Have you heard the term "cruising" (referring to young kids)?

A British* friend of mine wrote in her blog that her young son enjoys “cruising.” I asked her what that meant, and she explained that it meant walking along while holding onto furniture.

I have tried googling “cruising children” but all I got were pages offering advice on taking kids on cruise ships.

So, have any of you heard the term “cruising” referring to a young child’s way of walking?

*My friend is from England and now lives in Scotland. I don’t know if “cruising” is an English or Scottish term, or maybe a very local term.

I’m in Maryland and have heard the term used that way. If you google “cruising toddler” you get the right kinds of links (and some about cruise ships) When Do Babies Start Walking?

I’ve never heard the term used that way, and you should probably count yourself luck that all you got were pages offering advice on taking kids on cruise ships when you googled “cruising children”. :eek:

No kidding!

Safe Search: ON!

Yes, one of the disposable diaper brands even has a type labeled as cruisers.

Sure. As a parent that’s the term we used.

Those kids are cruising for a bruising.

Yep. Grew up mostly in Missouri and I wouldn’t think of it as a regional thing or anything. It’s just what it’s called when a kid who can’t yet walk on their own walks around while holding onto furniture and stuff.

Yep, that’s the term I heard and used when my kids were in that mobile-skill-learning-curve phase.

Yes, all the time.

We used to cruise during our teenage years. However, we were in cars hoping to get a girl to hang onto, rather than furniture, even though both have legs.

I am so old…

The only time I’ve heard of “cruising” was in a legal sense. In Milwaukee there’s a certain strip of road that get’s very congested on the weekends. It’s just teens driving for a few mile in one direction to the other, making a U-Turn and going back. It got so bad that cops cracked down on it, if they saw your car/plate three times, you’d get a ticket for ‘cruising’ (I’m not sure what the official charge was).

Checking around online (not that it applies to the OP, I was just curios) the cops are actually cracking down on tinted windows, drag racing, bringing out drug dogs more readily and watching for cars that pass through a ‘check point’ more than twice in a two hour time period. Basically, like cracking down on prostitution or drugs, making people say 'hey, lets not go up there this weekend, I really don’t want to get my car towed.

Oh, so maybe it’s a parenting term. I’m not a parent, and I don’t do a lot of babysitting, so I hadn’t heard it before.

Yes, I have, and I think I heard it just a couple years after my daughter was that age, so maybe 25 years ago, or so.

I never heard it until I had a baby and began to read parenting websites. It’s all over those.

It’s a standard parenting term.

I’ve heard it for toddlers doing the assisted walking thing. And I never even had kids.

It’s a common term to me. I remember reading it in baby books and using it myself and hearing my friends use it. This was in the US over the past few decades.

That’s where I’ve heard it! Pennsylvania, USA, Earth.

Agreed that it’s a common parenting term, but I probably would have never heard it if I didn’t have a kid.