Mom Shares Reason Her One-Year-Old Isn’t Walking Yet: ‘Passenger Princess’

A mom of five has gone viral after sharing the peculiar reason why her youngest daughter still isn’t walking yet at the age of 13 months old, but it’s not quite what you think.

Having a toddler means Justine Ilarda, 38, certainly has her hands full, but luckily she has four older daughters who are more than happy to help out. Ilarda, from Australia, said that her children, who are aged 14, 12, 7, and 4, dote over their youngest sister, telling Newsweek that they “would do anything for her.”

But perhaps they love the 13-month-old a little too much, as Ilarda shared a humorous video on TikTok (@justy_olive) suggesting that the reason Matilda isn’t walking yet is because her siblings carry her round all the time and never put her down. Alongside the clip, which was posted in jest, the caption joked: “Why walk when you can be a passenger princess?”

Needless to say, Matilda appears to love all the attention they give her, and Ilarda added that it makes her “so happy to see how loving they are” towards the youngest. The video went viral with more than 1.6 million views and over 194,900 likes, as many social media users loved seeing the bond between all the sisters.

She told Newsweek: “They don’t actually carry her around all the time. I also don’t think she is delayed at all, but I just thought this would be a funny video to show just how loving the big girls are towards Matilda. She cruises around on furniture, loves her walker, but also has become the fastest crawler I’ve ever seen. She is close to walking, but not yet.

“I’m not concerned about her development as she’s hitting milestones perfectly. After having five kids, I know all too well that every baby develops differently. One of my girls walked at 12 months, one at 13 months, one at 14 months and one at 15 months and their development was right on track.”

In the first few months and years of a child’s life, their parents will be excitedly tracking every milestone when they hit it–whether that’s saying “mama” for the first time, eating solids, or taking those vital first steps. Around the age of a year old, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that most children should be able to wave, understand the word “no,” pull themselves up to stand, and potentially walk.

Although that doesn’t mean parents should be concerned if their child can’t do those things yet, as the CDC adds that a milestone is only an approximate guideline of what children (75 percent or more) can do by a certain age.

Walking usually happens once a child has developed their balance and coordination, as well as learning how to support their body weight. WebMD suggests that most children start crawling between 6 to 9 months, then from 9 to 12 months they might stand up and explore a bit further. Ultimately, parents can hope to see their child start walking around 11 to 13 months old, but again WebMD highlights that every child is different and they’ll hit the milestones as and when they’re ready.

By playing together and encouraging movement, parents can facilitate their child’s development and build their muscle strength.

After sharing the video of Matilda being happily carried everywhere by her older sisters, Ilarda was overwhelmed by the positive reaction she received online.

“This video first went viral on Instagram where most of the of comments were positive. They all thought it was cute and so many told me their babies didn’t walk until they were 15 to 17 months, or even more,” she continued.

“There were some comments from people who thought my kids actually carried her 24/7, which was delaying her development. As much as my girls love their baby sister, they are still kids at the end of the day and they have much better things to do than carry her around all the time.”

With over 300 comments on the viral post so far, many parents reached out to Ilarda to show support and share their own parenting experiences. One comment reads: “My baby started walking at 14 months. There’s tons of benefits to babies walking at a later stage.”

Another person responded: “All 3 of mine have walked later. Still waiting on my 14 month old to take his first steps.”

While others loved seeing how happy Matilda is with her sisters, as one TikToker wrote: “Those big smiles say ‘I can be a passenger princess whenever I want.'”

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