How long did you use a stroller?

[Anonymous]

We found ourselves buying a cheap umbrella stroller on vacation. Two kids under 5, and there were times on vacation when one of them, even sometimes the oldest, wanted to ride for awhile. We could take longer walks on the beach!

[Anonymous]

My first two kids were always happy to sleep in the stroller. We live in a walkable neighborhood, close to extended family, and so the dog and I'd walk to pick them up at preschool and let them nap in the stroller while we went for a long walk. We'd also take the stroller to the grandparents for dinner, put them in pj's, let grandparents read the bedtime stories, and they'd fall asleep on the way home.

For that kind of thing, we used the stroller until almost Kindergarten. If they were awake, we stopped around 3 (e.g. kids would walk to preschool, and would walk back to school with me to get their older sibling.

My third kid has a physical disability, and we still occasionally use an adapted jogging stroller at 10, if we want to go somewhere where the terrain isn't great for his wheelchair.

[Anonymous]

My DD rode the stroller until 5 for long walks and shopping at the mall. No big whoop. This made sense for us.

[Anonymous]

If it is convenient for you, use it! Have kiddo get out and walk for a good chunk of the time or take some walks without the stroller to build endurance, but absolutely use it when you want to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Americans like to create rules... no stroller after age 3, 4, etc, no bottles after age 1, sleep by 7:30am, etc etc. Who cares? Do what works for you. My 4.5 is not in stroller but sometimes she likes to sit in the double stroller next to her little brother.

I feel like it's a growing trend of continuing to infantilize children long past when we should. I mean, we have 6T sizing. T means toddler!

I treat my children like children. I am not trying to make them grow up too fast. But I also trust that they can handle giving up baby things, and that feeling "big" and gaining skills makes them feel confident.

And I think parents will use something like a stroller or a bottle or whatever just to pacify the child, to make sure they don't whine, to avoid having a child who's even slightly uncomfortable, because it makes you the parent uncomfortable.

BTW, this isn't a referendum on your 4.5 year old. Just a comment on why parents get judgy about this stuff.

Sometimes people just want to take a longer or faster walk than short legs can handle.

[Anonymous]

I just bought a double stroller last week. We go on nightly walks with our dog, newborn and 3 year old. DD frequently scooters but sometimes will tire of it before we get home. With a larger stroller we can put the scooter in the basket underneath and finish the walk without tears

[Anonymous]

Before you judge, remember that you are *guessing* the age of the child. I have a very big child, who looks much older than they are. Kids come in all shapes and sizes