What has a 5-point Harness, Side Bars, Shade Screen and DRINK HOLDER?

What’s the fun of riding your trike if you can’t run in the house after every six trips up and down the sidewalk for a lemonade and a round of bugging mom? (NB, at the age kids generally still use tricycles, IMO they need that occasional “touch base with parent” thing. Not that it’s mandatory or about “safety”, but it’s natural and good for them.)

Besides, doesn’t this set a bad example to our kids in the area of drinking and driving?

I’m an extremely free range parent and I have this product. I’m not quite sure what the fuss is?
We bought it when she was crawling so that I could take her for walks n the country road we lived on without having to stuff her in the pram (which she HATED), or carry her the whole damn time. It helped with her balance, and she felt very Independant and pleased with herself.

The shade cloth is completely useless though, we took it off immediately. And the harness came off once she got used to the idea that leaning too far to one side didn’t end well.

In summary, it’s a good pram replacement for kids who don’t like them, and turns into a trike once they get to the peddle/push stage. What’s not to like?

Actually, I don’t see the drink holder as such a problem, (although the handy storage bucket is just as good for holding a bottle of water). Adult cyclists often have a water bottle attached to the bike, and when we take our kids out to play in the sun (age 1 and 2.5) we always have a water bottle with us even if we only expect to be out a half hour. Running and playing and cycling is thirsty work. Not to mention how handy it is to have water available to wash out a mouth after checking what the sand tastes like today, like my 1-year-old is prone to doing.

I always saw these rear positioned handled contraptions as being good for stopping kids from riding out across the road, as I’ve seen parents use them for. One you start just pushing them and seizing control of their steering, you’ve lost the plot.

We actually did buy a similar push trikes for my then 2 year old son. First of all I should note that I specifically did not buy one with a sun shade 5 point harness or cup holder. I thought it made the kid riding in it look like they had special needs. Ours had a push handle, and surround arms which we took off after about the second use and that is all it had. Our trike, and I believe the one pictured above are much smaller than a normal tricycle. My older son, who was 4 at the time was already too big for it when we bought it.

I actually think we used our bike in a free range way. My family regularly goes on mile long walks. At the time my son was not yet old enough to walk or ride with us under his own power but we did not want him in a stroller. We thought the trike was perfect because it made him feel like a big kid on a bike. He could pedal and steer when he wanted to and could get on and off by himself. He also had to put some effort into staying balanced on the thing. So it was much more active for him than a stroller. Sometime around his third birthday we put him onto a balance bike. At 3 years 10 months he is an expert on the balance bike and we are now trying to convince him to try a 2 wheel bike with pedals. He can easily keep up with the rest of us for a mile or two long walk. Actually if he is going full speed we can’t keep up with him anymore. We regularly see 3 year olds in srollers looking at him longingly as he rides past them.

So, I would say that if you are using one of the push trikes as a transition between a stroller and a real bike for a toddler, it is good. If it is being used to push a preschooler up the hill to the park, it is time to let them walk or ride on their own.

What? No TV? No Internet connection?

I think this also reflects parent’s desire for their kids to be able to do anything a parent thinks should be part of toddlerhood from the time a baby can sit up. The best use for a 5 point harness on a trike like this is to strap in a 6 month old. Now baby can “ride’ and she’ll have so much fun while mommy pushes her, only not really because she doesn’t care that she’s on that bike, not really. Like Bumpo seats that are molded so baby can sit up before they have developed the muscles to do so (and prevent building those muscles and delay genuine sitting up.) I can’t stand junk like this for kids, one more way to stunt their development under the guise of them doing things earlier.

I’m on the fence. As a tricycle, yes, the safety features are excessive, but as a stroller-to-tricycle transition device, once you remove the features that’d be appropriate for an infant or toddler, but excessivie for a preschooler (like the five-point harness and the parent push handle), it seems okay. My only concern is, there doesn’t seem to be a way to remove the side bars.

I just read pentamom’s drinking and driving comment. People at this ridiculous meeting are going to wonder why I just snorted coffee all over myself.
THANKS A LOT PENTAMOM. 😉

I lived in a metro area where I wouldn’t be surprised to see this contraption being used. With a helmet. I think the concept is cool, minus the bells and whistles. I would have considered buying one for my daughter and chucked everything except for the parent handlebar when she was 2. She would’ve outgrown it by the age of 4, developmentally. Then again, I probably would have gotten her a regular tricycle again and let her control it all while we walked down the middle of the street. We had a quiet neighborhood.

What bothers me most is that people would buy this because they feel the need to bubble wrap their kids against normal bumps and bruises. How are they going to learn if they aren’t allowed to fall on their faces once in a while?

Sigh.

Eventually they’ll think up a little computerized gizmo that electronically detects when a child is having ANY FUN AT ALL and locks the wheels in response.

Why not mount the bike to the floor like a spinning bike in front of the TV? Sign up for indoor, air-conditioned kiddie soulcycle- $300 for 8 weeks with free smoothies for the cup holders….

Suzanne, I couldn’t have put it better myself!
Mike in Virginia… if your little one can only move the big wheel with her fee then she’s exercising and learning how to move the bike with her feet. Then she’ll want to go faster or do what the bigger kids are doing and learn how to work the pedals with her own will, mind and strength.
And as far as a baby feeling independent? What about all of the people who grew up before the invention of this contraption? Are they suffering because they did not feel independence at 1 year of life? I don’t think so.

