4 year old walks too slowly

amother

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 1:15 pm

I have a 1.5 year old in the stroller, and there is a place on the stroller for the 4 year old to stand. I prefer that she walk instead of stand there because it's good exercise for her, easier for me, and just a good sign of growing up. Unless she is particularly tired, she usually prefers to walk instead of standing on the stroller. Unfortunately, she just doesn't keep up with me, lags behind (btw no physical or mental issues) and I have to tell her "keep up!", then usually the second time (usually very shortly after) I tell her she has to stand on the stroller because she is not keeping up. Up until about 2 months ago, I had her sitting in a double stroller.

Any advice?

Am I not being patient enough?

Is 4 (just turned 4) too young to be asked to keep up and I should have her stand from the getgo?

Could doing something like "you can only walk if you hold onto the stroller with one hand" work?

Please help, I am getting very frustrated.

amother

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 1:18 pm

Btw this is not just on long walks when she's tired. This could be first thing in the morning on a 5 minute walk to the cornerstore.

If I let her get far behind, then I just end up having to wait a long time for her when I get to a street I need to cross (obviously I wouldn't cross without her).

amother

Yellow

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 1:28 pm

Her legs are probably about 1/3 the length of your legs. If she is keeping up with your normal pace she’s in essence moving 3x as fast as you. You probably are going to need to slow down for a 4 year old.

Zehava

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 1:57 pm

amother [ Yellow ] wrote:

This! My gosh why do you expect her to keep your pace? What do you want from the kid? If you’re making a 4 year old walk you gotta go at her pace. If you’re in a rush or impatient put her in a stroller. She’s not that big just because she’s your oldest.

amother

Hosta

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 2:00 pm

Zehava wrote:

I agree with both above.

nchr

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 2:02 pm

A 4 year old can not walk at the same speed as an adult. If you are walking a far distance and she tantrums about standing on a board then you need to take a double stroller.

She doesn't need to keep up, you need to slow down.

amother

Celeste

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 3:07 pm

There's no way a 4-y/o can keep up with an adult. I used to take my dd for walks Sunday mornings from the age of about 4. Every so often she'd say to me "Mommy, did you forget I'm just a little girl?" Well, yes! She was very mature for her age, though physically tiny, and it was easy to forget that she was really very little, with legs less than half as long as mine.

SuperWify

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 3:14 pm

Sorry but you need to slow down and build some patience. Also, I don’t get why you can’t let her stand by the stroller assuming it’s safe (I’ll not sure what you mean by that). 4-year olds get enough exercise in school and elsewhere, they don’t need to be made to walk.

My 4.5 year old is still in the stroller whenever we go on walks. Another idea is a scooter.

zaq

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 3:16 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Am I not being patient enough?

Is 4 (just turned 4) too young to be asked to keep up and I should have her stand from the getgo?

.

Bingo.

amother

Lilac

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 3:18 pm

Wow all of the above. 4 is still a baby sorry. Whether or not she has younger siblings. You can try a scooter as stated. Also my 4y old turned out to have mono...made sense why suddenly refused to go to the park. Believe her if she says she's tired. How would you feel if your husband wrote this post about you... Kids are little people.

amother

Darkblue

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 3:31 pm

Came here to say scooter! Was a life changer for me when I had that sort of age gap. DD went from complaining about walking, only standing on the buggyboard to scooting as fast as she could down the street. With kids of that age you usually have to compromise somewhere. If you want them to walk, you have to be prepared to go slower. If you need speed, like I needed when I needed to drop kids at the babysitter before heading off to work, she was in the stroller or buggyboard as I didn't have the time to allow her to walk.
I will say that some kids do seem to be better walkers. My oldest was a much better and faster walker than the next child after her.
If you really want to get clever, I saw mountain buggy make a combination scooter/buggyboard so the scooter attaches to the stroller and the child can just stand on it.
https://uk.mountainbuggy.com/p.....rider

amother

Mintgreen

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 4:33 pm

My 4 year old is still in the stroller when I go to my mom 15 minutes away from my house . Yes he is my baby . Closer places we walk with him but definitely much slower then when I walk myself

amother

Caramel

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 8:06 pm

I have a 7 year old that walks super slowly. He always has. Shleps his feet. My 4 year old walks much faster than him.

Lots and lots of patience.

But at 4, you could totally put her back in a double stroller.

amother

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 11:51 pm

I worded this wrong. The problem is not that she keeps walking but just walks slowly, it's more her stopping to play with things on the way. If she were consistently walking just at a slow place, that would be different.

WhatFor

Fri, Nov 05 2021, 12:22 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

A four year old has different life priorities than a grown adult. It's not reasonable to expect her to understand why you need to rush and to block out all distractions. It's normal for kids to want to stop and smell flowers, touch different gates, pet a dog, look at birds, hop on different pavers, etc. Congratulations, you have a healthy, curious child.

amother

Periwinkle

Fri, Nov 05 2021, 12:39 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

She's a small child. She is interested in the world around her. This is healthy and wonderful. Does it fit your schedule? Maybe not, but that means you have to adjust to her way of doing things.

Stars

Fri, Nov 05 2021, 2:18 am

Totally normal. If we’re in a rush We give a choice - stroller or scooter.
If we’re not in a rush at all I expect the walk to take about 3x as long. For shlepping reasons and for exploring reasons. It’s totally fine.

amother

Fri, Nov 05 2021, 2:45 am

She has a scooter, but she doesn't go faster with it and usually ends up wanting me to take it for her.

So here's the question: if we are in a hurry, should I tell her to stand on the stroller from the getgo, or would it be better to give her a chance to keep up walking, then tell her she needs to stand once she lags behind too much.

I don't want to make her feel defeated, but on the other hand she enjoys walking and I like her to walk, so even if she only gets to walk for one minute, maybe it's better than none? Or would it be setting her up for feeling like a failure?