Strolling to obesity?

On weekends, Lisa, a mother of a 2- and 5-year-old, wouldn’t dream of leaving home without a stroller.

“If we don’t contain the kids, my husband and I can’t do any shopping,” says the public relations representative. “When they start running between the clothing racks, we say, ‘OK, we’re strapping you in and you’re staying put.’ ”

Of course, it’s not unusual to stroll a 2-year-old. In fact, strollers are normally used for children from infancy to 36 months of age, according to ASTM International, a nonprofit organization in West Conshohocken, PA, which sets stroller manufacturing standards.

But, take a look around at any mall — or even in your neighborhood — and you’re likely to see parents pushing kindergarten, or even grade school-age kids. It’s a burgeoning trend that hasn’t escaped stroller manufacturers.

Maclaren, the upscale British import, for example, upped the weight limit on its strollers to 55 pounds because consumers are using strollers for older and/or larger children. (Forty pounds was the industry standard.) Its Techno XLR model is even designed to hold a child up to 65 pounds and 44 inches tall.

Making larger strollers helps parents with busy lifestyles accomplish their goals. And let’s face it, if you have several hours’ worth of errands to run, or even a fitness level to maintain, being able to “containerize” a dawdling preschooler or older child in a “mega” stroller can make it all doable.

“Keeping Max, my 5-year-old, riding in our double stroller has been all about helping me get my exercise everyday as a busy mom,” says Christine D’Amico, author of “The Pregnant Woman’s Companion,” and the mother of three, who walks 40 minutes daily while her kids come along for the ride (the youngest up front in an infant carrier).

The right way to ‘strollercize’

Still, while strolling is excellent aerobic exercise for parents (D’Amico, for example, pushes and carries a total of 95 pounds of kid weight, which makes her daily stroll a “definite workout”), it does nothing for kids, which is a concern in light of the childhood obesity problem that’s raging.

According to recent government figures, nearly 12 percent of 2- to 19-year-olds are at or above the 97 percentile of body mass index for age-growth charts. Overweight kids have as much as an 80 percent chance of staying that way as an adult and suffering from weight-related health problems earlier on, like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Experts predict that the epidemic will get worse before it gets better unless we — and our kids — take action. Walking short distances is one thing, but it’s not realistic to expect a 4-, 5-, or 6-year-old to go the distance at the zoo, fair, or amusement park.

“A child of that age isn’t going to be able to walk for five or six hours,” says Cheryl B. Anderson, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics at the Children’s Nutrition Research Center at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Anderson thinks that strollers — like ice cream — are wonderful for older kids, but in moderation.

To keep your kids moving in the right direction, try these smart strolling strategies:

Downsize your to-do list. Instead of routinely cramming all of your errands into a day at the mall with your kids along for the ride, do as much as you can on your lunch hour so that weekend shopping trips are shorter and less sedentary for the kids.

“Give up a little bit of efficiency to get your kids more active,” urges James O. Hill, PhD, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Sciences Center in Denver, Colo.

Shop solo. If it’s possible, get a sitter or have your partner play tag with your kids at home, so you can trek through the stores unencumbered. It’s a win-win.

Don’t be pushy. On day trips, take a stroller along, but encourage your older children to walk as much as possible. Expect them to go in and out of the stroller; kids have a threshold of tolerance for both walking and sitting, says Anderson. Take their cues, rather than coaxing them to remain seated with an endless litany of snacks and other distractions, and factor in extra time. With older children on foot part of the time, you might not be able to cover the entire zoo, for example, in one shot.