3 yo hates walking!!!!

[lolsyb1982]

Does anyone else's LO hate walking? When she was much younger she wanted to walk everywhere and would easily walk a mile. Now I can't even get her to walk to the end of the road  She wants to be carried or stand on the buggy board etc (I have a 4mo).
At home she wants to be carried up and down the stairs most of the time. Is she lazy? I thought they were supposed to have bundles of energy at this age!!!!!

[cath~]

Dd1 was like this.

She didn't want to walk to go anywhere (eg the park), moaned she was tired etc, but then as soon as she got there she had plenty of energy to run around and have fun

She's better at walking now (at 5) but still pretty slow when we're walking eg to school.

My mum recently commented how my niece (3.5 yrs) used to love walking when she was younger but now it's hard work!

I guess the novelty wears off maybe and it becomes a bit boring ?

[lolsyb1982]

Yes this is it exactly. Soon as we get to the park she'll run about and climb everything. Just not a fan of walking!

[weaver]

Totally normal also the being carried at home thing is a quick way of asking for some closeness with you and to be treated a bit like the baby.  If she can go on the buggy board, fine. If you want her to move under her own steam then a scooter or balance bike might be a good idea. Having said that my non walker, LO1, would always prefer the buggy board or the buggy itself, given half a chance. LO2 is a different personality and has always craved independent movement - she could scoot before she was 2, has been scooting on the footpaths since she turned 2, loves her balance bike, and is now trying to learn to ride LO1's pedal bike before he does! She will stay in a buggy for about a minute

[lolsyb1982]

Hmmmm a scooter.... She asked for one for Christmas, went on and on about it and then got it and won't use it!! Hates it!!
She does like her trike (still has the parent handle on) which I encourage her to use when we can and she pedals more and more each time we go out so I will keep up with that. Yes she would sit in the buggy if she could all the time and often tells me to put DD2 in the sling so she can be pushed! Those buggy boards are just so uncomfortable to walk with and push.

She's acting very baby like right now in lots of ways which I assume is mostly because of DD2's arrival.

[weaver]

LO1 I noticed sometimes needs an enclosed space to feel comfortable -certainly the best way to get him on his scooter was to go to the fenced off bit of park. Not exactly the point since I had to push them both there carrying the darned scooter but he is stilll noticeably more at ease in a somewhat enclosed space. Scooting off down the street was never a problem with him!  But maybe your DD could build confidence somewhere like that? Take a long look at the situation and assess if it's a personality thing, accepting some of it at this age might save you some headaches!

Best thing we ever bought was our cargo bike which takes the two LOs, lunch,shopping, scooters etc, and gets us about in style and at a respectable speed.

[Katet]

I think some of it is the baby, they see the baby being carried & if touch is a love language then what better way to gain love than to be carried.

Also shoes are they comfortable? That can make a difference

Also worth consideration is DS1 will & always has walked everywhere but his respiratory fitness has never been as good as DS2, DS2 had the nickname for a long time of "run fast, walk slow" because he'd always rather run than walk BUT he'd rarely want to walk somewhere & "I'm tired" would come out. When he was 8 he suffered shin splints after the school Athletics Carnival (admittedly he did lots of events at hard pace) & it was then we found out that among other things he had very flat feet & because he is very tall the ligaments & muscles needed more stretching than was normal in an 8yo... most children don't need to stretch until they are pre teens, but DS2 needed to stretch before exercise at 8yo - I mean runner stretches. Once we got all that sorted he's been a great walker. So it might be worth digging around a bit & seeing if it hurts her feet or legs to walk too.

FWIW I always thought I was a lazy child because iI didn't like to walk much, but I never found it comfortable walking, even though I walked 25mins to the train each way & 10mins at the other end, I still never felt like it wasn't hard work on my legs - turns out it was probably a hip problem - although broken foot & child carrying on hip are the reason the physio found  it, but I think it was just made worse. Now that I do some work on it I've noticed I'm better & also I spend $$$ on shoes & that makes a difference

[BeeAnn]

My DD is also 3 yo and hates walking.  She loves to go in her buggy and asks for it every time we get out of the car.  If we don't have it she will ask to be carried.  Part of me thinks that part of it is a comfort thing and she doesn't like walking anywhere busy or new because she can't look around and see what is going on as easily, when she isn't sure of the environment.  Although she may also be lazy too though - if she takes after me!!  We have been trying to tell her that she needs to stop using the buggy now as she is too big for it, but we are nervous about not using it when we know she has to walk a lot (such as when we went to the zoo at the weekend) because we don't want to end up just carrying her!! She does like her scooter and balance bike but they can't always be used.