stroller wars
I was reading a quilting magazine (Mark Lipinski’s Quilter’s Home) today and there was a survey asking, “should strollers be allowed in quilting stores and at quilt shows?” I have to say, I was a little incensed at this question. As a stay-at-home mom, who’s husband works from sun up until sun down, it’s either use a stroller or go nowhere. You try carrying an 18-month old who isn’t walking yet everywhere you go.
I would have to say that the problem isn’t so much the strollers, but the people pushing them. I’ve played my fair share of chicken with women pushing humongous strollers. I always seem to be the one that veers off course to avoid collision - often muttering “excuse me” with a mix of sarcasm and disdain. Some people just think they own the universe. They are totally unaware of their surroundings. These people are the ones who should be banned from all stores - stroller or no, and from all roads for that matter.
You know who I’m talking about. We’ve all played chicken with them. Just once, I’d like to ram ‘em.
But, I would be super pissed if the quilt stores I go to said I couldn’t come in with my stroller. I’d say, “well, I guess you don’t need the $100 I was about to waste on fabric I don’t need.” I doubt that it will ever happen, but I don’t think the survey should even be out there.
Opinions?
I encourage all mom’s with strollers to log onto the Quilter’s Home website and “voice” their opinion!
Half the fun of going to a quilt store is to chat with the other shoppers and meet their babies! Banning stollers would be ridiculous. As for the ladies who must rudely push around Hummers, coo at their baby then say “What a nice big stroller. Does it come with its own lifeboat?”
As a quilter who sometimes needs a wheelchair but often needs a cane, I can tell you - it’s not just other strollers the Mall Tractors take out! I don’t want to stop ANYONE going to quilt shows or shops with their baby - but surely there must be smaller strollers than those Hummer size ones? (I guess the Hummer size strollers are driven by Entitlement Bitches, who seem to believe that their “RIGHTS” outweigh and outvote anyone else’s…)
Maybe, just MAYBE, the problem isn’t strollers at all - maybe quilt shows just need to suck it up and give us slightly wider aisles! (Yeah, I hear them crying poor already, can’t you?)
The discussion in the Quilter’s Home Pickle Road group mainly centered around the type of rude stroller operators you’re talking about - the ones that run everyone down without a second thought. Most people also thought it might be nice if mom could have some time away from the kids to attend quilt shows, rather than having to take the kids who are not really interested in being there. I don’t recall any discussion about not having strollers in shops, and being a shop owner, I welcome moms with their kids (as long as I get to hold the babies!).
I have no problem with strollers in quilt shops. My middle child was 5 months old when I learned to quilt, and both he and his younger sister spent many hours in fabric stores (we didn’t have quilt shops in the 70s) in a stroller. My grandson spent hours in a stroller in quilt stores and still loves to visit them.
However, a quilt show is another subject. It’s crowded, hot, and the child gets nothing out of it. There are strollers way too large, with kids eating snacks with sticky hands. Yuck. I feel the same way about people pulling wheeled bags at quilt shows or wearing large backpacks. The wearer/wheeler forgets they have a larger profile than usual and whack everyone around.
First, as the owner of this blog posted the opinion
poll is asking about strollers at quilt shows,
not quilt stores.
Quilter’s Home regulary puts up a poll to get opinions,
not necessarily to write a story about.
I was a stay at home mom at one time, too and depended
on my stroller to let me get out of the house. I
personally don’t have a problem with strollers at a
quilt show, unless I am continuously being rear ended
by the same person. I have a much bigger problem with
those stupid crates that roll along behind.
I don’t see the darn things until I trip over them.
Hello,
I am afraid it is not just strollers…it is anything that takes up space in the aisles, and in walkways. Having been in retail for many years, I can also tell you that mothers with babies in strollers are also the #1 shoplifters in most stores! Quilt shows are no exception.
As for daycare..that will never happen, insurance for something like that would be beyond anything any group could pay. Remember you can not leave your children with just anyone any more! And nobody wants the responsibility of keeping children due to lawsuits.
So, there you have it. The quilt industry and craft/hobby/leisure industry on a whole want to entice the younger “working” people to attend the shows and “spend” their money, but the society of “attendees” would rather they keep their noisy, messy, ill mannered, space demanding, children at home. Especially since the general consensus is that NOBODY is raising their children to be quiet, respectful, or well mannered.
I will mind my manners and be respectful and NOT mention my thoughts on old biddies who can not drive a car, much less work a scooter!
Seriously! If a stroller in my store was my biggest concern, as a business owner I’d be thrilled. They must have something more to think and write about. Seriously!