I agree, it’s intended to be used like a stroller at first, and like a regular trike later. On the version I know, all the extra stuff (push thingie, harness etc.) can be taken off.

I don’t understand why the kid doesn’t get a cup holder in all of that??

And it’s in the landfill in just 6 short months. MOre plastic crap to fill your child’s childhood with. Yuck.

My daughter received the primary color version of this for her 1st birthday. As a “starter” trike that is a more active and engaged than a stroller, it’s great. If people are buying this for their three year olds, then that’s a problem, but as a means of transporting a child who needs some sort of restraint, but hates being confined in a static manner, it’s a great compromise. And anything that makes it easier to get stuff to a hot park in the south in the summer, including necessary hydration when the water fountains don’t work, gets no snark from me.

Now that I think about it, I remember that my parents got me a traditional (albeit scaled-down) plastic tricycle when I was a baby–maybe one year old, maybe eighteen months, but it was definitely before I was two. Anyway, it didn’t have any “safety” features like the one in the picture, but I don’t remember ever getting hurt on it.

It must be a slow news day…

Yeah, I would consider this a very expensive stroller. (Of course it only works if you have only 1 kid needing a stroller.) (Which, if you had more than one kid needing a stroller, you wouldn’t waste time and money on stuff like this.)

Three months after my youngest learned to walk, we all walked (no wheels involved) to the park a mile away. We never used the stroller again, except for 1 trip to the zoo.

At 1.5 I bought my kids regular old-fashioned trikes. No belts, parental controls, sun protection. It took them a while to use them the “right way,” but the fallback of two feet always seemed sufficient.

I didn’t use strollers if my kids could walk, because I felt they needed the exercise as much as I did.

Oh, and neither of my kids (age 6) has reached 50 lbs as far as I know. They became too old for their trikes (in my judgment) years ago. Granted, there are some 4yos who are as big as my eldest, but really. If a child is 50lbs, he needs to move, not be pushed. His poor mother. When my kids were wee tots, the total weight of both kids and their double stroller was about 50 lbs, and I remember pushing that stroller up the hill. It was good exercise for me, I’ll admit.

I have to agree with everyone who found the weight limit disturbing. 50 lbs?!! That is the size of two two year olds. Also since it has a 5 point harness, where is the roll cage?

This is the problem with “grow with me” toys: the features that are reasonable for the youngest children often seem ridiculous for the oldest. In this case, the five point harness is for the youngest children using this — toddlers still at an age to wiggle out with no warning. It’s a fun substitute for a stroller that the kid can keep using as they get older. Similarly, the sun shade is a holdover from strollers and not designed for the tricycle age group. (Though if I could have a sun shade on my bike I wouldn’t turn it down. Some of us have skin that burns even when we put 75SPF sunblock on every hour.)

Everyone acting as if the drink holder is for the child clearly hasn’t bothered looking at the picture. The drink holder is for the parent. It’s on the push bar and couldn’t be accessed by the child even if they wanted to. If you’re out walking with your kid and want a water bottle with you I don’t see a problem. There aren’t drinking fountains on every corner anymore, if you want a drink when out you have to take it with you.

JJ-
I read this blog in two situations at work. Meetings (this is a government institution and the meetings are a waste of time and we’ve been having way too many meetings in the current DoD budget cuts and isn’t the whole purpose of budget cuts to make you more efficient and they could really just send a 2 sentence email instead of bringing in the entire workforce and I’m going to stop now before I go on a rant) and troubleshooting (tweak instrument, wait 3 min, tweak and wait, tweak and wait, bang on the damn thing with a wrench, tweak and wait- ah! Finally working!

Why is everyone up in arms about the 50 lbs? its just another selling point/disclaimer. It has to support a kid who will abuse it as kids do. Abusing a plastic toys can break them, which is one reason people complain about plastic products. The company had to test it and found that 50 lbs is enough to break it. There you go. No Liability and a selling point in one sentence.
If the trike was made of metal, like things used to be, it could support 150 pounds.

>>@JJ: Because our, or at least my, first thought is ‘will the parents ever let the kid reach Stage 3, or will they proceed pushing him and controlling him forever?’ <>If the trike was made of metal, like things used to be, it could support 150 pounds.<<

@Natalie–That's another good point. You'd think the "uber safety" movement would have been accompanied by a resurgence in the use of metal in kids' ride-on toys, but that hasn't happened. Metal is much sturdier than plastic, so why don't toy manufacturers use it for things that are meant to be ridden, climbed, or swung on?

Plastic doesn’t rust, and it’s cheaper to process, lighter without sacrificing too much strength, (sorry, materials science is kind of my thing)

There’s a downside too. Easier to break. Properties deteriorate with time (hence car seat expiration dates that people dont understand and therefore shout CONSPIRACY all the time).

You can also make plastic trikes that support 150 pounds but it will be more expensive, and a trike that supports 150 pounds isn’t enough of a selling point to justify the increase in the cost of materials.

The drink holder is funny because at somepoint, I cannot pinpoint it, but at some point in time people decided they can never let their little darlings leave the house without some form of hydration. When did it become mandatory to have a bottle of water in your hand at all times?

