HA HA! I love it! People bitchin' about strollers at the state fair!

[Rabrrrrrr]

Watching the news, and they did a segment of peple at the MN state fair bitchin' about the assholes with their giant-ass baby strollers, including the double-wides.

People can be awfully obnoxious with strollers. Really annoying.

One woman, who had a stroller, had some kind of extendo-arm on the front of it which she said helps work to tell people "Move! Stroller coming through!"

What a bitch.

And yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, this looks like I'm coming down on parents and calling them shitheadcs and stuff, so before you go all knee-jerk emotional and flame me, let it be known I'm not against parents - I'm against parents who ram people with strollers and assume that the world must automatically part for them to come through without them saying "Excuse me" or be willing to wait a few seconds, etc. This post is against those who refuse to be courteous and expect the world to conform to their needs. This post is against those parents who are absolutely sure that their little baby is the most important person in the world and we should all bow to him/her, and be damned grateful that, finally, two people have breeded so perfectly.

This post is also against George Shrub - you are a prick, mr. president.

[IADEMO2004]

1. A baby's point of view from a stroller

in large crowds can't be good for their mental health.

[Deja Q]

24. Bullpies! Being bullied and persecuted for years does worse than a mere

30 minutes in front of a bunch of strangers that an infant wouldn't even begin to interact with!

[ClintonTyree]

2. Remember the old...............

"Baby on Board" decals? I was always SO glad to see them because I would surely have rammed those cars deliberately had it not been for the decal. What idiots.

And I agree with your point about the strollers. Have you ever been rammed with one of those gigantic MF's they have in the supermarkets that look like Urban Assault Vehicles? They supply them so the little angels will have "fun" shopping with Mom. They fashion them as race cars, boats etc. but they take up an entire aisle and are cumbersome as all hell. The Mom's can't steer the damn things they're so big. I've been whacked by them twice, with never an apology.

[NC_Nurse]

3. I wholeheartedly agree

I've been mowed over by strollers before and I have kids so it's not that I hate kids or parents... just people who think the world revolves around them.

TIP: Don't bring small children to a mobbed event in a stroller, use a backpack or something if you can. People can't always see a stroller in a crowd and your child could get hurt.

[radwriter0555]

4. Ah, so you want that the parents should be running after all their lost,

tired kids, carrying handfuls of Fair goodies?

You want to be surrounded with tired, sunburned kids, who are screaming and tired and worn out?

Strollers are FOR the kids. It's exhausting to be trudging through the dirt and heat and sun and people. 9 times out of 10 the parents end up carrying the wiped out little kid and what fun is that for anyone?

Strollers make it easy on EVERYONE including the OTHER fair goers who don't have to watch out for little kids dodging and dropping ice cream, standing there screaming, whining and frantic. Nothing better than the sight of a sleeping little kid in a stroller not bothering anyone, letting mom have a few minutes of socialising with real humans.

Strollers are your FRIEND, NOT your enemy. Kids don't have the stamina to walk all day long, and parents don't have the stamina to listen to johnny whine and scream from exhaustion. Find something else to complain about!

The fair is FOR FAMILIES, not beer drinking cowboys.

[NC_Nurse]

6. How about only staying at the fair

for a couple of hours instead of all day? Then you aren't dragging around an exhausted child whose not enjoying it anymore and making others miserable with their whining?

[radwriter0555]

7. You can't DO the fair on a couple hours! It takes a whole day to

see it, and why not have the stroller so you can?

With ticket prices so high and parking costing a fortune, families feel obligated to get their money's worth, aren't they entitled same as everyone else? And once Johnny's had his little nap, he's ready to go again! Everyone wins!

[NC_Nurse]

10. You're state fair must be

much more exciting than ours...a couple of hours used to be plenty for me and my kids.

Also, we started going on weekday mornings after a few bad experiences in the evening crowds. That was when my kids were at their best and the beer-drinking cowboys weren't around.

[uncle ray]

25. MN state fair is HUGE!

i think off the top of my head, they pull a couple hundred thousand people per day! now i live in colorado, where the genius powers that be have the state fairgrounds 100 miles away from the major metro area, and get something like a quarter million people for the whole fair.

they should have "adult time" at the fair, 10pm to 2am or so, no minors allowed, but all the exhibits/activities open still.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. Ha! I knew I'd get an emotional knee-jerk response

counter-pointing points I didn't make, and even though I made it plain I wasn't condemning parents or kids.

