Thursday, April 12, 2007
I need a stick
D: I have found a flaw in my beloved Peg Perego Duette stroller. As a tandem stroller the front baby is situated more than 4 feet ahead of me, completely out of arms reach. There usually is not much of a need to reach your babies while operating a stroller, unless of course it is to protect your child from the capricious hands of strangers.
Last week I was walking the boys in the stroller downtown when suddenly a man, appearing quite dirty and intoxicated, matched my stride down a busy sidewalk, along side the stroller. Before I knew it he was reaching for the first baby with a slurred "Awwwe, twinnns!" I quickly swerved the stroller out of his reach, saving poor unsuspecting O from the man’s grubby hands. Unfortunately the stroller is so big that while maneuvering it out of harms way it nearly collided into several people who gave me looks that suggested I should not be operating such a large piece of equipment on the sidewalk.
Yesterday at Whole Foods, while standing in the checkout line, I encountered yet another stranger attempting to touch my baby! And because I was sandwiched in between the checkout stands I could not reach F to protect him from the woman in front of us who has turned to ohh and ahh over the twins. Now ohhing and ahhing I can handle (let's face it, they are cute!), but I can not tolerate someone inappropriately reaching for their faces, with (GET THIS!!) a band aid on her hand! Just as she was about to stroke F's face I yelled "no don't...um, they're sick". I don't know where that came from, but it stopped her in her tracks. She said, "oh, thanks", and turned around.
What's with people touching babies without permission?? Who actually thinks that's OK? Now I keep thinking how helpful it would be to have a 4 foot stick to carry with me, to swat away any unwanted touching from the baby I can't reach myself.
I've asked around and found that many other twin parents are also experiencing the same annoyances. Some suggestions I've heard for handling these situations are:
-Say "we're teaching our kids personal boundaries."
-Blankets draped over the car carriers/stroller.
-Carry one in a front pack and have only one car carrier in the stroller so you don't obviously have twins.
-"They're sick...please don't come too close."
-"You can touch their feet"--usually said to children, but could work on adults.
And my favorite...
-"Watch out, he bites!!
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It is not just with twins. All kinds of people want to touch Wilson. My favorite- coughing into their hands and then reaching out to touch the BABY. It is just wrong.