Stroller for 8 yr. old? Which one?

[Mickey1Fan]

OP - why not just take your 8 year old to Toys or Us or somewhere where strollers are sold and see which one she is most comfortable in?

 

[lucifie]

I wonder if part of the reason so many older kids are sites like this where so many people say that you should bring a stroller for your 4 or 5 year old, even if they haven't used a stroller in years. Then people think since it worked out so well for a 4 year old, they'll use the stroller again when the kid is 6, so it starts to become "normal" to see a 6 year old in a stroller, so why not put a just-turned 7 year old in a stroller? And the cycle continues...

 

[Hannathy]

OP - why not just take your 8 year old to Toys or Us or somewhere where strollers are sold and see which one she is most comfortable in?

Sure go ahead and hopefully some kids from her class will be there! won't that be a good thing to go around the school. Perhaps that will seal the deal in realizing she is to old for a stroller.


And good luck finding a regular stroller that will hold an 8 yr old.

 

[brymolmom]

I wonder if part of the reason so many older kids are sites like this where so many people say that you should bring a stroller for your 4 or 5 year old, even if they haven't used a stroller in years. Then people think since it worked out so well for a 4 year old, they'll use the stroller again when the kid is 6, so it starts to become "normal" to see a 6 year old in a stroller, so why not put a just-turned 7 year old in a stroller? And the cycle continues...

I agree here. It ends up being a situation where you can easily end up doing the easy thing. I saw myself being able to get into the "habit" of using one - since my younger child is a huge whiner and not nearly as athletic as her older brother. I knew she would be just fine letting me do all the work until WELL beyond what was a good idea. I knew it would keep her quieter and happier and just be easier on us all. But I wasn't a fan of what it would teach her - SURE I'll bring you on an awesome vacation and SURE I'll do all the work even though you shouldn't be complaining at all - you're at DisneyWorld!! Yes - we all get tired from a full day at WDW and yes our legs get sore - but that's OK - you're at WDW and it's WORTH the effort of using your own legs to have your fun! So I made a rule for my family when my kids, I think, were 2 and 3 years old that there would be no strollers used at WDW after 5 years old. It was a tremendous help that we had this established early on - as it didn't allow ME to think of using the 'crutch' of a stroller after then AND the kids knew exactly what to expect. The older one knew when he was 6 and his sister was 5 that she got a stroller but he didn't. And she was fully aware that after she turned 6 - if she wanted to go to WDW it would be without a stroller. Guess what - she still wanted to go!

And the first trip after was an adjustment....But honestly it would be a lot easier to feed my kids pizza for dinner every night and not have to deal with any arguing over new vegetables, but that's not the right thing here either.

 

[Nancyg56]

I wonder if part of the reason so many older kids are sites like this where so many people say that you should bring a stroller for your 4 or 5 year old, even if they haven't used a stroller in years. Then people think since it worked out so well for a 4 year old, they'll use the stroller again when the kid is 6, so it starts to become "normal" to see a 6 year old in a stroller, so why not put a just-turned 7 year old in a stroller? And the cycle continues...

I bet that plays into it. When my DGD was 6 my DD rented a stroller for her but honestly, we ended using it for a way to cart our things around. The only time we really needed it was for the Halloween Party. It was so crowded by the end of the night we were glad that we had it to toss her in.

The next trip I just assumed DD would rent one because we always had done so. DD thought I was bat crazy! DGD would have been mortified to be seen in one but it was part of our routine so I never really thought it through. My DGD was fine. When she was tired I was exhausted so she had way more stamina that I did.

 

[maxiesmom]

But how many of us relax the food rules when we are at WDW? Let the kiddies have burgers 2 meals in a row. Eat popcorn until it is coming out of their ears? I view the stroller usage in the same vein. I can't think of any other place where you see as many strollers as you do at WDW. A week of riding around in a stroller is not going to do a child permanent damage. Just as one week of a burger a day won't make them obese.

 

[Dorisk3]

Do they make strollers for 43 year olds? I know I get pretty tired and whiny at the end of the day and want a servant to push me around too. Plus, I'm nervous about losing my 44 year old husband, can he come with me into the ladies room? Someone might try to abduct him in the men's room.

