Where to find a six passenger stroller ????

[Inspired by Reggio]

Thanks everyone for all of the helpful tips ans suggestions! I never even considered my back....I do have 2 that can walk fairly well atm so I am going to re-think this purchase and consider something smaller or even the wagon idea! Thanks again!!

Wise choice cause we only get ONE body and we need to keep it our prime concern ~ if we do not take care of ourselves we end up being no good to anyone ... our challenge in our industry is we are so busy taking care of everyone else we often neglect ourselves

In addition to promoting children who are able to WALK whenever possible also look for ways in your program to minimize your over all lifting and bending ...

• Be mindful of the age and stage of your group when enrolling new children ... there are many reasons why regulated home childcare rules limit the number of 'infants' we can care for and the amount of lifting / bending and carrying required of this age group is one of them. In centre care they can rotate staff around in the various age groups to give their backs/knees healing time from repetitive lifting and bending but in home childcare it is harder for us cause we seem to always have a baby on board but if we can at least minimize that to only 1-2 it will help!
  
• If you use a change table for diapering look for a 'step system' to have children walk up to it and lie down instead of you repetitively picking them up and putting them down OR gather all your supplies for diapering, sit down on the floor or couch or bed whichever is most comfortable and call them over one by one to get changed so you are not repeatedly standing up and sitting down again and you are doing no lifting at all cause they should be able to lay down on floor or climb onto a couch or bed fairly independently early.
  
• Invest in a child size table in order to get children as soon as possible able to sit independently without needing lifting into high chairs or boosters at the adult size tables ... my group is out of a highchair and sitting at the child's table starting at about 16 months and even my highchairs are not 'high chairs' they are booster seats attached to the 12 inch child size chairs so they can start helping to climb into those as soon as able and I just need to bend to help buckle them in and put on the tray.
  
• Transfer children to a sleep mat or cot as soon as they are able to manage to minimize lifting in and out of the pack and plays daily ... I do this at around 16 months cause in centres this was when kids graduated to toddler room and lost 'crib option' anyway so I know it is perfectly reasonable to have 15 toddlers all sleeping on cots calmly with none running loose in that environment so 5 in a small home environment is a piece of cake!
  
• Set up your playroom with labelled storage system so that the children are responsible for the PRIME tidy up portion to minimize your repetitive bending and picking things up after them ... this is their environment and they are never too young to learn to respect it and take care of it and do their part
  
• If you transport children via a van ... keep a step stool in it to put down on the ground so children can begin crawling up into their seats again with minimal lifting and bending on your part.
  
• When you are the park or in your backyard ~ remember that if the child is not able to climb up on own or master a piece of equipment on their OWN without you lifting them up there than they are not ready to be on the piece of equipment because they likely do not have the grasp of cause and effect not to walk off that piece of equipment cause they have not figured out how to get on it in the first place through the small slips and falls at the beginning and that is part of the learning process the higher you master climbing ... and running and catching a falling child because they were not developmentally ready to be on a piece of equipment is VERY HARD on the back and knees!
  
• When choosing 'large equipment' for your playroom like cots, tables, chairs, and so forth take into account how 'heavy' they are and how often you will be required to move them .... if they way a TON and you have to share your space and stack them up and move them around daily than might be wiser to invest in a something lighter even if it COSTS MORE cause in the long run it will be a wise investment.

So for example they use to sell these sturdy wooden cots that stacked nicely for centres and you could hang a 'cover' over that allowed them to serve as a learning station with a felt board and so forth when not in use ~ they seemed ideal and a lot of centres had them but the cots weighed about 15 pounds each due to the wood nature and they killed backs lifting and bending to stack them twice daily and eventually centres started selling them off to home childcare providers in favor of 'lighter mess cots' .... so if someone is selling THOSE online cause they have a life of forever you might want to 'reconsider' the long term damage they will do to you if you are having to lift and store 5 of those around your home.

These are some of the many ways that even after a herniated disc and being defined as 'permanently disabled' by the Dr that I am able to stay IN the field and manage within my disability of not suppose to be lifting and bending anything over 5 pounds on a repetitive basis ... and even with all those precautions I still over do it on occasion and end up with my disc getting inflamed and bulging back out to hit the nerve and in severe pain

When I worked in HR end of things in daycare permanent back/knee injuries were the number 1 contributor for rising insurance premiums for centres who offered employees 'short and long term' disability where staff buggered themselves up so bad they could not work at all, needed surgery and often could not return to work and had to be retrained .... this trend is also one of the reasons why ALL the childcare industry is except from participating in WSIB like other industries where it is mandatory and why MOST childcare centres no longer offer optional extended benefits cause eventually it KILLS them financially with the employer premium due to claims for backs / knees.

[angelina]

Thanks everyone for all of the helpful tips ans suggestions! I never even considered my back....I do have 2 that can walk fairly well atm so I am going to re-think this purchase and consider something smaller or even the wagon idea! Thanks again!!

i am a small lady around 5 ft 5. Maxed of 4 kids is all I can push.

I purchased a Runabout Quad, and it serves me well, locking 4 of them when we cross big roads. However, I let them out of the stroller to walk. Averaging 20lbs +, these kids can break our backs.

Angie