What age is a child too old to be in a stroller?

[lucyblondecat]

I think your stretching and looking for a fight. I know I'll be renting my 5 year old a stroller at WDW. Will he use it constantly, no. But we'll need it. Disney world can be a lot of walking. Long, hot days...small kids get tired. My legs get tired and I run 3 miles a day.

I think its a legitimate question.

Barring any physical or mental limitations, I would say a child over 6 is too old for a stroller. If they are too tired to walk, its time to leave the parks and come back another day.

 

[aprilgail2]

Can an 8yr old even fit in a regular (non Disney) stroller? I've never seen an older child in one.

.

My almost 7 year old fits with plenty of room LOL! She is less than 40 pounds and small..no one would even think twice about seeing her in one. Yet a boy in her class is the same age and 5 foot tall and 110 pounds. I am sure he is not in any stroller anywhere. I have put my daughter in a stroller at the mall in the past year. We got to the mall, she was sound asleep, I just picked her up and put her in the stroller and she slept the whole time. I would get one at Disney for her to take breaks in, little legs get tired of walking and standing and I would rather have her happy and rested than cranky and tired! And 37 pounds and almost 7 years old I don't think she is overweight!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I think its a legitimate question.

Barring any physical or mental limitations, I would say a child over 6 is too old for a stroller. If they are too tired to walk, its time to leave the parks and come back another day.

In our case--our child is fine all day but then crashes. I have no desire to carry a 6yo. I properly plan so that I don't have to which is what we did on the fourth of July. I supposed I could have asked the city of Washington to do the fireworks in the daytime so that she wouldn't fall asleep on the way home.

Why must everyone insert their two cents on how this is inappropriate?

I mean for pete's sake---a 6 year old isn't 15. She likes to run races, will be doing soccer in the fall and does dance and gymnastics and she swims like a fish. She doesn't own a gaming system and never will.

But I do suppose it is easier to judge that those who ride in a stroller either are lazy or have some type of "condition".

I bet those same people wonder why my mom uses her scooter only 50% of the drive and some of her able bodied family members have to drive it for her the other 50%. I suppose she should bring a doctors note that says she can't sit or stand for long periods of time.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Don't you know that when you are at WDW you are not supposed to be minding your own business, having fun?

You are supposed to be looking around to make sure that everyone else in the World is living their lives the way YOU think they should. That means their body size, hair, make-up, clothes, spouse, children (number of, behavior, and discipline!), food selection, amount of money spent, and word choice should all be exactly what YOU think. There ARE no excuses for doing anything differently.

If EVERYONE isn't doing EXACTLY what you think they should, it is your right- no, your duty! - to tattle on them and tell them what you think. At the very least, you should be giving them dirty looks.

If you don't spend your vacation minding everyone else's business, how the heck will you enjoy it?????

You forgot about the mom-jeans! Or was covered under the general clothes section?


The ironic thing is that how many of the people who look down their noses at "older" children in strollers, also criticize tired, overheated children when they have meltdowns. The kids are less likely to have meltdowns if they are not being pushed past the point of exhaustion.

My sister and I used to joke that we would still push a stroller after Jake was too old for it because we would want it to push our stuff around in. Strollers do have their advantages.

 

[KimR]

I think it depends on the child. When my middle DD was 5 we brought along the stroller just in case and never once used it. And there were days we went non-stop from early morning until late at night with no break and she was still going strong. I couldn't believe her stamina. My youngest, on the other hand, just turned 5 and I think we may still be using a stroller on our next trip and maybe even the one after that. She is normally very active, takes gymnastics twice a week and is very thin; however she simply does not have the stamina her older sisters do and it will make everyone's vacation more enjoyable if she has a stroller available when she gets tired. I don't see the point of taking her back to the resort as long as everyone else wants to stay in the parks. I think whatever works to make the vacation as enjoyable as possible for everyone - as long as it doesn't infringe on others' enjoyment, who cares?

