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
I’ve actually noticed that the lesbian moms (of which there are still MANY in Park Slope) seem to do a great job.
Whenever I see a kid with two moms, they are usually better behaved, not in a stroller at the age of 5, and just generally seem more docile.
I know that’s a HUGE generalization, but it’s just what I’ve observed in my neighborhood.
Maybe there’s a good thesis waiting to happen…?
See….THIS is why I like gay people better.
Lots less kids and more booze.
What life should be about!
Enjoying it, not talking about freakin screaming kids all day.
4:50 – or should I call you “my mother did x, my mother did y” – all I can say is, you’re in for a big surprise. I hope that surprise makes you a touch more tolerant, and a whole lot wiser.
“I agree that there seems to be a trend with many parents (white, upscale) these days who come from the “all about me” school of selfish parenting.”
I also see a trend among many parents (black and hispanic) these days who come from the “all about me” school of selfish parenting, they are too wrapped up in whatever to try teaching their kids basic skills like reading and writing. As well as right from wrong, social responsibility and self-sacrifice for a larger goal
But some of these blacks and hispanics are so self-centered! They do what they want to do and they dont give a shit if their kid goes off to school and is unteachable or unruly or grows up into a H.S. dropout and criminal – a perpetual drain on society as well. If you can’t afford having kids or raising them properly – then dont have them…end of story. I am so sick of blacks and hispanics justifying this kind of thing.
Here’s the solution. People without kids should simply get strollers and wield them down the street. Don’t worry about wierd looks. You have a right to push a stroller as much as the folks who have babies. Like all these “swift moving” moms who can’t take the time to apologize (and that is really the only “rule” that applies) you, too, have a right to push a stroller. So grab a Bugaboo stroller and get ready to roll! – Jonathan Swift
Here’s the solution. People without kids should simply get strollers and wield them down the street. Don’t worry about wierd looks. You have a right to push a stroller as much as the folks who have babies. Like all these “swift moving” moms who can’t take the time to apologize (and that is really the only “rule” that applies) you, too, have a right to push a stroller. So grab a Bugaboo stroller and get ready to roll! – Jonathan Swift
Here’s the solution. People without kids should simply get strollers and wield them down the street. Don’t worry about wierd looks. You have a right to push a stroller as much as the folks who have babies. Like all these “swift moving” moms who can’t take the time to apologize (and that is really the only “rule” that you, too, have a right to push a stroller. So grab a Bugaboo stroller and get ready to roll! – Jonathan Swift
I don’t have the time to read all of these comments so forgive me if it’s been said, but there are several unspoken rules of the street that Park Slope parents frequently don’t respect:
1. Don’t walk your dog on the avenue. Stay on the side streets or the park. The avenues are for commerce and dogs don’t belong there.
2. Don’t bring your stroller into a store. Yeah, it’s a bummer that it’s not safe to leave your stroller outside unattended anymore, but as a kid growing up in Brooklyn they were always lined up at the door of supermarkets and shops, as city stores are generally too narrow for all those strollers. If you can barely get in the door, maybe you should take the hint that you’re not going to fit comfortably in the store.
3. Don’t walk more than 2-abreast anywhere in a city. So many families and mom friends on skinny little 7th ave hog the sidewalk like they have no idea pedestrians are stacked up behind them waiting to pass. Also, stay on the right!
While I try to voice my gripes when I feel people are egregiously flouting the rules, I don’t think adults should confront each other in a hostile way in front of kids. Hence the tension. Alas.
But really, is it all that big a deal? If a grown man is cowering in his home, it’s probably time to look within for the problem.
The moral of the story:
DON’T HAVE KIDS!!!
Many of you only had them because you thought you SHOULD even though you are obviously too self centered and simply were not ready to, or should not procreate.
It’s a simple fact. Many people feel forced into marriage and procreation. Look at Sex and the City. It was all about the biological clock a ticking and trying to beat it. Or not.
A lot of you should just realize that not everyone was cut out to be married, not everyone needs to have kids (there are more than PLENTY on this earth already) and that when you really look deep down, you didn’t really want them in the first place, but you succumbed to societal pressure to have them.
I’d say 20% of those with kids never wanted them but thought they SHOULD have them.
And these 20% are scattered all across the U.S. running down old men because they are pissed they are no longer happy…