 

[Marionnette]

But how many of us relax the food rules when we are at WDW? Let the kiddies have burgers 2 meals in a row. Eat popcorn until it is coming out of their ears? I view the stroller usage in the same vein. I can't think of any other place where you see as many strollers as you do at WDW. A week of riding around in a stroller is not going to do a child permanent damage. Just as one week of a burger a day won't make them obese.

How many 8 year olds are begging for a stroller at home like they beg for burgers and popcorn? Yeah, didn't think there were a whole bunch of them. Parents who choose to push a healthy child that age around in a stroller are not doing it as a "treat" for the kid. They're doing it because they don't want to deal with a tired, whining kid.

 

[maxiesmom]

How many 8 year olds are begging for a stroller at home like they beg for burgers and popcorn? Yeah, didn't think there were a whole bunch of them. Parents who choose to push a healthy child that age around in a stroller are not doing it as a "treat" for the kid. They're doing it because they don't want to deal with a tired, whining kid.

So, who cares? If the child is willing, a week of riding in a stroller (not that many kids ride in a stroller non-stop) is not going to do any physical damage to them. Just as a week of burgers is not going to make a healthy child fat.

Your solution to a whining kid may be to stop everything and take them back to your room. Another parent's choice may be to use a stroller and continue touring the parks. Neither choice is "wrong". We all do what works for our families.

 

[Marionnette]

So, who cares? If the child is willing, a week of riding in a stroller (not that many kids ride in a stroller non-stop) is not going to do any physical damage to them. Just as a week of burgers is not going to make a healthy child fat.

Your solution to a whining kid may be to stop everything and take them back to your room. Another parent's choice may be to use a stroller and continue touring the parks. Neither choice is "wrong". We all do what works for our families.

Well, I care. There are way too many wheeled vehicles in the parks and much of it is due to parents who choose to push their older children in strollers while they pack the stroller to the gills with personal possessions that they somehow cannot manage to function without.

I have been run over, run into and knocked over by aggressive stroller-pushers.

The buses are jammed with folded strollers taking up space in the aisles, making it difficult to exit at resort stops and often falling over on other passengers.

It wasn't that way when my own kids were younger. You never saw an older child in a stroller. And it's not as if Disney has added more parks. AK opened in 1998. There's no more ground to cover than when my oldest was 8 years old!

 

[donaldlovesdaisy]

I was on kingdom stroller's website recently changing my reservation for my trip next month and saw this: https://kingdomstrollers.com/SelectDate.aspx?ProductID=18 Liberty Special Needs Stroller has a max weight of 100 lbs. it's not a double, so you would effectively need two strollers unless you think your kids could trade off as needed?

Isn't that kind of like renting a wheelchair or scooter for someone who doesn't need it? I am not going to get into the 8 year old healthy child in a stroller discussion but if your child is not Special Needs I would not rent equipment that was not meant for them.

 

[maxiesmom]

Well, I care. There are way too many wheeled vehicles in the parks and much of it is due to parents who choose to push their older children in strollers while they pack the stroller to the gills with personal possessions that they somehow cannot manage to function without.

I have been run over, run into and knocked over by aggressive stroller-pushers.

The buses are jammed with folded strollers taking up space in the aisles, making it difficult to exit at resort stops and often falling over on other passengers.

I always wonder how many people who are run into or run over are just not paying close enough attention to where they are walking. All it took was a couple of days along with someone in a wheelchair to know that the ambulatory people have a part in crashes too. I'm sure they cut in front of strollers the same way the do wheelchairs. Or stop dead in their tracks, giving the person behind them doing the pushing no room to stop.

As far as people with strollers being aggressive, I've had issues with them too. However, they are all not pushing kids aged 5 and over.

WDW will never put an age limit on stroller usage. The only thing you can hope to control is how you deal with it. You won't be able to force everyone to see things your way and stop using strollers. Why get so upset and angry over something you can't control? Not the poster I quoted, but some get so mean over this issue. What do they hope to gain, besides higher blood pressure? I don't get becoming soo worked up over an issue you can't control. Why let it affect you so much?

 

[Nancyg56]

Well, I care. There are way too many wheeled vehicles in the parks and much of it is due to parents who choose to push their older children in strollers while they pack the stroller to the gills with personal possessions that they somehow cannot manage to function without.

I have been run over, run into and knocked over by aggressive stroller-pushers.

The buses are jammed with folded strollers taking up space in the aisles, making it difficult to exit at resort stops and often falling over on other passengers.

