Dysfunctional Stroller Miles From Home

Photo: R. Navarrete

I was walking the parkway for my hour's worth of exercise for the day. My double stroller can fit the infant car seat and another child, so I took my 6-week-old and my 4-year-old for this excursion. I had walked about a mile from home when I realized that Emma was sleeping. The problem is that her left foot kept slipping off the foot rest, so it kept waking her up. Every time her foot slipped, it either got close to the ground or blocked the wheels. With my rapid walking pace, I could not have her little feet in danger. And even if I turned around, I was 20 minutes away from home. How was I going to continue walking and keep her feet from blocking the stroller??!!

So I started to brainstorm and looked throughout the stroller for ideas. In my basket, I had two toy stethoscopes, an Elmo cardboard book, and two burp cloths. Then I looked in Dominic's seat, and found another burp cloth. Finally the light turned on: I could use the burp cloths to make foot straps! I tied two of them together and proceeded to attempt a strap for her left foot. The two cloths knotted together were still not long enough, so I re-attached them again. This time it worked! I could get the strap around her left foot and connect it to the foot rest.

My walk continued, but half a block later, her right foot started slipping also. I only had one burp cloth left, so I tried to strap it on similar to the left side. After several minutes, I completed her right foot strap, but by then Emma was wide awake, obviously wondering what in the world Mommy was doing with her feet. I tried to explain and asked her if it was comfortable. She said yes. I asked if she wanted me to take her feet out, but she said no. So we were off again!

The rest of the way home, I stopped every 5 minutes to see if Emma was awake, comfortable, and willing to keep the straps on. Yes, yes, and yes! She did not mind them, but I was paranoid that someone driving by would look closely and notice that my child's feet were tied to the stroller. Was that legal? Was I going to get arrested? Thankfully, no one called the police, and we made it home successfully.

Lessons learned: Take extra burp cloths with you everywhere. Maybe 4-year-olds are too big for some strollers. Don't walk too far from home when you are pushing kids in a stroller. Be creative. Just keep walking! Plan for how your kids can sleep in the stroller.