Did I say they should be banned? No, I didn't.

I said people should be courteous with the damn things.


And if a parent thinks a child is gonna get crabby and nasty during the day, maybe they shouldn't be wherever they are so damned long.

[radwriter0555]

12. So families shouldn't go to the county fair?

???

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. heh heh - continuing knee-jerk response

if memory serves, I'm talking about courtesy, not about banning families.

Sheesh.

You make a valid point about the lack of courtest of people toward strollers, too - I don't disagree with that. But in this thread, I'm aiming it toward the stroller owners. Same could aloso be said for the people who haul their wheeled luggage all over (though that's probably more of a NYC-specific problem).

[SarahB]

5. Yep

There's no reason why people with strollers can't say "excuse me". Some places aren't even stroller friendly. In those cases (assuming a kids belong there), use a baby front pack or back pack to make the logistics easier.

[radwriter0555]

9. People don't get out of the way for strollers... I was astounded to see

how rude and myopic people were when I was trying to manuever my stroller in public places, even just through doors. 9 times out of 10 NO one would help me.. ever tried to push a stroller through a door that opens OUT? ALONE?

Not the end of the world, but people would push on by like I was holding the door for them, while I was all legs akimbo, stretched from here to there, trying to get through the door without losing a finger or foot... we got rude because we were IGNORED.

Children are still second class citizens in this country, clearly.

[NC_Nurse]

15. I remember those days too

At one point I had 3 kids 6 years and under. It was tough getting around for sure, but most people were courteous to me.
I learned to pick my battles and a mob scene was not a good idea. If people change direction suddenly or are making their way through a crowd they can't see your child under them in a stroller and could fall right on them. Not worth it in my opinion.
I always open doors for moms when I see them struggling with a stroller. I still don't think they belong in crowds, a backpack is much better if you can do it.
My back did take a beating however, so I only used it for those situations. My son always liked to lean out to see things and that hurt sometimes...but I made it intact.

[radwriter0555]

18. Yeah, we survived, didn't we? I tried the backpack thing a couple

times when Liv was little itty bitty.

I stopped using the backpak when I fell, and she almost fell out, over my head... I tripped on a sidewalk, and went down to my knees, but since I had to use one hand to hold her in the backpack, my knees took ALLLLL the weight of my fall.

It was one of the most excrutiating accidents I've had without breaking something. The thought of her landing on her head, pitched from 5 feet up, wasn't pretty. I went strictly with strollers after that, the little umbrella kind... I can't imagine wrangling 3!!!!!!!

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. I've always feared for people wearing the child backpacks

for just that reason - falling.

I think I'd be nervous as hell wearing a baby. They definitely look easier, and are hands free, but man, one just never knows when one is gonna fall over, be tripped, etc.

I'm nervous enough just seeing people wearing them.

[NC_Nurse]

23. Wow!

I never fell with the backpack on and when my babies were really small I wore one of the front packs that has them strapped in like a papoose so they couldn't possibly fall out.
I dunno, I guess I trust myself to be more careful than strangers who don't see my kid in the stroller because they're in a hurry...
I guess that's my main premise: not all people like children, not all people think in terms of children needs and why should anyone expect them too?
I don't expect people to be concerned or invested in my children. I'm glad when they are, but I don't expect or require it.

[Carni]

19. So don't take the stroller every place you go

Or commandeer something resembling an SUV to cart a kid around in.

Nothing infuriates me more than going to the mall and having to deal with yuppie women and their damned strollers blocking the aisles or plowing into people.

It's not the children people object to it's the demeanor of some of the people WITH the children.

[radwriter0555]

13. We do. You ignored us, so we stopped being polite.

Trust me, we all started out real polite. Then when you all ignored us, we got bitchy.

[Carni]

20. That's funny

It wasn't all that long ago I was dealing with a kid of the stroller age and I found people to be very helpful.

In fact I can count on one hand the number of times I was treated rudely because I had a baby, or toddler, with me.

