how long till he can reliably walk to be a shabbos guest?

amother

Tue, Sep 06 2011, 9:27 am

My 15 m. o. is a late walker. He'll take 3/4 steps now, but that's it.

In your experience, from when a kid takes 3/4 steps, how much time until they are really walking - like can be counted on to walk a few short city blocks on Shabbos?

I'm hoping after Tishrei...

Thanks!

MamaBear

Tue, Sep 06 2011, 10:01 am

I have a 2 1/2 yr old who is a great walker, the anti stroller type. But due to his age he will randomly throw tantrums that are hard for him to get over and these can occur in the middle of the sidewalk and require me to scoop him up and carry him kicking and screaming. But we have an eruv we hold by so this is not an issue for us on shabbos. I do have older kids so I have seen that by age 3 they are mature enough to understand the instructions that we are walking somewhere and he needs to cooperate. But my 2 yr old is still at that stage that he can just lose it due to his brother "bothering" him or whatever. Most likely he could walk the few blocks with no problem, but I for sure would not count on it 100% til he was older.

amother

Tue, Sep 06 2011, 10:40 am

Thanks for the response. In my community there's no eruv and you see plenty of young couples with early walkers - each holding a hand... And yes, you do see kids having tantrums - what fun. People don't walk when it's too cold or rainy or whatever. I'm hoping that after Tishrei, especially as Shabbos gets earlier, we could make it to a friend for a late lunch - and then just stay until Shabbos is out if walking back would be too hard.

MaBelleVie

Tue, Sep 06 2011, 10:55 am

Really, really dependant on the kid. I saw my neighbor walk to the store with her 20 month old- a couple of really short blocks- and I marvelled, bc my 22 month old can not be relied upon to do that. The most we walk with him is aroun the corner, and even then, we sometimes have to carry him back or he would just insist on running around wherever he wanted forever. He walked at 12 months and is physically able to walk long distances. But he is super stubborn and independent, so I would not attempt a few block walk on Shabbat without an eruv.

Tue, Sep 06 2011, 11:05 am

My dd started walking at 15 months as well. She went more than a few steps, but not in any predictable direction LOL

. She didn't like holding hands, and within a couple of months figured out that she could lie down on the sidewalk if she didn't want to go any further. She really didn't follow verbal instructions at that age, which made the whole walking-together process more challenging.

Fortunately, we have a reliable eruv and used a stroller on Shabbat, but on the rare occasions that we needed to walk on city streets/ at the airport/in the mall I put her on a toddler leash. This gave her both hands free for balance and independence, but kept her from straying too far. I don't know the particulars of using a leash on Shabbat, but it might be worth asking about.

When she was a little older, if we ever had to go farther than she wanted, we would make mini walking goals - let's walk to the next tree. Now let's walk to the fire hydrant. Ok, now let's go to the corner. Sit down and rest a bit. Etc. Give yourself plenty of extra time.

I can't tell you when your ds will start walking blocks, but you will eventually get to lunch with your friends. Hang in there!

be good

Tue, Sep 06 2011, 1:32 pm

amother and seeker, I wouldnt count on it for a while.

to sum up what other posters said- its not just the physical walking, but its also a communication thing- they need to be up to a point where they can understand what you want them to do; and behavioral- they have to want to cooperate.

we just moved to a neighborhood without an eruv, we used to just use the stroller Smile

. dc is 20 months and has been walking confidently since about 13 months. We walked 2.5 blocks for shabbos lunch successfully, but it took quite a bit of coaxing to get aaaaaall of the way home. if dc wasnt so verbal and in the mood to listen to us, we may not have made it. we had to keep saying things like "do you want to hold mommy's hand?" "now do you want to hold abba's hand?" "when we get home we can do a puzzle!" "when we get home you can have a bottle!" to keep things moving.

also, the progress of the actual learning to walk varies very much from kid to kid. dc took a few first steps at 10 months and then took a loooong break from learning to walk, but once dc started it up again at 12 months, it was about three weeks and dc was walking 90% of the time.

saw50st8

Tue, Sep 06 2011, 2:50 pm

I found within a month my kids could reliably walk a few blocks.

CYLOR though. I've heard that if a child CAN walk but chooses not to, you can pick them up. Or you can do the pass way (You stand a bit of a distance from your husband and both stand still. Pass the child and then you move to the other side. Continue as needed). We have an eruv so its never been a problem.

allrgymama

Tue, Sep 06 2011, 3:44 pm

DD will be 2 1/2 on Succos and started doing first steps a year ago Shvuous (when she was about 14 months old).

For the past few months, my sister has been begging me to allow her to take DD to the 18th avenue park on Shabbos and I keep telling her that there is no way DD will walk that far, run around and play, and then be able to walk back.

This past Shabbos we were in Brooklyn and my father and sister decided to take her for a walk around the block.

By the time they got to third corner, she was done. They did manage to get her home, but the second they walked in the door, my father turned to my sister and told her, 'Now you see that she isn't ready to walk to the park' and dear sister spent the next 15 minutes sulking at the 'I told you so' (courtesy of my father).

So, I really think that it depends on your kid and how active they'll probably be once you get to where you're going (and, like you said, whether or not you can stay over for the rest of Shabbos). I would sooner walk with DD to my grandparents for a Yom Tov seduah (slightly longer walk, but less active time) than to the park.