how odd?or is it?

Very odd indeed petunia although I do sometimes see very big children climbing in and out of buggies. I had to fight to get my DGC to go in one after about 2. Walking anywhere took forever .

Interesting! I am often surprised to see big kids in buggies but slings?
My DH caught the bus across town to school when he was 5, alone. Changed days.
See if it is still happening later in the term.

It seems ridiculous to me.

Don't the poor children have legs? Another ridiculous example of over mothering - or is it to save the parent having to talk to the child so that the mother can concentrate on her phone?

How very peculiar

No, I haven’t seen that yet. I was going to say that the children should be walking, but then had a flashback to myself trudging home carrying an exhausted DS in the very early days of school. He started Reception the week he turned 4 and obviously gave it his all!

I suppose it’s a bit like just giving them a piggyback?

ive never seen this before on such a large child, but to see two in the same reception class seemed bizarre. like gillybob, ive had to wrestle with both my GC to keep them in a pushchair once they could walk more than 100 yards.

It can't be healthy, lugging a child that size around every day!

My back aches just thinking about it.

Strange indeed.
Regarding older 3/5 yr old children in buggies. Our youngest DGS was in a buggie at that age for walking any distance due to health issues.

Very strange, wonder if it has been discussed on MN. It may be a new trend. It is environmentally friendly but at what cost to the mother's back.
I have just had another thought, they may not be the mothers but the nanny or au pair.

My first thought was that it would not be good for the mother's back. I agree gillybob It was a struggle to get a child over two back into a pram if necessary.
There may be a reason for this but nothing springs to mind.

Perhaps they are in training for a round the world backpacking trip?

That's very odd. Will they be doing it when thay are 12 or 16? I used to work in HR and once had a mother on the phone to ask if she could come to the interview with her offspring. I expect she would also have come to work with him and done the job too!

Seems strange to me. I can't understand the mothers who immediately take the school bag(s) from their child(ren) and carry it/them. How will the children ever learn to take responsibility for their own stuff if they just hand it over as soon as they come out of school? This is not just little P1s who have just started (and don't have more than a reading book in their bags anyway) but much older primary school children as well. My DC and DGC jolly well carried/carry their own bags!

Having said that, I have to admit that our youngest DC was in a buggy for much longer than the others because it was so handy for carrying the shopping

Perhaps the children have some health problem which means they are not able to walk the distance home without being overtired, and the mothers don't have cars?

I agree it seems very bad for the backs of those mothers, and if it was necessary then a small wheelchair would be better.

It is a trend! according to the Daily Mail (???)

Article in DMhttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4146470/The-mothers-carry-four-year-olds.html

Note high heels on woman in photo "Lauren carries her son Dilon" - she also appears to be pregnant again so is she asking for trouble?

Better link www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4146470/The-mothers-carry-four-year-olds.html

Remembering my au pair experience of walking a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old to Kindergarten in a busy urban district in Germany I can well understand this - however much you watch them, they can easily dash off and do something dangerous. With another child in tow, it's difficult to run off after them. One of my charges nearly ran under a bus - scared me stiff. A harness would have been useful - so, if the child is cool with being transported in a sling, that's one less worry for the mother.

I wouldn't recommend it to anyone though - the damage to your back must be awful.

i did wonder about both children having some sort of issue meaning thier mobility was restricted. but it seemed so much of a coincidence that two children, in the same class in reception both needed a sling.never seen it before. just wondered if it was a growing trend

I'll admit I was shocked when I read the OP and the article linked to this, but on reflection I suspect we've all carried a sleepy three or four year old very occasionally. Doing it regularly is for me a step too far and I wonder if it is maybe meeting the mother's needs more than the child's. However, no child is going to be harmed by being carried as long as they get plenty of opportunities to run around, so if mum's can cope with the back strain(!!) good luck to them.

I was the first person in my cohort to use a baby sling in 1972 (the little blue one from Mothercare, remember those?) and I got lots of derogatory comments, but I couldn't afford a pram. My daughter went from a carrycot on wheels, to a sling, to a pushchair. Using a sling was lovely, but I think I probably stopped using it by the time my baby was about nine months old. Three years later my second child had a pram (we'd gone up in the world by then) and so I only used the sling for short bus journeys with her.

I know the mums in the article say that their children can walk long distances, but I'll never forget the shock I felt when taking a class of primary school children for a walk to the sea. They were all 7 year olds and the journey from school to the sea is just over a mile, along a beautiful river meadow. We had done about a third of the walk before some of the children were asking to be carried and two were actually in tears because they had never had to walk so far.

JackyB I was actually living in Germany when I was using my baby sling and German mothers were fairly horrified by it, but then the trend where I lived was to keep children in pushchairs until they were about five years old!

Reading that link, the mothers all say how it improves the bonding them and their child, and helps with conversation.

It can't be good for the Mums' back, or for the childs fitness and self confidence.

A much better way would be for all phones to be put away. Talk to your child as you walk, play games, sing together, connect.