Parents are not pack horses or taxi drivers

I have noticed over the last few years that children in pushchairs are getting bigger and bigger.

When my son started infant school at 5 years old, one of the other children was brought in a pushchair with a dummy firmly inserted in his mouth.

Now some 20 odd years later,I see many many big children being pushed around when they are perfectly capable of walking.

It is important to let children walk once they can. Baby reins help with stumbles , a wrist strap stops them running into traffic.

We had both of our children out of the 'buggy' as much as possible by 3 and walking everywhere as soon as they could.
It was easier with my son because my daughter was younger and he could always hitch a lift on the pushchair when he got tired .

My daughter was given a shoulder lift if she was too tired to manage a longer walk.

We could walk the 2 miles to school with both children and I would shoulder lift my 3 1/2 Year old daughter to town (about 3/4 mile),then she would walk  with me around the shops and we would both walk the 1.5 miles home.

It took time because small children cant walk as fast as adults and it meant that we could no longer  rely on the pushchair to carry the shopping but better that than have children who baulk at walking anywhere. Parents are not pack horses or taxi drivers.

When our kids went  to 6th form college after homeschooling, they were each presented with a bus time table and a bus pass.
The pass enabled them to get a bus at the top of the road and then another in town to the school, about 6 miles away. They both opted to walk to town and take only one bus rather than stand and wait for the first one.