I know this message is COMPLETELY pointless but I just have to give out about prams clogging up streets and shops and getting in my way in general
Dazed and Confused
Rockchick
Yeah, they are pretty annoying, but people tend to frown upon dragging the baby on the ground behind you. What are ya gonna do?
I for one would love to trade in my son’s stroller for one of those big ole black prams like in the movies. Sure I’d take up the entire store aisle, but it’d be cool.
Ok, I have an odd definition of “cool”.
“I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
Yes, I push a stroller …just to piss people like you off. I like annoying people who enjoy listening to Nirvana and Guns & Roses. :rolleyes:
Seriously, though, what the fuck do you expect the mothers of world to do?
Get bent.
Prairie Rose
If you’re not part of the solution you’re just scumming up the bottom of the beaker.
In some cultures babies (even old people) are revered–prams and all. Go figure?
I wonder how that test in Blade Runner would have gone if the question were, "You’re in the mall shopping, a pram blocks your way. How do you feel.
Enraged? It’s just a test Leon.
It’s aisle rage!!
You mean in some cultures they actually put old people in prams and push them around? Here I thought I was the only one…
Still later, Gerald did a terrible thing to Elsie with a saucepan.
I’d just like to say I had never heard the word “pram” before reading Angela’s Ashes. Actually, since I only read the word, I suppose I still haven’t heard it.
Teaching: The ultimate birth control method.
My pet peeve is bleeping jaywalkers with strollers.
You’ve never seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail? and the Camelot song?
I have a hobby. I have the world’s largest collection of seashells. I keep it scattered on beaches all over the world. Maybe you’ve seen some of it.
Yes, you’ve got to transport the babe some way, but:
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double wide strollers for one kid?
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kids as old as eight riding around in them? (I see this repeatedly, lots and lots of them at state fairs or at Disneyworld)
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at Ren Fests, where the is no pavement? (plus it’s even more anachronistic than everything else there)
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stroller as batering ram or as slowly moving/wavering/weaving obstacles?
Those of us without kids (and even those of us with them) would appreciate if the stroller were not used as a license for either being a jerk or to injure everyone else around. It’s a little like Marge’s comment on getting a “Baby on Board” tag–“now people will stop intentionally ramming us!”
Bucky
Oh, well. We can always make more killbots.
Some of those prams/strollers are expensive, Bucky. Some parents consider that cost an investment in the safety and health of the child. And just perhaps the other kid’s at home, in the hospital, somewhere with the other parent, etc. Just for you though, I’m sure all the parents on the planet with more than one child of nearly the same age will rush right out and buy a single child stroller right now…to hell with the cost! Heaven forbid that Bucky be inconvenienced even in the slightest.
Okay, we now know the stroller is their license to be a jerk; what’s yours?
That is so 1993.
Joph, I have the same definition of ‘cool’…but I really like the little lever thingy that locks the stroller wheels so I can park him in an inconvenient place while I sit down and read a book.
Damn, RC…have a baby or two, then try carrying them around all day, along with your bag of stuff, their bag of stuff, and whatever bags of stuff you pick up along the way. I guarantee you’ll be laying out for a stroller after less than a day.
“I like toast.” 
Yes, strollers are a necessity. I remember being carted around on one when I was very little. So I’m not about to bitch about them now that I’m an adult.
However, there are a few parents that do use them as an excuse to be jerks. They can be selfish, oblivious. This is just a small portion of a rant that I periodically have against some people who think that they can let their kids run wild, or act as if the World Should Be Enchanted With My Child, No Matter How Bratty They Are. (Or how inconsiderate the parents are.) I’m talking about a (I hope) minority of parents here…most aren’t like that, or are acting more out of exhuastion than out of inconsideration and selfishness. I have great sympathy for exhaustion.
My personal experience of a Damned Stroller happened in a mall - I was walking around, minding my own business, when some kids (probably 8 or 9) rushed towards me, pushing a stroller. (Obviously mom or dad thought the kids were up to pushing it). Damed stroller rammed right into my hand as they rushed by. hurt like hell, and screwed up my hand for days. The damned little snots just kept on barrelling on with the stroller, going at the same fast clip (though they did pause briefly to give me owl-like looks as I yelped and held my hand in pain.) So, yeah, I have no fondness for strollers - some people are irresponsible with them, or allow small children control over them, which is equally irresponsible.
Reminds me of a true story from a few years ago. A couple, from Norway I believe, went into a NYC resturant, and left their baby alone outside in a stroller. Somehow the cops got there before the child was taken or hurt.
The parents said it was common practice where they were from. IIRC, they were almost charged with abandonment or some such.
I use a backpack carrier at places that a stroller would be impossible. I’d use it to shop as well, but even though he’s only 8 mos old he’s getting heavy for that for long periods of time (25 lbs), and he pulls my hair. 
I try to be extremely courteous with my stroller. I just resent those people like Rockchick who seem to have an axe to grind with anyone with kids that dares to take them out in public.
Prairie Rose
If you’re not part of the solution you’re just scumming up the bottom of the beaker.
Klaatu:
Yeah, it happened at a bar in the East Village. The woman was from Denmark, and she was boozing it up with her boyfriend while the stroller sat outside in 26-degree temperatures. A waitron called the police (after telling her to bring the child inside), and the cops came and took her daughter (about a year old, I think) away for a day or two; she had to jump through hoops to get her back.
She turned around and sued the City for a hundred million bucks or some damn thing. I think she ended up settling a a few thousand.
I’m STILL not sure why we paid the bitch…she may have been from Denmark, but her boyfriend was from Brooklyn. You’d think the schlub would’ve pointed out to her that she wasn’t in Kansas any more.
Her piteous claim was that “This is common behavior in Denmark.” I kept waiting for aomeone to point out to her that she wasn’t IN Denmark at the time…
Uke
Not that I’m Danish or anything, but it seems highly unlikely that leaving your baby in the street whilst tanking up with liquor inside a bar is common practise in Denmark either.
I can see the point - Denmark being safer, you can leave your kid outside for 2 minutes in front of the grocery store etc. - but come on, drinking at a bar is a different thing.
Amazing she even got a few thousand.
Coldfire
"You know how complex women are"
- Neil Peart, Rush (1993)
(now the system won’t let me quote the whole posting–dang)
So, Monty, is the fact that some of the double-wides are expensive justification for ramming into the back of my leg (it has happened more than once). Why is a stroller safer for the kid than a backpack or a papoose? Safety I understand, but how does it effect health? Does ramming me make their kid safer? It certainly could reduce the physical possibility of my having any, if I get rammed in the right/wrong place.
And yes, please, let’s only worry about the convenience of parents and kids. Everyone else is just scum anyway.
I got my license to be a jerk when I served the Queen herself. I was hoping for license to kill, but they only give out 009 of those.
Bucky
Oh, well. We can always make more killbots.
If your kid is an escape artist, the way my niece Hailey is, the stroller is much safer. This little one year old moppet can even wiggle out of a car seat! Suffice it to say it’s going to be less harmful if she gets out of the stroller than out of the backpack, since the latter involves a longer fall.
Luckily for me, Christopher is pretty docile and will settle for the backpack or the stroller.
Last week I had to take all three (twin nieces, one of which is the aforementioned escape artist) and my 8 month old son to the mall for an errand. Two went in the double stroller (not double wide, one twin sits behind the other), and Chris in the backpack. Since they’re all about the same size (Chris is a giant!) folks thought I had triplets and gave me a wide berth.
Prairie “up to my armpits in kids” Rose
If you’re not part of the solution you’re just scumming up the bottom of the beaker.