 

[KimR]

My sister and I used to joke that we would still push a stroller after Jake was too old for it because we would want it to push our stuff around in. Strollers do have their advantages.

We've said the same thing! I am so spoiled now by having a stroller I don't know what we're going to do when DD outgrows it!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Isn't that the truth!! I can't stand those big things, they are like a bus!

As luck would have it, today I had to stop at Safeway, but my 6yo son was just starting starting to drag. I had to get one of those awful carts and push around the store and of course thought about this thread. I haven't pushed him around in a cart for ages, but today was the day he needed it. Got home and turned out he had a fever and a headache--I think he's getting a cold.


Kim, you could always just have another child. That's what I did, but that child is now 6yo and my baby factory has shut down, so I'm back to carrying the backpack.

 

[paigevz]

Can an 8yr old even fit in a regular (non Disney) stroller? I've never seen an older child in one.

I'm sure some can, but probably not many. My 4 year old was stuffed in!
And I do think in my post I talked about both Disney and other places as some other posters did as well. What's wrong with just coming back and clarifying nicely?

"you people"

 

[jodifla]

My DS, 4, is a dancer, he's a jumper, he's a skipper, but he's not a walker. Any distance and he bails, wanting me to pick him up and carry him.


I debated taking the stroller last month on our plane trip, and I ended up being SO glad I did. Even though my backpack spent most of the time riding in the stroller, when they moved us from gate 72 to gate 8, I was darn glad to be able to put him in the stroller and run for the new gate. And when we landed two hours late, at 2 am, it was nice for him to be able to sleep in it while we waited for our ride.

I'll be taking a stroller to Disney as long as I can stuff him into it (he's very tall, but skinny.)

 

[MoniqueU]

Well we have disneyland which is a smaller park but from my recolection my kids ere all out by 3 or 4. The youngest maybe a bit longer but not much. We also had our kids off bottles fairly early potty trained fairly early, in pre school by 3 and no issues with seperation anxeity in kindergarten.

 

[Beca]

My DS, 4, is a dancer, he's a jumper, he's a skipper, but he's not a walker. Any distance and he bails, wanting me to pick him up and carry him.


I debated taking the stroller last month on our plane trip, and I ended up being SO glad I did. Even though my backpack spent most of the time riding in the stroller, when they moved us from gate 72 to gate 8, I was darn glad to be able to put him in the stroller and run for the new gate. And when we landed two hours late, at 2 am, it was nice for him to be able to sleep in it while we waited for our ride.

I'll be taking a stroller to Disney as long as I can stuff him into it (he's very tall, but skinny.)

ITA!! My dd is in gymnastics, cheerleading, and dance. She also runs (okay, only two blocks) with my dh every day, but she has flat feet. We have already been warned by her gym coach and her doctor, that she will need orthotics...even when she is tumbling. We're really hoping that ballet raises her arches a bit. So....she is a VERY active little girl who cannot walk for an extended period of time. So, I will be one of "those moms" who stuffs her into the biggest stroller I can find for as long as she will fit, and will let me do it!! (Lucky for me, she is small for her age).

Is it laziness on my part? Probably. But, I am also a parent who looks forward to the "quiet time of the day" when dd inevitably falls asleep in the stroller, and dh and I can enjoy the parks without the running commentary of a 4yr old. I really do enjoy this time, and would not want to have to carry a sleeping child (we all know they double in weight when they go to sleep), or go back to the hotel. She sleeps GREAT in her stroller, so why not take advantage of it?



Beca

 

[Cool-Beans]

You forgot about the mom-jeans! Or was covered under the general clothes section?


The ironic thing is that how many of the people who look down their noses at "older" children in strollers, also criticize tired, overheated children when they have meltdowns. The kids are less likely to have meltdowns if they are not being pushed past the point of exhaustion.

My sister and I used to joke that we would still push a stroller after Jake was too old for it because we would want it to push our stuff around in. Strollers do have their advantages.