I do not care how hot you think it is, or how many hot weather warnings the tv posts, do you know how long it takes to become even remotely dehydrated? Unless you are in an activity that is pushing you physically, normal activities can be carried out without the need to constanty replenish your fluids. We never took drinks when we went out as kids. And not one of us ever shriveled up and got carried off by buzzards.

I think the idea of a removable, parent-push bar is genius. Would have saved my back a few aches.

I feed my kids sooner then they are starved and I allow them to drink sooner then they are dangerously dehydrated. I also drink sooner then I’m completely dehydrated.

Water with me has nothing to do with deadly dehydration. It has a lot to do with us staying longer outside cause we (including me) feel more comfortable. It has a lot to do with us being more active when we are not thirsty.

When in the history was the time when parents let 2-3 years old in hot sun without water for hours? And even older kids that used to play alone outside whole afternoon used to run home once in a while to drink.

“And even older kids that used to play alone outside whole afternoon used to run home once in a while to drink.”

Yes, that’s kind of the point. Used to run home to drink.

There is nothing wrong with water bottles or cup holders, but it’s not a given that a child not big enough to wander out of sight of the house alone is going to need a drink always within arm’s reach. She can go inside and get a drink.

It’s not the curse of civilization, but it’s not a necessity, yet it’s sort of treated like it is.

@Natalie: Are you still breathing?

@pentamom I prefere to take water with me over going home for it. Not everyone has house with yard full of kids to play with. Packing sand toys a kid, going home drink and back can easily takes half hour.

I’m just too lazy for that. I would rather havr the drink with me and play or chat with other parents.

And that is if we are in close park. The bigger one is almost half hour away if i’m taking the kid on shoulders. And i actually like the bigger one and i like long walks too, so your suggestion to go home would make my favourite places very impractical.

There is some difference between toys and tools you use when you spend most of the time around a house and what you use when you wander far away.

Typical overthetop response by Natalie, that I have come to expect. If you cannot read the essence of the message without it being explained to you, then please refrain from expressing your drivel.

For Natalie, and her limited intellect. I was not talking about being out for hours. So many people cannot even walk around the block without a bottle in their hand, their kids go to play at friends and they send water with them just incase
And yes it is an issue, considering most of this plastic ends up in landfills contaminating drinking water.

If you still cannot understand Natalie, sucks to be stupid.

Andy, great. But that means the kid needs a cupholder ON THE TRIKE, why?

This is the thing — I think it makes perfect sense to take water with you while going on an outing.

I find it less necessary that a child not even have to get out of her seat to get a drink.

Again, it’s not a terrible thing. I just think the fact that some designer somewhere thought it a good feature to put on a trike means that people are positively impressed by the idea of a child not even having to stand up to get a drink, and I find that strange.

I sort of get it, but it makes me weary. You’re just expected to have so much STUFF. It’s just one more transitional piece that keeps kids from walking and interacting freely, likely to break before it’s quite fulfilled it’s purpose, and whose assorted removable bits either have to be stored indefinitely in case the trike survives to be handed down, unless you just give up and throw them out so they can be landfill for generations.

The stuff that really, really interests babies and small children is not the stuff we are “supposed” to give them. Everything has to be bright, stimulating, and above all, SAFE plastic, when really they’d be better off climbing on other people and crawling in the dirt.

I’m sure I’m extra annoyed today because, once again, I saw a woman pushing a child, who was at least 8 years old, in a stroller. While I am more than cognizant that children sometimes have special needs, which require adaptations, I see really big, apparently neurotypical, and physically able kids in strollers much, much more often than can be explained by disability.

And another thing about cupholders. You know those fancy grocery store carts with cup holders? We don’t *need* those either but being able to bring my coffee with me, and still have hands free for the groceries, sure does take the edge off grocery shopping.

Okay, why would the bottles end up in landfills? What happened to taking the lid off the bottle and refilling it from the tap, putting the lid back on and using it again?

Not exactly rocket science.

I’ve seen these. And the kids using it are never actually *riding* it using the pedals to make themselves go; they’re always just, sitting there, like a lump, while their adult is pushing them. It’s like they turned a Big Wheels into nothing more than a pimped-out stroller.

I like the idea of an adjustable seat. My 2-year-old would love to ride his tricycle but his legs don’t reach the pedals. He does sail down the slope in it but can’t ride back up. And I like the idea of a the push-handle for parents. Would be useful on my 2-year-old’s tricycle to push him back up the hill without killing my back. But, I usually lean over him with my hands on the handles, put his feet up on the handle bars, and push it like a scooter, standing on the back end. He thinks it’s great fun. But the 5-point harness, sun shade, and cup holder? That’s a little too far.

Here’s my perspective on the whole water thing… I grew up back in the sixties, when apparently no one understood the need for good hydration. There was one drinking fountain in the hall of my school for more than a hundred kids, and you could drink from it only before school and during a few scheduled breaks. You could not get a drink at any other time, no matter how thirsty you were, and bringing water into the classroom was forbidden. The lines at the drinking fountain were long and breaks were very short, so unless you were at or near the front of the line, you wouldn’t get a chance to drink before the bell rang and you had to be back in your seat.

