Troy McNaughtonPushy Pram Parents
October 3rd 2007 01:51
Is Sydney, Australia, the Behemoth Pram capital of the world?
Over the long weekend, thoughtless parents pushing ridiculously oversized prams forced me off footpaths, cut in front of me in the queue for the ferry, and generally behaved as if no one existed except them and their expensively wheeled offspring.
Is there any reason a tiny human must be transported in a huge buggy? Does any parent really need those massive storage baskets to hold six extra bottles of formula, a box of nappies, a dozen oranges, and enough TeleTubbies to stock a toy store? Why should a four-year-old be wheeled around like an infant when he’s perfectly capable of walking?
Another blogger complained of the ‘poisonous looks’ she occasionally received from the child-free as she tried to cope with a crying or unruly tot in public. Parents would get fewer such looks if they weren't constantly blocking everyone's way with prams the size of double-wide caravans. Some parents seem to take a perverse pleasure in parking their brand-name BratMover sideways in a crowded supermarket aisle, forcing child-free shoppers to squeeze past. An ‘Excuse me, could I get through here?’ is often met with a stony glare and a grudging shift of the pram a quarter of an inch.
Is this just another manifestation of Sydney rudeness, or is there something else to it?
Maybe it’s exhibitionism, a way of non-verbally shrieking, “Look at me and my child! In fact, I’ll make it so you CAN’T avoid looking at me and my child!”
Maybe it’s misdirected revenge. Little Damian ruined Mummy’s morning by finger-painting on the nursery wall with the contents of his nappy. Mummy decides to get even by inflicting Damian and his super-sized stroller on the hapless public.
Whatever the cause, Pushy Pram Parents are conditioning their offspring to believe that they are the centre of the universe, and should expect crowds to part before them like the waters of the Red Sea. To hell with everyone else!
That kid in the designer-label pram is likely to become the obnoxious Sydney schoolboy who bowls you over with his oversized schoolbag whilst cutting in front of you to grab the last seat on the train.
Over the long weekend, thoughtless parents pushing ridiculously oversized prams forced me off footpaths, cut in front of me in the queue for the ferry, and generally behaved as if no one existed except them and their expensively wheeled offspring.
Is there any reason a tiny human must be transported in a huge buggy? Does any parent really need those massive storage baskets to hold six extra bottles of formula, a box of nappies, a dozen oranges, and enough TeleTubbies to stock a toy store? Why should a four-year-old be wheeled around like an infant when he’s perfectly capable of walking?
Another blogger complained of the ‘poisonous looks’ she occasionally received from the child-free as she tried to cope with a crying or unruly tot in public. Parents would get fewer such looks if they weren't constantly blocking everyone's way with prams the size of double-wide caravans. Some parents seem to take a perverse pleasure in parking their brand-name BratMover sideways in a crowded supermarket aisle, forcing child-free shoppers to squeeze past. An ‘Excuse me, could I get through here?’ is often met with a stony glare and a grudging shift of the pram a quarter of an inch.
Is this just another manifestation of Sydney rudeness, or is there something else to it?
Maybe it’s exhibitionism, a way of non-verbally shrieking, “Look at me and my child! In fact, I’ll make it so you CAN’T avoid looking at me and my child!”
Maybe it’s misdirected revenge. Little Damian ruined Mummy’s morning by finger-painting on the nursery wall with the contents of his nappy. Mummy decides to get even by inflicting Damian and his super-sized stroller on the hapless public.
Whatever the cause, Pushy Pram Parents are conditioning their offspring to believe that they are the centre of the universe, and should expect crowds to part before them like the waters of the Red Sea. To hell with everyone else!
That kid in the designer-label pram is likely to become the obnoxious Sydney schoolboy who bowls you over with his oversized schoolbag whilst cutting in front of you to grab the last seat on the train.
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