My family and I went to Disney World this weekend and we had an amazing time. But as long-time ex-residents of Florida who used to visit the theme parks on a regular basis, if there was one thing we weren't looking forward to was dealing with our kids meltdowns. I mean, there's the abominable heat, the unbearable heat, the distances, the long lines and the even longer hours. Put them all together and even the best behaved child in the world will go bonkers!
Since we knew this was a deadly combination, we agreed that–although we no longer use it because our daughter is almost 6 years old–we'd be taking our double stroller so both kids would have a place to rest. And I ever so glad we did! But that was an exception because other than at a huge theme park, zoo or airport, I no longer think it's appropriate for my daughter to be on a stroller.
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Apparently, not every parent feels the same way–and then we wonder why our children are not as active as we'd like them to be. If you have a child who's fully capable of walking perfectly fine by herself and she's already in elementary school and you bring the stroller along everywhere you go, you can't expect anything but laziness from that child.
Just like Dr. Jennifer Shu, a pediatrician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, told ABC News last year:
The child will never develop strength and conditioning if they're not allowed to do the walking. Parents don't want to have the child walk because they'll whine about being tired, but doing all the walking for them is not helping the child.
While all parents are obviously free to do as they please with their children, I just feel bad for those older, healthy kids whose parents think it's a good idea for them to be in a stroller at the park or at the mall when they should be encouraging them to walk. Yes, I'm judging, but only because I think this is a prime example of lazy parenting or way over-protective parenting that only harms children.
How old is too old to use a stroller? Please leave us a comment with your opinion.
Image via Joe Schlabotnik/flickr