And of course children could not use the bathroom except at a few specified times, so in some ways it was to a child’s advantage to be dehydrated. The upshot of all this was that we all grew used to being dehydrated. Once your body becomes accustomed to it, you eventually stop feeling thirsty. Our health surely suffered as a result, but back then no one connected it to dehydration, or thought to improve our health by allowing us to drink water more frequently.

Fast forward a few decades, and you have people who grew up the way I did, who understand how unhealthful it was for us to be going about in a state of near-constant dehydration, and it’s understandable that some would overreact and go to the other extreme — always making sure Junior has a water bottle with him every time he goes outdoors, always taking bottled water everywhere, etc. Yes, it gets excessive sometimes, often comically so, but it’s understandable. And it beats the hell out of the way kids of my generation were raised.

I was the youngest of 10 and my first trike was a Radio Flyer red one that had been used (and survived) all of my older siblings. I still have it.

My kids also learned on the metal Radio Flyer and Big Wheels. There’s a difference between the child learning to pedal and turn and and adult doing it for them. I don’t understand the whole restraint here as kids get on an off the trikes all the time and this seems rather labor intensive. My toddlers had the attention span of gnats- they rode their trike, saw a pine cone, got off, got back on, had to pee, got back on, etc. And foot rests for…more resting and sedentary activity? Why bother if it’s not going to tire the kid out?

1. Why all the hate between Warren and Natalie? Seriously, Warren–you say sarcastic things all the time, that aren’t meant to be taken seriously, but then when Natalie does it, you jump on her? Also, calling someone stupid on a public Internet forum crosses the line between expressing an opinion and being inflammatory–and yet, you did it multiple times. Do you really think that that makes you look smarter?

2. Hineata has a good point about the need for a “transition toy” between a stroller and a tricycle–I mean, most people (myself included) didn’t need one, and yeah, I remember my parents telling me, on multiple occasions, that some things were meant for older kids–that I could ride a bike once I learned to balance, that I could go off the diving board/slide/Tarzan rope at the swimming pool once I’d learned to swim, and so on, and so forth.

3. Rachel has a very good point about the sheer amount of STUFF associated with these tricked-out, convertible toys. When the sun shade, safety bars, push handle, and harness come off, they’ll have to be stored somewhere, to be used with the next sibling, or handed down to a friend with a younger child, or sold, donated, or Freecycled. However, by the time that happens, there’ll be safety recalls, or a new toy that has even more “safety features,” and of course, every other week, there’s an article about how secondhand car seats or whatever are dangerous, and GOOD parents buy everything new for each child. So, yeah, most likely, this toy is going to end up in the landfill after Child #1 outgrows it.

4. Balance bikes are a good idea; however, the concept actually predates “traditional” pedal bicycles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandy_horse

A five-point harness? A few years ago I took a ride in a two-seat open cockpit biplane. The whole plane could fit in a large room. The pilot did some basic maneuvers, no loop the loops, but enough to make me nervous. And my seatbelt? A lap belt that was not even as protective as an average cars. No shoulder harness, no special buckle, just a thin lap belt and a basic buckle.

Does this really need a five point harness? No one wants a child to get hurt, but if they fall out, the odds are they will get a bruise or a lump. People need to remember that A- small things like that are a part of growing up and B- if a kid falls out and gets hurt, he or she was likely fooling around or being unsafe so falling down will be a lesson to them. But the odds of falling out are small anyway, since it has a safety bar, and I suspect that the product recommends wearing a helmet.

Bottom line, society places kids in cocoons yet somehow expects them to grow, explore, and learn. HOW?

Very useful, fun product for those of us with toddlers who live in urban areas with busy streets. The kid gets to pedal along his or her merry way; the parent gets to stroll; everyone’s out enjoying the fresh air and if whoever gets thirsty gets a sip of liquid. Good times…No biggie.

I see something like this quite often here, and the kid in the “driver’s seat” always has a great big grin, probably because getting to pretend-steer helps him feel active and capable. But the ones I see are wider and lower to the ground, probably because they aren’t convertible. Also, they have no sidebars or harnesses. I agree with the above poster: this model is tippy, and a five-point harness won’t help that. As for an attached sunshade, it’s just one more sticky-outy bit to get bent in storage. Put the kid in a hat.

I see no problem with buying a used wide-bottomed ridey-ride (what a little kid I know calls his) and then giving it away and buying a sturdy used metal trike. This is the flying car of kiddie transportation: either it’s a tippy, narrow ridey-ride, or it’s a plastic trike.

@pentamom “But that means the kid needs a cupholder ON THE TRIKE, why?”

The cupholder is on a place where kid can not reach. It is on handle – it is for parent. I did not heard anybody say that kid needs it within his own reach. I’m sure I did not said that.

But yes, I tend to leave bottle on places where my kid can reach. That way I do not have to stop whatever I’m doing to give kid water. The kid takes it when it want it. Yes, I’m often lazy parent.

Kid at the age where they are strapped into trike would not have to get out of seat anyway. Parent would hand him bottle no matter where it is stored, because getting out and in takes annoying time too. That would be like taking the kid out of stroller for drinking.

Good designers try to put things on places where those things would be practical. We do not have to assume helicopter thinking behind every little act or helper. Things are on places not only because someone thought they upper case need to be there. They are there often because it look cool to somebody or because they might be practical.