But then again I didn't try to cart the kid around in something the size of a H2 in a store or public place, and I didn't act self righteous about "being a mom"

[SarahB]

28. I find more people are decent than not.

Yeah, there are a few jerks, but I still have a three year old who goes in a stroller sometimes and I'd say 90+% of the people hold the door or are otherwise polite than not. I live in rude, stuffy, old New England too. Maybe it's just me and maybe I'm lucky (I also tend to not like huge crowds personally so that might play a part). Sometimes one catches more flies with honey I think and I go out of my way usually to smile or have good manners first myself. There are enough jerks in the world and I don't need to turn into one (nott hat I've never had my bad days either, but I digress there). I do understand how one can sometimes get that way out of frustration as well. :)

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

11. My husband and I always laugh about

how when we were kids in the late 60s/early 70s, our parents would always grab us by the neck and say something like, "Get out of that man's way!"

Now it's like a lot of parents still do that, but there are some that have this big attitude that is the exact opposite. We notice it especially at tourist sites. There are some obnoxious people who act like all the adults are getting in the way of their child.

[Rabrrrrrr]

14. I remember my parents doing that, too!

Lots of "Get out of that man's way!" and "Apologize for bumping into that guy" and "Ask politely to get through!"

I don't recall my parents ever saying "Hey - my kid can't see!", but stuff like "Would you mind if my son stood in front of you so he can see better?"

[NC_Nurse]

17. There are a lot of

"little messiahs" out there these days. Maybe I didn't expect people to bow my kids' needs because I was a young mom by todays standards. Who knows?

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

26. I don't mind kids getting in the way

I'm not a crotchety, grouchy person or anything. But there are a few people who have poor manners and big entitled attitudes, and they stick out and get remembered more than than all the parents who teach their kids manners in public. Almost everybody I know personally that has kids are good parents and the kids are well-mannered.

I have just had a few experiences that are memorable because the parents look at you like, "How dare you get in the way of my child!" Also, I have noticed at tourist and historical sites there are often a few loud people who say to their poor embarrassed 10 or 12-year old kids, in a loud baby voice, something like, "Look Tyler! This is where GEORGE WASHINGTON is BURIED, isn't that INTERESTING!" while the poor kid cringes and nods.

Also, once I was at this ruins of a mansion and this women yells at her son, "What do you think the people did here once, Steven? Who do you think lived here?" and so on. He didn't even answer her and I felt like saying, "Get out of his head, lady! Let him experience something for himself for once!"

[2Design]

22. yes the asking.....is gone.....they just shove one kid in front of you

at the parade. I get there ahead so I get a good spot to see. Then the parent with kids come. Shoves one kid in front of you, with this smile of ......well he is little and can't see.....then the next kid squeezes in...and the next one...and then they are in and out to the mom.....then the mom gets in....and there goes your spot.....

my courtesy has gone out the window.....they forget I want to see too.... or they get in front of you and put the kid on their shoulders right in front of you.....

or they have this screaming squiggly child and you are exiting a place and they decide to now put them down...and everything is stopped because you have the parent and child right in the middle of the path...

and those strollers are like tanks...I don't remember them every where before...

or they shove the stroller in front of you.....or they have to stop every two seconds to speak to the child.....

I want them to get out of the middle of the path...or out of the doorway.....but it is like a conference....

or they put one person in line....and then 5 or 10 people come along once they are close to the front......and they shove and push and seem to think I am invisible...

I was in line at a water park recently...the kids leaned on me, scouting around me.....and were generally disruptive....

the parents have no control over them......we were taught how to behave...now the kids seem to have free rein and are exalted....and I am suppose to bow down and let them take over just because their parents let them....

crying kids are hard.... I understand they are tired....but parents who go out just before the childs nap time...and then drag the kid around.... They need to be at the fair or park at 9am and by noon eating and letting the the kid either sleep or have fun run around place...and leave.....or rest or whatever...for at least two hours...then they can continue dragging the kid around.....

the kids are bored with stuff.....they only enjoy it for a couple of hours...then they want to go to the pool or something different....

It is hard on the rest of the people to have these squiggling, crying, whinning kids who are like jumping beans...crawling all over them....

give us a break.....

[Nay]

29. Hey! My parents did that to us, and I did that to my kids.

And I agree it is now the opposite. I am amazed at the number of kids who are allowed to totally disrupt others in public places with nary a word from the parents. In fact, the parents act like one of those 20-something men who walk around with a big mean dog on a chain, trying to scare and intimidate people. Dog as a penis extender. They just dare you to mess with their kid/dog!

[rhino47]

27. Strollers really have nothing to do with it

I object to all persons that are rude or pushy.I think thats more the point then if they are pushing a stroller or not.Its not an anti-parent statement to object to a rude pushy person that expects you to move the hell out of the way with out the common decency of saying excuse me.