I did not forget about the mom jeans. I got some, but that's another thread, I think.

Another advantage to strollers is that when the kid was being a pain in the buttinksi, you could plop them in the stoller and go forth. I think they should make stollers for teens. It would be so cool to knock my 6' 3" 17 year old (and the rest of them, too) into a stoller when I got sick of him and just move on!!!!

Come to think of it, I wouldn't mind being in a stroller. I mean, I pushed them for a combined total of 12-16 years, maybe they could push me up to Expedition Everest. That'd be cool.

 

[ceiligh1]

My sister had a hole in her heart when she was little. She weighed only 20 lbs at age 3. (My son is 11 months old and weighs 5 lbs more than that.) Anyway she was tiny but she just looked younger than her actual age, she did not look sick or anything. She would get tired very easy and we needed a stroller for her several years after she had her heart fixed at age 3 or 4. My point is you do not know the kid, you do not know their limitations.

Yes inactivity is causing a lot of overweight children but just because a child takes a break on a stroller in MK does not mean that they are not active.
I think that we have made a choice as a society that activity is not important in so it is up to parents to get children involved but I dont think that should start or be isolated to MK vacations. Just my 2 cents.

 

[DVC Sadie]

I think that maybe 15 years old might be too old depending on the child. If the parents are okay with pushing the stroller then who am I to have an opinion one way or the other.

 

[wellesleyprincess]

I agree with most that it truly depends on the child's abilities and is the parents' decision. As a general rule, however, I think somewhere around age 5 or 6. IMHO, if a child is old enough to be in school fulltime, he/she should be able to walk an amusement park primarily on their own. I think it'd be okay under any circumstances for a child of any age to take a quick break in a stroller on a bench.

 

[disney4us2002]

We don't do marathon Disney days so we never had the overtired issue but we never offered a stroller to any of our boys after age 4. My boys would have been mortified at the mere thought of riding in a "baby" stroller anyway.

 

[janet715]

My DS is now 9 and we just bought a sit and stand stroller for our disney trip this year. He is 50 pounds, so I hardly worry about the obesity factor. On normal mall trips or whatever, he walks, but in a place like disney, where we are walking constantly, almost 15 hours a day, the poor kid (and our sanity) needs a break. I say, as long as it isn't from sheer laziness, let 'em ride! It makes for a much more enjoyable trip for everyone.

 

[Planogirl]

Kids vary so I think that there's no set age. However I was so glad when DS rejected his stroller at the age of 5 and never looked back! I was sick of lugging the silly thing around.

DS never got easily tired though. I always wore out much faster than he did and if anyone needed a stroller, it was DH. That man hates to walk.

 

[bevtoy]

I don't care if the dad squeezes in there as long as they watch where the hell they are going. Too many people push the things around while focusing elsewhere and only react when they hit somebody.

 

[va32h]

My kidsd are spaced out far enough that even after one outgrew the stroller (around age 5), I still had one little enough to be in a stroller, so we still brought it. And sometimes used it for the older child.

Stamina-wise, my older two (now 10 and 6) walked all over Disneyland, California Adventure, and Legoland with no problems. And the times when just the big kids and I went back to the parks with no stroller at all were so much fun. Hop on the train, hop in line, never have to worry about parking it and fetching it.

Having said that, the last time we were at WDW my oldest was 7, and we had a rented stroller, and we used it. When the parks are jam-packed, or we need to get from one place to another quickly, I felt she was safer in the stroller than dragged along behind us in the crowd.

Outside of theme parks, my kids haven't used a stroller since they were 3 or 4. My youngest will be 3 in November, and she still uses the stroller, although most of the time she gets in it under very loud protest.

The obesity epidemic is caused by lots of things; probably excessive stroller use is part, but TV watching, video game playing, parents concerns over letting their child play outside, and increased reliance on junk and convenience food probably play much bigger parts.