Warren- your comment about landfills was actually a good one, but not relevant since its not the point. You can just as easily use a reusable thermos or cup or whatever. A good 30 posts on this thread were dedicated to a cup holder on a product, which I found ridiculous, even though a lot of the comments were funny. You don’t need to take my comment personally as it wasn’t directed at you only, but at you and everyone else who thinks that people bringing along a drink is over-parenting. And even if my comment was directed at you personally, why can’t you laugh? It was supposed to be in jest. If you don’t find it funny, fine. So our sense of humors differ.

Why can’t you handle disagreement? Or criticism?

It’s how people learn things. That’s why I like comment threads. We’ve got a few experts in 19th century history, an expert in Aboriginal people, a lawyer, a psychologist, teachers of kids of all ages, people with varied childhood experiences that they draw from, people with 5 kids, people with no kids, people from Several continents all expressing their opinions. We’re not all going to agree, and we shouldn’t, that would be scary.

@Andy-

“Sometimes it looks like free-rangers are looking for reasons to be offended and assume helicoptering first”

Andy, you misunderstood. I am not offended by the trike, leashes, juice box holders, safety vests, stroller use, cup holders…any of it, if a parent finds it convienient or has circumstances where something makes a safety product useful. My point was that people become defensive if they like or use a products Lenore posts and often start defending their free range use of the product.

As for the trike not being marketed for safety….
“• 5-point seat belt harness and protective safety bar”
It’s a tricycle.

The “child development” part of the comment had more to to with other products, but was in part a reaction to the idea that kids NEED a product to transition from stroller to trike (and perhaps that really little toddlers, unable to use a tricycle safely yet, could use this sooner).

As I said, if the trike works for you, great. Other safety products work for you, great. My issue with overuse of safety products which ultimately impede a child’s learning real skills or inhibits independence when they are ready and circumstances make it appropriate.

What they don’t tell you is that you must attend a 40hr course on how to install and uninstall all those accesories (also, keep in mind you’ll have to rent a big space to keep the ones your kid has outgrown).
That’s why I’ll normally stick with the simpler stuff, though I guess it makes me a bad mum to value these things more than my children’s comfort and “safety” (they somehow manage to find new and exciting ways to attempt suicide, no matter how much I bubblewrap them).

@Andy, Natalie:

Not really. I’m not looking “to be offended”; I think it’s stupid to have product after product competing in “early advancement” and “safety” while at the same time insuring that the parent can and does control the child and hinders development.

On a regular trike, kid loses control, kid runs into curb, kid falls off. Kid learns to be more careful next time. Kid goes too far and gets tired, kid still has to get home. Kid learns to persevere and persist. My kids started off by jumping off the bike when it got going too fast. Bad idea, but they caught on after a few scrapes. Now they race triathlons.

This contraption fails on both the “advancement” and “safety”. One, kid will never really learn unless the parent relinquishes control of the handle, which they won’t, because they don’t want kid hurt. And if kid gets tired, parent will then take over and “help” him.

On the 5 point harness – if a kid is not old enough to sit up and hold his head up, kid should not be sitting up. Period. End of story. Strapping a kid up when he can’t do it himself is just silly. And if a kid can sit up, then she does not need a 5 point harness. How fast does the parent intend to go, anyway?

Get a simple stroller (we used a baby jogger) and a trike/bike with training wheels. If your kid can’t sit up on the bike, then they should not be on the bike.

The biggest issue I have with these kinds of toys is that they are disposable, and fill up our landfills, and are made to be replaced next year with the “better, safer, improved” model. And if a part breaks the whole thing gets tossed since replacement parts are not available. The whole idea of “grows with your child” is a joke with most of these contraptions; the thing will break long before your child will grow.

Our inexpensive baby jogger has now raised at least 4 kids over 15 years. Ditto for the bike trailer. Not sure where the training wheel bike is, but I know it it’s raised at least 4 kids as well.

None had a 5 point harness or a water bottle holder, although the bike trailer did have lap belts.

Andy, you make good points. I keep overlooking the fact that the kid is strapped in. I guess. I just have trouble wrapping my mind around a kid strapped into a tricycle, making it so inconvenient for a child to stop pedaling and jump up and get a drink when he wants. I still have it in my mind that a kid can jump in and out, get a drink when he wants, take a break when he wants…that everything does not need to be made so that the parent “doesn’t have to” do stuff that wouldn’t really require a parent “doing” anything in the first place — if the kid didn’t have to be strapped into stuff all the time.

I guess I’m still stuck in my own childhood of the late 60s and 70s and my young-child-rearing years of mostly the 90s, when people did not equip their kids for outings in the park as though they were moon landings, and the structure of “equipment” didn’t almost force them to.

I’d say it’s a stroller, not a trike. I have a good idea. If you have children that do not suffer from developmental delays, don’t bother with the “transition” from stroller to trike. Just get them a trike or have them walk.

At age two, I put my kids’ strollers away and had them start walking. They loved it. I never got them trikes. I gave them bikes with training wheels. My two oldest are five and three years old, they both got their first bikes this spring and I anticipate the training wheels will come off the five year old’s bike this summer.

@Jodie
“I use this with my son during his physical therapy.”

