Then there are the people who do park on one side, and then kneel to examine the merchandise on the other side, blocking the entire aisle. Or those that if they see a person with a cart parked on the left, park their’s on the right 2 inches away. Or those that park on the side, and have their horde of brats filling up the rest of the aisle.
Macy’s here got sued for having their aisles so close together wheel chairs couldn’t get through. It is not totally irrational though, I believe the more merchandise they display, the more the sales, so they have an incentive to cram things together. Of course it looks cheap.
Ivylass, I think Ivylad needs a sword cane for Christmas.
Some self-important college student was on her cell phone, ran a red light, and hit a mother walking home her five-year-old from school with her little sister in the stroller.
Actually, I’d rather see a parent dragging on a backpack and diaperbag and armloads of stuff for the kids to do/play with/eat/drink/be distracted by. I’m more optimistic about a flight where the kidlets aren’t so noticeable.
I travel heavy with the kid–I always think about being on those flights that were stuck on the ground in Detroit for 12 hours, out of water, etc. So I pack the carryons like I’m going on a week’s expedition across the south pole.
That’s my worst fear, of being hit like that. (Well, among my worst fears) There’s been a couple of times when I’m trying to cross this little road to get to the bus stop (There’s a main road, then a median and little more than a single lane road in front of the houses so they can drive and park there) and I’m starting to walk then this person will come from nowhere zooming down the road. I’m pretty sure the speed is supposed to be slower than the main drag too. I’m very careful at that spot, and will be even more so in winter. It’s not like I have a choice and not cross there.
My stroller rant:
I have a stroller too, but I really dislike doing the defensive driving. Watch where you’re going! Don’t run into my stroller, I’m doing my damndest to not run into yours and neither of our children like the jostling I’m sure.
And don’t butt in line for the elevators. I know it’s a pain you can only fit 3 strollers max in there (plus maybe 5 people depending how big they are) but the elevator goes up, and the elevator comes down. You can wait just like I did, the mall is busy and you’re not going to get anywhere fast even though you push the stroller like you’re in a crash derby.
It’s not just the size of the carts, it’s the size of the kids in those damn things. They’re not just infants, some of those kids look like they’re 6,7,8 years old and they’re lolling around in those things like little sultans, pointing at what they want. A whole generation of kids is getting so spoiled and catered to that I don’t know how they’re going to function as adults. when I see what looks like a 3rd grader in one of those carts I just want to yell at the lazy little bastards to get out and walk. No kid that can walk should be in a stroller.
Our daughter quite riding in strollers by the time she was two and even the stroller we did have was a little lightweight, collapsible thing that took up hardly any room.
So many people these days seem to think they’re entitled to some sort of fawning deference from everyone else just because they’ve managed to reproduce. You can see the expressions on their faces as they come barrelling around corners. They just take it as a given that you will get out of their way because they are special because they have the fucking Christ Child in a Winnebago stroller.
I wonder how those parents are going to feel when the kid is 28 and still living at home and doesn’t have a job.
I figure the amount of crap a Mom is dragging around is directly proportional to her terror level. When I first started out in this baby endeavor, I packed everything I could get my hands on & took it all with me. Need nails clipped? Gotcha. Nose syringe? Covered. And if you see a mom dragging tons of junk and her hair’s in a ponytail & she’s not wearing any lipstick, there’s an excellent chance you’re looking at a woman who hasn’t slept in the past month. In which case the only smart move is to stay out of her way.
Just for the record, the absolute WORST outing we’ve had yet with the twins occurred yesterday SANS STROLLER. Hubby and I took them both to the grocery store with us and then each of us took a kid and a cart. We accomplished less together than either of us would’ve alone. So I hear this wailing child approaching and looking over I realize, egad, that’s MY kid! And that desperate looking man is MY husband! I actually KNOW these people! However, everyone in the checkout line remarked about how cute they are (which is true).
Now today the kids and I managed to get through Target with nary a mishap. Bryce chewed on his sister’s shoe the whole time (while it was still on her foot) but he didn’t manage to get his own shoe off until we were back to our car.
I remember something that happened back when I was still in high school, and being the typical teenage high school kid, my friends and I were “hanging out” at the mall. We were waiting in line to buy food, and it was one of those food court chinese places where you tell the people behind the counter what to scoop into your plate and move along when they’re done. So we got our scoops of slop, and the woman behind us had a mall-rented stroller which was big and plastic, and designed to look like a mini-taxi. She was pushing it back and forth, in what I think was an attempt to rock the kid. She kept pushing it into the back of my friend’s ankle, and for the first three times, she ignored it. Then she twirled around and glared at the lady. The lady looks at her glare, giggles, and says “Sooooorreeee.” About two seconds pass, and the lady does it again. Another death glare from my friend, and the lady says “Oooooops!” After another two seconds, she starts pushing the stroller again, and my friend lost her cool and half slammed, and half threw the pile of slop onto the lady and her kid. She walked away cooly, and I stood there just :eek: .
