According to an old saying necessity is the mother of all invention. I suppose that is true, but there is another factor that is nearly as powerful a motivator. That motivator and mother to most inventions is laziness. Think about it for a minute. Someone too lazy to write by hand invented the typewriter. Someone too lazy to cook invented microwave dinners. A person perhaps too lazy to go shopping came up with the idea of online shopping. Probably a guy too lazy to change his oil figured out how to capitalize on this type of laziness and introduced us to the quickie lube joint. The list could go on forever.The stroller is the laziness induced creation that I am thinking of today. Somewhere along the line us lazy humans grew weary of carrying our babies everywhere. There are several inventions to help with this, but my favorite is the stroller. I will never wear one of those papoose sling type things. I will not judge any other guy for using them. Whatever you want to do is fine with me. I, however, am a country boy and there are just some lines we don't cross. I drive a four wheel drive. I own a high powered rifle. Like old Hank said I can skin a buck and run a trotline, but I will not have a baby sling draped around my shoulder no matter how convenient they are.
In the house I carry Braden like a good pack mule. Outside of the house he goes in the stroller. This makes shopping and any kind of outdoor adventure possible. Now that spring is here we will be putting plenty of miles on the stroller. We went to the park last weekend and plan to take plenty of laps around the walking trails with our baby buggy in the future. I plan on using it so much that I have to rotate the tires by mid June.
Braden loves to be outside. I'm happy about that because little boys ought to be outside. They should be out eating dirt, scraping their arms, tormenting the dogs, climbing trees, and all sorts of other fun things. Braden is a long way off from everything but eating dirt. I figure he would do that now if we let him. Until he is able to master all the other outdoor joys of childhood the stroller will be his window to the outside world. From its lofty seat he will enjoy the Arkansas summer. Thank you o lazy parent of the past for creating this modern baby transport wonder.
17 comments:
I agree about the stroller. But it doesn't end with just one, at least at my house. I was informed we needed TWO strollers. One is the Cadillac Escalade with all the bells and whistles. This thing is all pimped out, you can store a diaper bag in it and it folds up at the click of a button.
But sometimes the SUV is just too gawdy, so you need the Prius. We have an "umbrella stroller" (not sure why it's called that) which is smaller, more compact and we use it on short trips. It's easier to lug around too. I'm not sure why we need two, it's not like one gets better gas mileage, but I don't make the rules.
We have 2 as well, the umbrella, as Daddy Files mentioned is awesome for trips where you need more luggage room. But the big one is better for all terrain use. If you aren't on a sidewalk the umbrella doesn't work for crap.
The best thing about a stroller is that by the time they outgrow it they can walk on their own :)
@DaddyFiles - Its umbrella stroller cause it folds up to almost the size of an umbrella and then the curved handles even mimic a folded umbrella.
Nice post. Laziness does cause creativity. Creativity gives us new toys/inventions.
Now only if they had the self cleaning diaper.
Hey now, the man or woman who invented online shopping is my personal hero! We have two strollers as well. The one that came with the "travel system" is now in storage. And the light weight one we pretty much don't use anymore. Little man isn't fond of being in it these days, so I have to carry him around places unless there's a shopping cart involved. I will admit that I miss being able to toss him in the Baby Bjorn and have my hands free. When he was little I'd put him in that to get stuff done around the house.
@everyone: We have two strollers too. Our umbrella stroller is an Arkansas Razorback stroller so I like it a lot. We haven't used it yet though.
@PJ: I didn't say online shopping was bad. I like to do it too.
Great post, from one of my favorite authors on FF. Always takes me back to the day!
Fact: Rocks make excellent teethers.
Little man proves it to us almost daily.
Great post.
Apologies...just too lazy to write much today :-)
Kudos!
Strollers do rock, but I'm not sure they were laziness induced. Think about it, there were no parks, zoos or supermarkets way back when. Strollers became a necessity with baby as we did more and traveled to places with baby. That and with all the other equipment we bring along, you need your arms for other things.
I'm with you on the papoose/sling thing. I never wore one and am afraid of babies suffocating in them. Not to mention the dorkiness involved.
@MHD: Thanks. I am glad I can help take you back.
@Joel: great comment. I will remember that.
@Bella: Not necessary. As you can see I am comfortable with laziness.
@WeaselMomma: You are probably right but laziness is funnier.
A stroller is a very good thing. Sometimes I use it to push the baby around inside the house.
I can't see me in a papoose/sling either. Not that I need to feel all manly/testosterony while carrying my son, but the sling thing just brings to mind suckling babe images and weirds me out a little.
Take the lazy a step further, install a scooter motor on that stroller!
thank goodness my stroller days are over. i used to have the double one. it was great to wheel two kids around at a time, but it also was a p.i.t.a. for folding and lugging around. we eventually did the umbrella stroller, but since both my girls started walking around 8 or 9 mos it was often hard to keep them strapped in a stroller. they hated it. lol
We have two stollers but hopefully we wont need them to much longer. My baby is 28 lbs so I am thankful for the stoller. LOL!!!
Happy FF!!!!
We have two kinds of strollers and one son. One for jogging and one for other stuff. I don't know what I would do with out.
Thank god for strollers
I'm a part-time baby wearer (mostly because the carrier we have is hell on my back for an extended period of time...thank goodness it's borrowed), but we LOVE our stroller. I'm never more thankful for the stroller than when I'm in a mall and have to use the restroom. Tell me how anyone can pee with a kid strapped to your chest or back. Enter: awkwardness. LOL
Happy FF!
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