So here is another example of something that is for special needs children, which is being used instead for children that don’t need it… and slowly turning them INTO special needs children.

@JJ

“Does anyone make fun of the fact that “regular” strollers have straps that either are or are not used, a cover that can shade the babies’ little heads, or a place where you can put a cup? Do we also ridicule the babies who ride in other strollers as “getting fatter and fatter with inactivity”?”

Ridicule? No. But I do often say it’s a shame that people constantly put their babies/toddlers in plastic contraptions instead of actually touching and interacting with them.

Use a sling if they’re too young to walk, and let them out when you get where you’re going- they’ll walk faster if they aren’t constantly in plastic contraptions. Then once they can walk, have them walk. If they want to ride a trike, instead of getting a glorified stroller, let them ride an actual trike. Will they assert their independence/control over their own body by sometimes not going the exact way you want them to go? Sure, but that’s really something you have to deal with and learn to accept – you CAN’T completely control them, and they need to learn to make wise choices about themselves. It’s much better to deal with this while they are young than when they are a teenager…

This looks like the kid is going to “transition” into the motorized carts at stores, because walking for a prolonged period is too difficult – because they never did it. Of course, it’s completely possible that this is the only plastic contraption the parents will ever buy, this device will be used sparingly, and the kid will get lots of exercise aside from it – but how often does that actually happen? Usually this is not the first nor the last unnecessary contraption people buy, not the first nor the last time parents want more control than they should have…

@Natalie
You want to disagree, that’s great, you want to dramatize and mock, suck it up, that is different.
I really do not care how much water you or anyone else drinks. My point was about marketing and views of the public in general. On how god forbid they go anywhere without fluids. A point obviosly missed by you entirely.

As for transitional equipment such as the one here, that everone needs to remember, any piece of equipment meant to be multi functional, never fully meets the needs of one form of use. There is always compromises made for for another use.

People want to buy one item that does 10 things, instead of individual items meant for specific purposes.

Ask any mechanic worth their salt, no multifunctional tool is worth the material it is made from. The right piece of equipment for the right task.

Stones and glass houses Warren.

Disagreement is a good thing and you don’t need to get upset over it.

“But I do often say it’s a shame that people constantly put their babies/toddlers in plastic contraptions instead of actually touching and interacting with them. ”

Holy sanctimommy.

Can we agree that because some other people do things slightly different than we do it doesn’t make them bad parents? That there is more than one good way of doing things? That whether you carry your baby a sling or push him in a stroller, even a plastic one, that is really a minor detail in a child’s overall experience? Sometimes a plastic pushing contraption is just a plastic pushing contraption.

Also, Emily, Swiss Army knives.

There’s a big push in R&D for multi-functional materials.

I just really wish kid stuff was not so disposable. Most stuff that transitions, from cribs to roller skates, is not made from sturdy enough stuff to last the expected life of the item, and most of it is neither compostable, nor recyclable.

It’s a complaint that is applicable to almost all modern products, but it’s so much more glaring with kid stuff, because there is just so very much of it.

I can imagine a construction based on the Radio Flyer trikes of my childhood that could be handed down all around the neighborhood for 20 years, but this thing is going to be a collection of scattered parts (for most people) within two or three years.

@Warren–I know that just because something is popular doesn’t make it good, but that’s beside the point. As long as smartphones, Smart Trikes, video baby monitors, bathtub temperature ducks, babies’ pajamas that monitor the child’s vitals while they sleep, and countless other unnecessary “safety” products are popular, people will buy them, and the companies will keep making them. That’s why we need people like Lenore, and her Free Range movement–it’s a breath of fresh common sense.

P.S., Warren, I thought you had a Swiss Army knife, and liked it. Actually, anyone on this board could have mentioned Swiss Army knives, and you probably wouldn’t have snarked at them like you did at Natalie. Can we please all be adults here?

“But I do often say it’s a shame that people constantly put their babies/toddlers in plastic contraptions instead of actually touching and interacting with them.”

Holy sanctimommy!

When my youngest was 3, we took a family trip to Washington DC. Anyone who’s been there knows that seeing the sights of DC requires a lot of walking, and at the last minute I threw a borrowed umbrella stroller in the van. (Oh no, a GAS GUZZLER! And all that plastic, and fabric!)

Smartest thing I ever did. Sure he could walk, AND DID, (no I wasn’t about to wear him so that we could touch, and interact) but there were times when he was tired or we had a lot of ground to cover, and the stroller was a perfect solution. I didn’t keep him tied in it all day every day; in fact, I’m pretty sure I didn’t even use the attached ‘seatbelt’.

Maybe, Amanda Mathews, you could try to understand that very few parents are trying to avoid their children. You feel free to take a 3-year-old to Washington DC and touch and interact all day long; for me, that wasn’t the right decision.

No Emily, I carry a lock knife with 5 inch blade. A Swiss Army Knife is useless in my line of work. The blade it too weak and does not lock. Also the ones with a long enough blade, are to bulky for the back pocket.