It wasn't that way when my own kids were younger. You never saw an older child in a stroller. And it's not as if Disney has added more parks. AK opened in 1998. There's no more ground to cover than when my oldest was 8 years old!

You do not have a "stroller issue", you have a "people" issue. I am probably older than you so I could match you time for time in a "back in my day" conversation. Nothing has changed since then, there have always been families that vacation differently, parent differently and think differently than you or me. It is not p to either one of us to determine what is appropriate for another family, their vacation is their own.

My family has always vacationed around the needs of my DGD but that is our business. Others leave their kids in Kids Clubs or with babysitters and that works for them. Not right or wrong.

I believe that a vacation involves mindset. I have said earlier in this thread that while I don't care what anyone else does a stroller for a tween would not fly in my family. I also said I don't notice what others are doing. That is because in my family we are in vacation mode from the second we hop on that plane. For us, time stops and that internal rushing clock is gone so if I wait for strollers to be packed up and stowed on a bus I am okay with that. If I have to walk around ECV's so what?

I always wonder how many people who are run into or run over are just not paying close enough attention to where they are walking. All it took was a couple of days along with someone in a wheelchair to know that the ambulatory people have a part in crashes too. I'm sure they cut in front of strollers the same way the do wheelchairs. Or stop dead in their tracks, giving the person behind them doing the pushing no room to stop.


Not the poster I quoted, but some get so mean over this issue. What do they hope to gain, besides higher blood pressure? I don't get becoming soo worked up over an issue you can't control. Why let it affect you so much?

I'm that person who trips over strollers. My family is still complaining that everyone in my path is in danger. For every post you see about some stroller running over a person you will see one that matches it about the lady who landed on the kid. It was me.

You are right, I also don't get why anyone is so invested in another family's decisions if those decisions do not mirror their own.

 

[Nayan]

WDW will never put an age limit on stroller usage. The only thing you can hope to control is how you deal with it. You won't be able to force everyone to see things your way and stop using strollers. Why get so upset and angry over something you can't control? Not the poster I quoted, but some get so mean over this issue. What do they hope to gain, besides higher blood pressure? I don't get becoming soo worked up over an issue you can't control. Why let it affect you so much?

Because when it affects my vacation I have a right to be upset. Being slammed with a stroller is no fun and seeing more and more of them in the parks makes getting around very difficult. If you're kid can walk then why use a stroller? If you don't want to carry a bunch of stuff in the parks then don't bring it! I could use a scooter while there because of my back and hip issues, but I don't. So if I can make around the parks okay there is no reason a healthy child can't do the same.

 

[maxiesmom]

Because when it affects my vacation I have a right to be upset. Being slammed with a stroller is no fun and seeing more and more of them in the parks makes getting around very difficult. If you're kid can walk then why use a stroller? If you don't want to carry a bunch of stuff in the parks then don't bring it! I could use a scooter while there because of my back and hip issues, but I don't. So if I can make around the parks okay there is no reason a healthy child can't do the same.

The same people who hit you with their strollers would run into you if they were walking. They are not rude because they have a stroller, they would be rude and clueless without the stroller too. Except then you would have their kids knocking into you too. Did you ever think maybe you are better of with kids in strollers? Then they are not darting about, tripping or bumping people.

The only thing you can control is how you react. Being upset and angry about stroller usage will change nothing. Deciding to shrug it off may make your vacation even more relaxing and more enjoyable.

I also don't understand walking around the parks in pain if you could use a scooter and enjoy the parks without the pain. It is not admirable to suffer needlessly. But you are free to make that choice if you want. Just as people are free to use strollers or not.

 

[lucifie]

Is getting run over with a stroller really that big a problem? Several people have mentioned I've had kids in stroller a various stages over the year and frequently go places where there are a lot of strollers. I don't use a stroller as a battering ram and I'd be willing to bet at least 99% of other parents don't either. If I hit someone with a stroller it's purely an accident and most likely it's at very slow speed, not "slamming" into someone. And I apologize if I bump into someone. I've occasionally been lightly bumped, but again, not "slammed". People, usually kids, do occasionally run in front of the stroller causing me to stop short, but it's not something I see as a major problem. It sounds like WDW either turns people rude and aggressive when they aren't anywhere else or some people have a very low tolerance for strollers in a place that has a very large number of children.

