Tales from Behind the Stroller

As you can imagine we get our “fair” share of looks and comments when we’re out and about with the quad stroller. Some are heartening and positive ones, the genuine smiles accompanied by “God bless you.” Some are a bit odd and creepy. And some are downright nasty and negative.

With fair week safely behind us, you can imagine we heard them all, and a few new ones. Which got me thinking about the various comments. Namely, why people say or act as they do. For all the comments, my question is the same: How were they raised? Were they raised to believe that children were a blessing or a burden? Were they raised to know that if you can’t say something nice you shouldn’t say anything?

The newest one I got was, “Is that legal?!” Huh? I didn’t know if they meant the stroller or the kids, either way, it was dumb. Then we had several women who would freak out every time they saw us and have some odd exclamations or have all of their kids run up and say “hi”. And there was always my favorite, those who commented negatively and seemed to think that you were somehow deaf to what they were saying.

But all of it, fades away when Avie reaches over and gives her little sister a hug: Both girls head to head, giggling. Or when one of the boys gets upset and the other reaches over to him, pulling his brother’s head to his shoulder. Those moments are beyond worth all of the hurtful comments that people make.