So let me start by saying that I apologize if this offends anyone. But, have you ever been in the mall and your walking past a family where the child is way too old and big to be sitting in a stroller. Why is it that some parents think that it's okay? I can understand why it happens. You're in the mall and it is so much easier to have the little ones in the stroller so you don't have to constantly do a head count or keep saying "don't touch that". But what is the cut-off point? Unless your child has physical limitations, shouldn't a walk in the mall or elsewhere be used as a tool to teach them how to behave in public? Not to mention the exercise....
Keeping a child strapped in a chair doesn't allow them to explore or learn about manners, boundaries and much more. If your child is too big for a stroller, then chances are you should already be talking to them about strangers. The mall is a great place to put those teachings to the test.
Obviously, you are not going to tell your child to roam free and see what happens when they walk up to a complete stranger. But, it is an opportunity to teach about the random stranger saying hello. We tell our daughter to look at us before she says hello to someone she doesn't know. If we say it is okay then she goes for it. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule and as parents, we deal them as we encounter them. But we try to use as many opportunities as we can to introduce our little one to real life situations.
Get the big kids out the strollers people. Let them live a little.
I can't believe that there is a whole website dedicated to children that are too big to be in strollers. Fantastic.
http://www.toobigforstroller.com/
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