humboldthny
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2009
We've never used a stroller at the parks - my dd had just turned 4 when we went for the first time...she'd been out of a stroller for a year at that point.
Not to pick on you, but in these two sentences you hit on the assumption that (I believe) is wrong.
My family doesn't NEED a stroller either. But since the option exists, we take it - as we believe it adds to our overall enjoyment.
Just as your DD8 takes a turn with the backpack - you are in effect saying the parents get a break every now and then - and the kids pick up the slack. That's a good thing...with a stroller, the kids get a break every now and then. Not that they aren't capable of walking, not that they aren't fit. But just as with passing your backpack, the stroller is simply a strategy that helps us overall. We don't NEED to do it - just as you are fully capable of carrying the backpack the whole day. But it helps. So we do it.
BEST post yet.Last year, we rented a stroller for DD (who had just a week before turned 4). We will do the same when we return this coming weekend (and she has just turned 5, about a month ago). Though she walked often, I cannot fathom having done it w/o the stroller -- esp. for the walk back to the monorail after Illuminations, during which she fell asleep as we pushed (the one and only time she did so during the whole week). DD is an energizer bunny and doesn't like to stop to rest. She just conked out that night, and though she's a skinny little thing, I cannot imagine having to carry her the whole way back (or force her to stay awake to walk).
It was the first time at Disney for not only DD, but DH and I too, and we were very excited to do and see it all. And we did. And we had a fantastic time. Which is why we're Strollering again this year (I just made it a verb!)
For the record, our parenting style (lest anyone be tempted to judge me based solely upon my decision to rent a stroller for a week while at Disney), is that we raise DD to be a self-sufficient (within reason) high-functioning, polite member of society. And she's as active as they come (I often can't get her to rest when she needs to!). We sent her to a Montessori preK, which happens to put a big emphasis on independence and self-sufficiency. In non-Disney life, DD shunned the stroller at age 2, which often made it difficult to get actual errands done under any type of time constraint, but whatever, we rolled with it (PUN!)
BUT, as those of you with common sense have aptly recognized, Vacation at Disney does not = Every Other Day of Life, in the case of stroller usage and many other factors.
So for those of you who will judge us (including whomever it was that so sagely proclaimed 3 as the Universal Too Old For the Stroller At Disney Age), have at it! Are you "entitled" to your opinion? SURE!
But, so am I.
And since you have chosen to develop your opinion of the parenting styles of many based solely on your observation of Disney-related stroller usage, and nothing more, my opinion of you is as follows: you are clearly incapable of anything other than the most basic level of egocentric analysis, and I am thankful that I'm not hamstrung by those types of limitations on my thinking skills.
Happy Strollering to All!
Please lets remember the title of this thread is, "when do you stop needing a stroller?" The poster that answered 3 was merely answering the OP's post, not judging anyone. There is not right or wrong here...just differing of opinions. Just because someone does not agree does not mean they are judging.
Please lets remember the title of this thread is, "when do you stop needing a stroller?" The poster that answered 3 was merely answering the OP's post, not judging anyone. There is not right or wrong here...just differing of opinions. Just because someone does not agree does not mean they are judging.