 

[Nancyg56]

Because when it affects my vacation I have a right to be upset. Being slammed with a stroller is no fun and seeing more and more of them in the parks makes getting around very difficult. If you're kid can walk then why use a stroller? If you don't want to carry a bunch of stuff in the parks then don't bring it! I could use a scooter while there because of my back and hip issues, but I don't. So if I can make around the parks okay there is no reason a healthy child can't do the same.

Oh stop. For every person with a stroller who you say is slamming into you there is someone bearing down on a stroller like it was a wall to be breached I was checking into my flight on our last trip and was appalled to see someone practically push a man in a wheelchair not the street in order to get to the line first. You can decide what is right for your family. You can decide how you want to react to another. You cannot dictate that your decisions are to be followed by anyone else. You just cannot.

The same people who hit you with their strollers would run into you if they were walking. They are not rude because they have a stroller, they would be rude and clueless without the stroller too. Except then you would have their kids knocking into you too. Did you ever think maybe you are better of with kids in strollers? Then they are not darting about, tripping or bumping people.

The only thing you can control is how you react. Being upset and angry about stroller usage will change nothing. Deciding to shrug it off may make your vacation even more relaxing and more enjoyable.

I also don't understand walking around the parks in pain if you could use a scooter and enjoy the parks without the pain. It is not admirable to suffer needlessly. But you are free to make that choice if you want. Just as people are free to use strollers or not.

I agree. It is a people problem, not a stroller, wheelchair or ecv problem.

 

[Marionnette]

I always wonder how many people who are run into or run over are just not paying close enough attention to where they are walking. All it took was a couple of days along with someone in a wheelchair to know that the ambulatory people have a part in crashes too. I'm sure they cut in front of strollers the same way the do wheelchairs. Or stop dead in their tracks, giving the person behind them doing the pushing no room to stop.

As far as people with strollers being aggressive, I've had issues with them too. However, they are all not pushing kids aged 5 and over.

WDW will never put an age limit on stroller usage. The only thing you can hope to control is how you deal with it. You won't be able to force everyone to see things your way and stop using strollers. Why get so upset and angry over something you can't control? Not the poster I quoted, but some get so mean over this issue. What do they hope to gain, besides higher blood pressure? I don't get becoming soo worked up over an issue you can't control. Why let it affect you so much?

Nice. Blame the victim who gets injured instead of the careless person who caused the injury.

You have not addressed the crowded conditions that the overuse of strollers causes. I guess it's because it doesn't fit your narrative.

Ever try to cross navigate the walkway from Liberty Square to Frontierland during a crowded day at the MK? Those walkways were not designed to handle two strollers or ECVs passing in each direction. They were built when strollers were more narrow and no one brought them for school-age children.

I'm not as upset by this phenomenon as you assume. I see it as a real problem at Disney. It's one that has gotten out of hand in the MK, on the buses and on trams. It's annoying when someone wheels an 8 year old into a monorail car, running over toes and taking up twice as much floor space than what a standing child would occupy. There is no reason for a healthy 8 year old to need a stroller. Period.

 

[okeydokey]

Is getting run over with a stroller really that big a problem? Several people have mentioned I've had kids in stroller a various stages over the year and frequently go places where there are a lot of strollers. I don't use a stroller as a battering ram and I'd be willing to bet at least 99% of other parents don't either. If I hit someone with a stroller it's purely an accident and most likely it's at very slow speed, not "slamming" into someone. And I apologize if I bump into someone. I've occasionally been lightly bumped, but again, not "slammed". People, usually kids, do occasionally run in front of the stroller causing me to stop short, but it's not something I see as a major problem. It sounds like WDW either turns people rude and aggressive when they aren't anywhere else or some people have a very low tolerance for strollers in a place that has a very large number of children.

Actually it is. The last time we were in Epcot leaving the park at closing, a woman behind my cousin ran her stroller right into the back of my cousin's ankle and tore all the skin off it. It was so painful she had a very hard time walking the next day. Worse part is, the woman just turned away without apologizing and avoided making eye contact at all.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I just don't understand why anyone would WANT to push a healthy 8 year old in a stroller. DD was 8 on our trip this year, and this was the first year we went completely sans stroller. It was heavenly to not have to worry about a stroller. DD kept up just fine, and she is a special needs kids with low muscle tone. I didn't hear one peep of whining or complaining about being too tired to walk. Ummmm.... okay, let me correct that. I didn't hear one peep from her. From me is a different story.