I don’t know how it happened, but we blinked and our babies have grown into little boys. Last fall, we had plans of going to Disney (again) but we wanted to get rid of our stroller prior to that trip. We knew our kids would be 5 and 9 which is definitely too big to be carted around the entire day. It was time to start practicing life without a stroller prior to our big trip.
We did our first practice run at our state fair. Much to my surprise, neither child whined to sit down, for me to carry them, nor that they were just too hot. In fact, we had a perfectly pleasant day of casually walking to various attractions and enjoying the sights together. It was so nice to not worry about stroller parking, helping kids in and out of their seats, or to hear fighting of who gets to sit in which seat. The greatest joy – being able to actually walk up the stairs! I was no longer in the line of moms pushing their children up that ramp while food, cups, toys, and jackets spill from our strollers.
Even though we didn’t have the stroller, I planned ahead. I will always take a backpack to help us throughout the day and we were completely prepared with this in tow:
- Funtainer thermos for each child
- Water bottles for the adults
- Tickets for our attractions
- Bandaids & first aid cream
- 1 extra pair of under for each child (you never know)
- 1 extra pair of shorts that either one could wear
- Kleenex wet wipes
- Banana Boat Sunscreen
- Snacks (Goldfish crackers, cereal bars, applesauce grabbers)
- Lunches (optional but this way I’m certain the boys get something healthy)
- Purse essentials: keys, phone, credit card, ID, cash, sunglasses
This list could grow longer depending on the season or time of day too. For example, you might need jackets, hats, bug spray, etc. You get the idea.
Since our outing to the fair, we decided to try another outing for the day with the same success. I’m actually looking forward to more adventures with our older kids without hauling the stroller! Who else has transitioned their kids out of a stroller? What tips can you share to make this process easier?
