Attack of the Double Wide Baby Strollers
Battery Park City probably holds the most children per square foot in Manhattan. I can see why families would want to move down here because Battery Park City is a new development with great elementary schools and beautiful parks. I love kids and I hope to have many brats of my own one day, but as much as I love kids, it just sucks being stuck behind a mommy or a nanny slowly pushing the double wide stroller. Is it just my imagination or does there seem to be a very large amount of twins in New York? And an abnormally large amount of strollers? I long for the days of white flight back in the 1980s when families wouldn't be caught dead in the City parading around with their double wide stroller and diaper bag.
I just hate to be behind those double wide strollers because they take up the whole damn sidewalk and slow all of us regular non stroller pedestrians down. Mommies and nannies also love to use their strollers as walking weapons. I have seen strollers used to push a fellow pedestrians out of the way, ram open doors and prop doors open. I have also seen mothers hurrying across the West Side Highway with their strollers when traffic had the green light. What a way to put your kid in danger! I wish that these families would move out of the cities into the suburbs where they didn't have to deal with the frustrations of cramming their super sized lives in with us economy sized New Yorkers.
I think some families are good about getting an appropriate sized stroller and making sure that their children are under supervision and generally being respectful of other people. But the majority are not and I suspect that many of them are originally from places where stroller SUVs are perfectly acceptable because no one really walks anywhere. *SIGH* But I guess Manhattan is getting suburbanized. And Battery Park City is the prime example as it almost is like a gated community. All I can hope for is for crime to be on the rise once again so that families will scurry away to greener pastures.
One thing I noticed about New York families is there seems to be a hierarchy of status among the mommies. Just wait in front of an affluent elementary school and you can see that there are basically three main types of people who pick up children:
1. Nanny - She is hired by the parents as they are both working in professional jobs that don't leave them enough time to pick up or take care of their kids after school.
2. Mommy - The daddy makes enough money so that the mommy can be a stay at home mommy and take care of the kids. Or there is a trust fund somewhere.
3. Mommy with Nanny - The daddy makes enough money that mommy can stay at home plus hire a nanny to take care of the kids. Or there is a trust fund somewhere.
Of course there are situations that are different than the 3 main scenarios above such as the stay at home daddy or the work at home mommy that can pick up the kids or the recently fired mommy or the maternity leave mommy but those are the 3 major family care options in affluent NYC.
I point this out as raising kids in today's New York City is really status driven. This translates into competition to get your kids into the best schools regardless of whether the school is actually a good fit for the child. Research kindergartens in Manhattan and you will see what I mean. It takes applications and essays to get into KINDERGARTEN! I feel especially bad for those kids who don't have the resources to get into these schools because their parents can't be bothered to fill out applications or because their parents cannot read or write or because a variety of other reasons in which they cannot meet the high bar set by these schools to even apply. The bottom line is that you have to have parents who care and have certain abilities. If you don't, you are pretty much fucked because you are tracked to the worst possible schools.
As diverse and equal as the people would like schools to be, the natural inclination of schools is to be divided by income and class. This is nothing new but it is scary to think that this is happening from the kindergarten level and it is getting worse. I think at this point, homeschooling is the best option for parents in New York City if they have the time, ability and inclination.
I just hate to be behind those double wide strollers because they take up the whole damn sidewalk and slow all of us regular non stroller pedestrians down. Mommies and nannies also love to use their strollers as walking weapons. I have seen strollers used to push a fellow pedestrians out of the way, ram open doors and prop doors open. I have also seen mothers hurrying across the West Side Highway with their strollers when traffic had the green light. What a way to put your kid in danger! I wish that these families would move out of the cities into the suburbs where they didn't have to deal with the frustrations of cramming their super sized lives in with us economy sized New Yorkers.
I think some families are good about getting an appropriate sized stroller and making sure that their children are under supervision and generally being respectful of other people. But the majority are not and I suspect that many of them are originally from places where stroller SUVs are perfectly acceptable because no one really walks anywhere. *SIGH* But I guess Manhattan is getting suburbanized. And Battery Park City is the prime example as it almost is like a gated community. All I can hope for is for crime to be on the rise once again so that families will scurry away to greener pastures.
One thing I noticed about New York families is there seems to be a hierarchy of status among the mommies. Just wait in front of an affluent elementary school and you can see that there are basically three main types of people who pick up children:
1. Nanny - She is hired by the parents as they are both working in professional jobs that don't leave them enough time to pick up or take care of their kids after school.
2. Mommy - The daddy makes enough money so that the mommy can be a stay at home mommy and take care of the kids. Or there is a trust fund somewhere.
3. Mommy with Nanny - The daddy makes enough money that mommy can stay at home plus hire a nanny to take care of the kids. Or there is a trust fund somewhere.
Of course there are situations that are different than the 3 main scenarios above such as the stay at home daddy or the work at home mommy that can pick up the kids or the recently fired mommy or the maternity leave mommy but those are the 3 major family care options in affluent NYC.
I point this out as raising kids in today's New York City is really status driven. This translates into competition to get your kids into the best schools regardless of whether the school is actually a good fit for the child. Research kindergartens in Manhattan and you will see what I mean. It takes applications and essays to get into KINDERGARTEN! I feel especially bad for those kids who don't have the resources to get into these schools because their parents can't be bothered to fill out applications or because their parents cannot read or write or because a variety of other reasons in which they cannot meet the high bar set by these schools to even apply. The bottom line is that you have to have parents who care and have certain abilities. If you don't, you are pretty much fucked because you are tracked to the worst possible schools.
As diverse and equal as the people would like schools to be, the natural inclination of schools is to be divided by income and class. This is nothing new but it is scary to think that this is happening from the kindergarten level and it is getting worse. I think at this point, homeschooling is the best option for parents in New York City if they have the time, ability and inclination.
posted by Native New Yorker at 4:30 PM
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