Slope Stroller Overabundance Making One Guy a Shut-In
Longtime New York Press columnist Jim Knipfel has a new rant about Park Slope stroller culture that sets the bar high for future diatribes on the subject. This is how it begins: This morning as I was leaving the bank, a woman recklessly pushing her armor-plated double stroller down the sidewalk veered sharply and unexpectedly…
Longtime New York Press columnist Jim Knipfel has a new rant about Park Slope stroller culture that sets the bar high for future diatribes on the subject. This is how it begins:
This morning as I was leaving the bank, a woman recklessly pushing her armor-plated double stroller down the sidewalk veered sharply and unexpectedly into an elderly man walking with a cane. He, in turn, fell into me. I was able to catch him and hold him upright and he seemed to be okay. Just a little flustered. The woman, of course, had said nothing, apparently considering an apology or even a simple excuse me unnecessary under the circumstances. She was a mother after all, and therefore privileged, so she simply continued careening on her way.
Knipfel says that the number of strollers in the Slope, as well as the neighborhood’s dog breed preferences (it’s really mostly the strollers, though) mean he can only leave his apartment for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time, because he finds the situation out on the streets too harrowing and exhausting. The writer says that for the past year he’s been counting the number of strollers he sees in the Slope (“I’m averaging 1.45 strollers per block. Think about it—there has been at least one stroller, and usually more, for every block I’ve walked. It’s insanity.“) Knipfel takes issue with the air of entitlement that he sees a lot of the neighborhood’s parents displaying and notes that he sees a good number of kids being pushed around who look too old for strollers. Also, he says, it’s not a subject that can be broached in polite, public Slope discourse: “The child-free adults in the neighborhood mutter and complain about the problem, but only behind closed doors, and usually in whispers. They don’t dare say a negative word when they’re outside, for the simple reason that they’re terrified, most of them. Indulgent, affluent parents are too powerful a lobby (and what’s more, those strollers can really hurt when you get rammed).”
The Statistics of Contempt [Slackjaw]
Photo from dailyheights.com
“being a mom is the hardest thing to do on the planet.”
I’ll go along with that. Sure. But you know what, try being a mom in Myanmar or Somalia or rural Alabama.
You think being a mom in Park f*cking Slope is hard????
You are a pathetic, sorry excuse for a human being to not realize how easy you have it!
Wake up from your bubble please!!!!!
12:52 is the poster child for stuck up, gross, stroller mom mentality.
you WIN!
park slope is damned crowded. that is true. moved because of it. if you want a calm neighborhood, choose somewhere else.
i did live there for years pre and post baby. never noticed any particularly bad mommy behavior. think this stinks of sexism and is pretty gross.
being a mom is the hardest thing to do on the planet. everyone one everywhere is expected to and should help them. we are all part of raising the next generation.
the guy writing this nonsense is a jerk and should probably move elsewhere although where is a problem because there will be kids there to.
I agree Biff…and I’m going to start signing off each time as….
Fugawee
No 12:40 – I really don’t give a shit if the neighborhood is all white, all black, or all mixed up whatever….all I care about is that people are free to go about their business – which should be working, getting laid, raising children and otherwise surviving while not preventing someone else from doing the same.
12:31 #1, not only do I enjoy your posts, but the “Fugeddaboutit!” makes me smile every time. I love it.
Recently getting coffee (for me) and muffin (for my 3 yr old) at the pastry place near the F train entrance on 7th ave and 9th. Parked the stroller outside and helping the boy negotiate the large step up when Mr. Jerk (prob 10:10am above) literally pushed my son out of the way to get inside before us. I was furious but trying to keep in control in front of my son. Why did you just push a 3 year old out of the way? “Park slope is just overrun with them” Why don’t you leave? “I was here first”. So this evidently justifies physically pushing a 3 year old? “Yes – it does”. This guy deserved a knuckle sandwich.
Jerks come in all shapes and sizes…so lets not generalize that all park slope parents are blameworthy.
thanks
David
12:38 has a good point…add smoking as well.
In Manhattan its the tourists trying to take a damn picture of their lovely vacation in NYC in front of some ridiculous shop
12:33 – I agree their is ‘some’ credibility…once you strip away the resentment, jealousy, pettiness and pathetic-ness…..