I don’t have one & probably wouldn’t get one, but each kid is different & has different likes & needs. The only thing I will say in it’s defense is if you wanted to you could use in in place of a stroller & then you might want those things. If you have a child who will not stay on & is a runner like mine the straps might be nice & give you peace of mind & keep little johnny from darting out in the street. That said I think it’s a bit overkill. My son is such a wiggle worm that he can get out of the shoulder straps on both his highchair & stroller

Really? Really? Are you trying to tell me that swiss army knives and smart phones are not useful? Not good products? Are we REALLY having this discussion? I know I said you can’t handle disagreement without flying off the handle, but you don’t need to argue just for the sake of arguing. You should have been a lawyer, not a tire mechanic. Ask Donna about a career change.

Think about it. The best way to see if a multi-functional product is worth it, is to see if it holds up over time against the individual objects it incorporates. If sales are good and stay good, or increase, and sales decrease of the individual products, you’ve got a winner. If its a truly great product, it may make one or more of the objects that are incorporated obsolete. Does it mean it’s great for everyone? No.

The product doesn’t have to be great at any particular function or surpass one of the individual products its replacing in performance, you’re missing the point. They have to be good enough for the need they are meeting. The convenience, or money saved in only buying one product as opposed to several, has to be worth it in what you sacrifice in quality or performance in buying several specialty objects.

Swiss Army knives are great for camping trips, or just keeping in your pocket. They’re really convenient and oh boy are they useful, which is why they’ve been around for longer than anyone still alive. Do they cut better than one of those fancy Japanese kitchen knives? No, but they cut. And I’m not about to bring a fancy Japanese kitchen knife or hack saw with me on a camping trip. And do they cut my nails as well as nail clippers? Well, yes. Yes, they do. Do they open beer bottles and uncork wine bottles as well as… Oh, yeah. That too. And does it open cans as easily as one of those fancy electric can openers? No, but I have yet to meet a can my swiss army knife couldn’t open. And how well does it function as a screwdriver? Well, it depends on what you’re screwing or unscrewing. But few people walk around with a craftsman toolbox equipped with 4 different sizes of a Philipshead and 6 different sizes of a flat head. Many people (at least I do) walk around with a Swiss Army knife. It has other doohickeys that have been useful for prying things open, scraping things off, getting things unjammed, etc. Do you get the point? No, they don’t always function as well as single function products, nobody was making that claim, only you, but they provide other services/conveniences that the single-function product doesn’t.

Even an adjustable wrench. A wrench with one size on either end works better than an adjustable wrench. But even though the adjusting mechanism gets stuck sometimes and sometimes the wrench loosens and slips over the fitting and dulls the edges, I still use the adjustable wrench. Why? Because I only need about 3, whereas I’d need at least a dozen or more of the kind with only two sizes and of course the size you need is the size that you can NEVER FIND. And so, adjustable it is.

Smart phones. Not useful? Large part of the market doesn’t want them? If 100% of Earth does not want to buy a smart phone that does not mean it’s not a good product, or useful. I guess these billion dollar patent lawsuits that Apple and Samsung keep filing against each other is for some kind of niche product that no one wants, eh? Can a smartphone camera take as good a picture as one of those cameras that have a lens attachments 5 feet long? No. But you also don’t need a separate bag for all those extra attachments and UV filters. A smartphone can survive being dropped, a fancy camera? Not so much. Does a smartphone play music as well as a record player (I’ve been told by my audiophile husband that records have better sound than digitized music – i cant tell the difference) and receiver equipped with speakers the size of a closet? Nope. But I can’t take an entire stereo system with me.

And there’s no more, “Wait honey while I get the camera!” The kids have already hammed it up, pictures and videos have been taken, emailed to relatives and posted to Facebook before the other half of this smartphone free couple has made it back outside with the camera.

Not to mention the advent of apps. A subject so broad I’d rather not start.

That’s not to say that people need to get smartphones, or that they should. Are you anti-smartphone? More power to you. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a good, multi-functional product.

But really this whole ridiculous multi-functional discussion stems from the even more ridiculous discussion of a trikaroller (I decided I like my name for it). Is it as good as a stroller? (Depends on the stroller) Is it as good as a trike? (Depends on the trike) Or is it just another option in the average parent’s arsenal of kid crap? (I’m going to guess the latter) But how do we really know if its a good multi-functional product? We’ll have to wait and see what the market says.

Companies make crap for kids because parents buy it. Babies and toddlers really don’t need that much. Tupperware, random objects around the house, paper cups, spoons to bang with, oranges to roll across the floor, cabinets to open and close, sticks, leaves, rocks, dirt. If it’s there, they will play with it (mess with it, break it). I have never seen a bored 2 1/2 yr old. And how many people buy baby and toddler toys? Not because they need to, but because they want to. And if they want to, companies will make those products, we’re not arguing about consumerism, we agree on that, I’m just preaching to the choir at this point.

Are we done now? Or do you have something else to get off your chest?

Sorry Natalie you are right. Swiss Army knives are fantastic for women that cannot handle real knives or tools. So you keep yours and good luck.
You let the men folk handle the real knives and tools.

>>Sorry ladies and gentlemen, ever since Natalie labelled me a sexist, she has had a stick up her ass for me.<>Sorry Natalie you are right. Swiss Army knives are fantastic for women that cannot handle real knives or tools. So you keep yours and good luck.
You let the men folk handle the real knives and tools.<<

Warren, this comment really isn't helping your case on the "sexism" front.

