Stroller Power
We took a family trip to the Grove in Hollywood a few weeks back. For those of you non-Californians, the Grove is the gorgeous outdoor mall of Los Angeles. During the holiday season, they display the largest Christmas Tree in the Western Hemisphere. The day we went there fell during the week that the iPad was released, so the Mac store was bumping. I left the Life of Dad website up on a couple of iMacs. You should all do the same whenever you visit an electronics store from now until 2027.
When you take a trip with a newborn, odds are you will be putting him or her in a stroller. I read a really helpful introduction to strollers article. This being one of my first stroller outings, I realized for the first time the power that is associated with pushing a stroller.
Similar to biblical times, if you approach a crowd with a stroller, the seas will part. The stroller also gives you an excuse to walk as slowly as you want. The most amazing part, even if you are in heavy foot traffic, you can just stop anytime and anywhere you want to take care of your baby. You have the stroller right of way.
Kind of like when you wear a costume on Halloween, almost all rules disappear when you are pushing a stroller. You become fearless. I think I could walk in a large crowd with a stroller, look at the sky and let out a scream, without a big reaction from other pedestrians. I could probably get away with gargling in public, as long as a stroller was nearby.
We pushed our baby all around the mall, in and out of stores, and stopped for a fun lunch at one of the outdoor restaurants. The restaurant gave us free bread before our meal, just because we had a stroller.
When we were leaving the Grove, I put the baby in the car, and Lucy was caring for her as she was crying. I had the job of breaking down the stroller, and putting it in our car. This task is much easier said than done. There were two cars waiting for our parking spot, and I could see the drivers already drooling about testing the iPad.
Still trying to figure out how to collapse the stroller, I realized that I could take as long as I want, and these drivers had no right to get angry with me. At least not vocally. I had the stroller right of way. I also had no idea how to break down the stroller, but at this point I wasn’t rushing. The Power of the Stroller was on my side. I had the ultimate excuse.
Finally, I figured it out, placed the stroller in the car, and drove off. I’m sure the people that got my parking spot rushed to the Apple Store, and played the new “Stroller Adventures” game on the iPad. The game features the superhuman powers you acquire when simply pushing a stroller.
Stay tuned for part two “Stroller Power” coming next week to Life of Dad.