how odd?or is it?

extremely odd.

we did a photographic job recently where a large 9 year old refused to walk and her father carried her about all afternoon.It appeared to be the norm as no one batted an eyelid .She was quite a spoilt girl who caused all sorts of issues during the day even switching off all the lights in the ladies after checking there were people in most of the cubicles! No windows and older women ,if she's been mine she would have been in deep do do

there would be other issues there though paddyann possibly autism.

Two of our grandchildren still go in a double buggy to school even though they are 5 and 6 years old. We do stop at a corner before the school and save them the embarrassment but the simple reason is, they have a 2.5 mile walk to school, mostly uphill. They live in one of the worlds busiest cities and taking them by car or public transport is out of the question. School starts at 8.0am and being realistic, I reckon we’d need to set off at 7.0am if they were to walk. When they come home, I’m pleased to say they both walk. Moral of this story, avoid making judgement, they may be a very logical answer to what you observe as lazy children!

Well said, patticake.

Besides which, I'm all for as much harmless oddness in the world as possible.

When the dads pick up their nursery and/or young school child they can quite often be seen carrying their offspring on their shoulders.
Nobody bats an eyelid

My grandchildren are used walking/running as they spend alot of time in the countryside. However if we need to get a scoot on granddad will often stick one on his shoulders.

As a young child I remember my father or uncle giving me a
'carry coal'

your DH must be a strong one Cherry mine would fall over with a sturdy 4 year old perched on him [as would I.]

yes a dad, who is a much stronger person than a woman plays with a child and carries him/her. That's not the same as a 5 year old in a sling on their mothers back.

Well said, Patticake.

Aren't some of the September intake only just turned 4, and must be incredibly tired at the end of a long school day? And surely a cloth sling is safer than a piggy back.

Yes, they are, but a trip to the play park and some fresh air on the way home soon perks them up

Well, it works with mine!

I see little just-turned fours coming home from school, which is a mile and a half away on the other side of a deep valley.
At the end of a long tiring day they have to walk uphill all the way home to the poor end of town, where most parents have no car. Yes, they’re too heavy to be carried but I feel sorry for them.
Of course we oldies all walked five miles through forest and swamp, with only a cold potato for dinner.

watermeadow....you had a potato?

watermedow

we couldn't get in the pram, it was full of coal.

watermeadowsorry, keyboard problems

A sling for an older child is a bit unusual - my 2yr old DGC wouldn't entertain it no matter how tired - but to say it adversely affects their walking is a bit silly when no-one would bat an eyelid if said child was hoisted into a car seat and driven home. My DCs primary school covered a large catchment area, so many parents arrived by car, and there were certainly no murmurings at all about how it would be better for them to walk home 5 miles or so up hill and down dale. Fashions come and go but my little chunkies got chucked out of the sling at about a year (into a buggy) because my back couldn't stand it any more . A shame because the buggy route to school took me at least 20 minutes longer!

Stranger than strapping them into a car?

Not really.

Think about it.

Also if a child can't walk a short distance to and from school, is that the right place for them to be?

Who said they have a short walk? Lots of familiea these days aren't getting their chosen schools and are being found places in schools that aren't necessarily on their doorstep.

Most 5-6 year olds should be more than capable of a dash between two schools. It takes time to get a child in a push chair sort everything out and get going. You and child can walk 100 yards in that period. Most children will run it anyway.

Most is not all.

I'm just wondering if these school children who need to be carried are only children (nothing wrong with that I should hasten to add).

It's just that if a parent has one or two (or three) younger ones then the 4-5 year old could be the 'big child' in the family and would not be infantilised.

Its not infantalizing a child to pick up a 4/5 year old good grief!

More likely they do have siblings. If you have an only you can go at their pace but with siblings you need to get from AtoB on time when there's multiple activities etc to coordinate for older ones.

If there's a younger one it is hard to hold a 4 year olds hand on busy roads and push a pram so a piggy back for the bigger one is a practical solution while both hands are taken up with the pram/buggy.

Its just a bloomin form of transport to get them from AtoB like buggyboards, scooters, carseats, bike seats/trailers etc.
Can you please explain why slings are singled out as odd/problematic and not any of the above?

Because 4 year olds spend all day running around.
They generally don't need to be carried, and certainly not as a matter of course.
Plus, they are rather heavy.

4 year olds dont spend all day running around. They go in fits and starts. Huge bursts of energy, flops/slumps, another burst of activity etc. And they still neec lots of contact/cuddles.

A lot of 3 year olds still nap so at 4 there will be "slumps" even if the naps have stopped.

4 year olds do need cuddles and breaks. A sling does both.

And anyway its not always about their needs and sometimes about practicalities: getting from A-B at faster than a snails pace without stopping to pick up every pebble/stick. Families cant always revolve around 1 child so sometimes they dont NEED to go in a car seat/bike seat/buggy board/sling, but have to go in them because the rest of the family have places to be

I'm sure if that was the case, we would always see children (and not babies) carried around in slings.
I've never seen one. Yet.