That reminds me, one day I was wandering the mall and I walked past this other lady pushing a stroller. She had a baby, no more than 6 months old I’d guess, under one arm. I glanced back, because I like to get a look at the other babies as I pass… and did a double take when I realized there was a girl about 7 or so lazing in the stroller. She was awake, didn’t look like there was anything wrong with her (and I realize that’s no indication of anything but she was sitting over the tray and not strapped in; which I doubt any parent would do if there was a good reason to be pushing her in the stroller). I wanted to pull her out so the mom could let her arm have a rest from carrying the baby!
<--------Glances at OP’s post count…
Yup, he’s been around for awhile. I’ll betchoo a dark choccy dove bar that this thread won’t make it without SOMEONE crankily coming in to defend their own stroller use
Both times I had a child of Stroller Age, I was lucky enough to live within walking distance of a small but pleasant shopping district. I often chose to walk to the store, pushing the pram or stroller, to pick up milk or bread or whatever other little thing we needed. On days when I didn’t have some shopping to do, I’d often take the baby out anyway, for fresh air for both of us and a bit of exercise for me.
I couldn’t imagine doing that with an itty bitty umbrella stroller. Both kids had a real, old-fashioned pram, and when they outgrew that, they had a stroller with a seat that fastened to the undercarriage that had carried the pram bed. Why? For one thing, they spent a lot of time in there - often we’d be out for well over an hour. I wanted them to be comfortable, I wanted their little necks and backs to be properly supported. (I hate to see newborn babies propped up in umbrella strollers months before their bodies are ready to sit.) In addition, they are much better to push. Big wheels are more stable and roll easier when going over bumps… or through snow and slush. In bad weather, the kids were protected from drafts, there was plenty of room for warm clothes and blankets, and I could put a rain cover over the whole thing to keep them dry. Finally, it had a basket underneath that was great for carrying a diaper bag, groceries, or whatever else I wanted. If you’re really going to use it, a big stroller or pram is a wonderful thing.
Of course, when you see the ones that live in the trunk of the car and only come out to be pushed around the mall… those, I couldn’t tell ya.
I tend to think parents of children who aren’t old enough to walk should be relegated to second or third class citizenship.
They shouldn’t be allowed to go to the movies, ride on public or mass transit of any kind, go to restaurants, et cetera with their children.
For the absolute necessities like grocery and food they can bring their children out into he world but they have to pay a 10% inconvenience tax on every purchase, the proceeds of which are routed into my bank accounts.
Bravo! So often I disagree with you, but I’ve got to say, you are 100% dead on point with this: the sense of entitlement people seem to display thee days is just mind-boggling at times.
I just hope that there are enough of us “old-timers” in the work force when these privileged brats try to get jobs that they will receive the awakening to the Real World ™ they should have gotten years ago.
DtC, I seldom agree with you about anything at all. The exception is your views on child rearing, which I’m largely in agreement with.
You’re a pretty good dad, from the looks of it, and that’s really saying something. Given that I have three kids under the age of 3, I know firsthand how tough it can be doing the right thing by your kids.
Keep it up, and keep sharing tales and tips from your experience.
The only thing that really irritates me about those with strollers are the inconsiderate clods who do things like run over my feet or park the stroller so that it’s impossible to get around it. Back when I used public transportation, it was more than a little aggravating to have my foot run over half a dozen times so that some ass could try to fit a 3’ wide stroller down the 2’ wide aisle on the bus. Small stroller on the bus that doesn’t get in the way and that I can actually get past when trying to exit the bus, no problem. Big ass stroller running over my foot or creating a barricade that prevents people exiting the bus, huge problem.
These people are usually those who are inconsiderate whether or not they have a stroller, and don’t give a damn how many people they run into or mangle in order to keep with their effort that they, and by extension little snookums, is the most important person in the fucking world.
The absolute worst thing, though, was at the grocery store when they had the little tyke carts that the little snookums could push around to ‘Help Mommy Shop’. Those things were a freaking disaster, and just the right height to run into the knees and do damage. Thankfully, they got rid of those.
[Hijack]I walk right past the latter location every work day on my commute. :D[/hijack]
I think some people are simply oblivious regardless of what they’re doing, but a number of them seem to get some attitude about the fact since that they have a child, others must look out for them and not vice versa.
My husband was shopping at Costco, and had parked his shopping cart in the major aisle, pulled to the side against an endcap so he was out of the way while he was checking something out. He looked up and saw a woman leading her little kid by the hand, with enough room for her to walk right past his cart but smacking the kid face-first (before he had time to say anything) right into his nonmoving-for-the-past-couple-minutes cart. Kid falls on rear and cries, mom starts to yell at my husband for “running down” her child, then the dad runs up - obviously having seen the whole thing from a distance but not able to stop it in time - and apologizes to my husband, then takes his wife and kid and starts telling his wife how she needs to pay attention, as he hurries them off.
And when I visited Rome and went to their big flea market, the Porta Portese, I was wincing at seeing these little ones in regular, small strollers with their little bare feet sticking out the front. The crowd was literally shoulder-to-shoulder in that flea market, to the point where you were squeezing past people and often unable to see things like that the “empty” space on the other side of that big person in your way is actually occupied by a stroller. In that location, I was thinking that the somewhat bigger versions of strollers - at least so the baby wasn’t so exposed and unprotected - might have been wiser.
