids were 5 and 7 and people kept telling me to bring a double stroller?! My older one was never in a stroller after 4 and very rarely after 2. When he was, it was taking turn in his little sister’s stroller while someone carried her. The younger one never in a stroller after 2. I have away the last of our strollers when she was not yet 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone just posted in my FB moms group about if she should hold onto her double stroller for next summer- her kids are currently 6 and 2. I was like... are there still 5 and 6 year olds out there in strollers? And people considering using one for an almost 7 year old next summer?

Yep, it makes sense and yes, kids who are 6, 7. 8 will sit in a stroller when they get tired - think long outings at amusement parks, festivals and so on. I see these quite often in this area. So yeah, she is doing the right thing by hanging on to it.

Um, no, most elementary aged kids would not be caught dead sitting in a stroller. Tired or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My sister lives in Manhattan and literally all the kids up until 7 or 8 ride in strollers to their neighborhood school. It’s just a fast and efficient way to walk to school. Kids walk some of the way but maybe hop in to eat or whatever or are running late. It looks totally bizarre to me because in my area (Arlington) you never see that past like going to the zoo for the day. So maybe she’s from NYC? Or another urban area where it’s common.

A 7 yr old in a stroller is ludicrous! An 8 yr old in a stroller is child abuse.

[Anonymous]

No wonder kids are so fat and lazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is this such a thing for people? Who cares if someone puts their 6 year old in a stroller?[b] It affects you in no way whatsoever. Maybe that kid has issues that make that a good solution for the family. Or maybe they are just over accommodating of their kids. I don't know. It's irrelevant to me. My own kid is three and regularly refuses to get in the stroller even if its raining and we're in a hurry, so far be it from me to decide for some other family what the right think is to do.

You are wrong. Sometimes it DOES affect others. Double strollers take up tons of room and sometimes someone is walking in front of me with gigantic stroller and I can't get past because they are literally taking up the entire path. So when your 364 week old child is just too precious to put their feet on the ground and hold me up from where I need to go, I care!

[Anonymous]

I have a two person stroller for my infant and almost 3 year old and sometimes my 5 year old will climb in if she's tired. It's quite a load to push.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is this such a thing for people? Who cares if someone puts their 6 year old in a stroller?[b] It affects you in no way whatsoever. Maybe that kid has issues that make that a good solution for the family. Or maybe they are just over accommodating of their kids. I don't know. It's irrelevant to me. My own kid is three and regularly refuses to get in the stroller even if its raining and we're in a hurry, so far be it from me to decide for some other family what the right think is to do.

You are wrong. Sometimes it DOES affect others. Double strollers take up tons of room and sometimes someone is walking in front of me with gigantic stroller and I can't get past because they are literally taking up the entire path. So when your 364 week old child is just too precious to put their feet on the ground and hold me up from where I need to go, I care!

If you knew that 6 year old had a developmental delay or was special needs, would that change your mind? If you knew that family didn't have a car and that 6 year old was commuting to a school far from his home because his IB was terrible, would that change your mind? If you knew that the day you saw the 6 year old in the stroller was an anomaly, because it was the day his younger sibling was born or the day his grandpa died, would that change your mind?

Sorry, I don't think having to wait behind someone with a stroller is a big deal. There are lots of different kinds of people in the world moving lots of different speeds. It's okay to slow down a little to accommodate a child (or an elderly person, or a person in a wheelchair, or a person just having a really terrible day). Who cares if you get to your destination 5 minutes later because of a stroller on the sidewalk? It does not matter.