Taking walks with a toddler

[readermaid]

I'm feeling very motivated by the beautiful weather of late to be more active. DH and I are much more sedentary than we ought to be, and this is the summer when that will change.

My question is about including our two year old in our activity. For example how long (or how far) is it reasonable to expect DD to walk if we took a family walk? We don't have a stroller anymore. We passed it on recently because we so rarely used it once DD could walk. A jogging stroller would be great, but I don't see us buying one anytime soon.

Any tips for being more active as a family would be very much appreciated! Thanks, all!

[jadedqueen123]

We walk slowly and with a lot of flexibility in where we are headed at any given moment Lots of pit-stops for things like pine cones, rushing water, a leaf, someone walking their dog, etc. It is pretty hard to get our DD to go the way we want her to go so if I am really trying to burn some calories she goes in the stroller or Mei Tai. I tried walking the dogs with her and she is way to poky and can't go very far so that didn't work so well.

[CrunchyChristianMama]

We have a jogging stroller that I love. I'll usually take DD on a long walk in that, and then afterward if she wants to walk some we'll go once around the block.

[kgreenemama]

DS (almost two) loves to play Hide and Seek around the trees in one of our local parks. I got a heck of a workout yesterday, running from tree to tree, then waiting for him to find me and chase me to the next one.

Walking in a straight line is about as interesting to him as walking on a treadmill would be to me.

Have a fun summer!

[butterfly_mommy]

My DS who just turned 2 the end of Jan can walk for a long time and loves to walk. A few weeks ago we walked just about 2 kms (it took us a good 1.5 hours with lots of stops and exploring)

[Dahlea]

Our walks are pretty much follow-the-baby. LOL we just let him go where he wants for as long as he wants!

[elleystar]

Keep an eye out at kid's consignment stores. I knew we'd probably never cough up the money for a rubber tired stroller either but there was one of these parked outside my favorite used kids' store last fall:
http://www.amazon.com/Liberty-Limite.../dp/B001V7QUAU
They only wanted $80 for it, and I had enough credit from taking clothes in to them, that I only had to pay an extra eight bucks. I never packed something into my car so fast, lol!
It's a great stroller, and DS loves the steering wheel on it. Plus it has a couple of speakers towards the top, and a compartment on top where you can plug in an mp3 player and listen to music while you walk. We used to go out some in a regular stroller but the plastic wheels made it so unpleasant on the rough broken sidewalks that we have to navigate. With this thing I can go over all kinds of bumps and holes, through puddles and slush, you name it! I used to be too sedentary too, and now as long as it's over 40 degrees, we get out for at least an hour a day, and I can really get my heart rate up.
If something happened to this one, we would most definitely find a way to purchase a new one outright. Maybe you can ask for money towards an all terrain stroller for Mother's Day, Father's Day, or birthdays?

As far as just walking on foot, we do that too a fair bit, but it is definitely not to give ME exercise. It's great for DS though. He's not much of a stop and look kind of guy, he likes to trot along to get to wherever we're going. So I don't expect him to walk more than maybe 3 blocks, then a rest, then 3 back, tops.

[lifeguard]

When I take ds for walks I bring then ergo. Then when he gets tired (or I get bored of stopping at every. single. puddle.) I throw him on my back to finish the distance.

[Belia]

DS, the pup, and I were out for about an hour the other day. I think we made it about a quarter of a block and back.

Going around in circles and up and down small hills is DS's most favorite thing to do in the world. The poor dog was like, "What the heck?!?!?!?!?"

[K1329]

What about a wagon? He could walk, then, when tired, hop in the wagon.