When I was younger, if I complained that my legs were SOOO TIRED, my parents told me, “You’re legs aren’t broken. Let’s go.” So, I continue the grand tradition in my family of teaching my kid to suck it up, buttercup. I won’t use a parent push handle– if he’s not ready to ride by himself, he’s not ready. He can try again. (He’s still working on his balance bike, which will take some time I’m sure, as he’s not very coordinated at all.)

I find the whole harness-and-side-bars thing so curious. Then again, I only used the waist belt on my son’s stroller, before cutting him off on stroller rides between a year and eighteen months (though the stroller is rated for FIFTY POUNDS). His legs are not broken– when playing he runs, runs, runs, jumps, runs, jumps far, far longer than any walk we would take him on! So, he can keep going.

Oh dear Lord, what will they think of next? I didn’t have time to wade through all of the comments, so I hope I’m not repeating too much of what was already said.

I can see something like this for kids with special needs who may not be able to pedal a tricycle on their own or for an extended time. But the trend for kids without special needs seems to be balance bikes and then graduating to a regular 2-wheeler without the step of riding a tricycle.

It seems like a lot of products that are designed for kids with special needs are now being marketed for non-disabled kids. I remember the backpack for kids up to 60 pounds. That is another product that seems to be something for the special needs community that is marketed to families with kids without special needs.

Warren, it’s fine not to care what people think, but if you really feel that way, there’s no need to constantly insult that person. You just claimed not to care what Natalie thought, but then insulted her reading comprehension and her mental health in one post. That tells me that, on some level, you do care, because you have some strange desire to “win” the argument that’s been going on between the two of you since you met. Actually, about the Swiss Army knife debate, part of that was my fault, because I got your flip knife confused with a Swiss Army knife. The only person I know who carries a pocket knife on a regular basis, is (I think) my steel band teacher.

Remember when our parents used to say, “you have young legs, go fetch xyz”? Now some seem to believe that young legs are a disability.

@Tsu Dho Nimh: WHAT IF he falls into a lake? :))

“I didn’t say it was bad or wrong; just that I think it is a shame”

Um, what???

I am reminded of a friend’s daughter who, age 5, told me that she was using the neighborhood training bike (13″ two wheeler) to learn how to ride, but her mom had to hold the handle behind, because the bike was designed with no brakes! This girl is huge for her age, and I can’t imagine that she could successfully learn on a 13″ bike, but her parents don’t let her take any age-appropriate risks. (I do think the idea of a neighborhood sharing a lil bike is awesome! But if your kid’s turn doesn’t come until she’s as big as a third-grader, maybe go buy her something appropriately sized in the mean time?)

Emily –
Thanks, I appreciate you trying to explain things. I don’t think it will do much good.

Warren –
We’re not debating. A debate is when someone presents a talking point, and the other explains why they disagree and they present counter talking points. I’ve presented you with talking points, you respond with:

1) You’re stupid, off the wall, moronic, female.
2) You need a reality check. A mental check. An intelligence check. A reading comprehension check.
3) Get some therapy, life skillz, reading skillz, experience.
3) Shut up, suck it up, shut your yap, f*** off, etc, etc, etc.

For whatever reason, you can’t handle extended disagreement. Not just with me, but with anyone. Some of threads in the past between you are others are like a reality tv show. It’s a shame. If you could put your antagonism to the side, others could learn from you, and you could learn from others.

Can I just shake your hand SKL? I’m glad you understood what I was I trying to say. Or maybe you didn’t bother to read my bible-length posts, but it’s nice to see someone stepping back and seeing the forest.

LOL, Pentamom.

I guess we’ll never know whether the world would be a better place – or a worse place – if moms never ceased to carry, caress, and interact face-to-face with each of their precious darlings. Personally I would have been aching for a bit of alone time, but that’s probably just me. 🙂

We bought a trike like this (albeit without the harness and sun cover) for our youngest because it allowed us to go on our 3km evening stroll while our little ones ‘rode’ their bikes. The push handle was useful when my 3yo got tired pedaling on his own or decided he wanted to walk along the way. Although, I’m not sure if this particular brand would’ve been much use to us as the push handle looks too short for even me (5’4″) to use without stooping down. The back trailer was also nice for all the rocks and flowers (usually dandelions) that the kids would collect along the way.

I agree that this particular model is a bit over the top but also feel you can be free-range and still take advantage of some of the features of a trike like this one.

Wow. I just read through some of the comments and am shocked by how quickly it moved away from promoting free-range parenting (which I’m beginning to think has different and wide-ranging meanings for many people) and degenerated to antagonistic remarks about one’s personal choices and experiences unrelated to the free-range philosophy.

As I see it, whether or not someone owns this product or a similar one or a baby-sling does not define his/her parenting philosophy. (Nor does wanting to take a drink bottle with you on your short, long or very long walks with your toddler, for that matter.) Product choice is too much a reflection of one’s socio-economic status, financial status, education, geography, age, physical ability, etc for it to have any relevant meaning to a discussion on how raise independent kids. A product post will almost always become a battle between the have-got-it and the wouldn’t-think-of-buying-it which does nothing but put passionate free-range parents against other passionate free-range parents in a never-ending debate about …. Swiss Army Knives … Huh?! …. What was the point of this article again?