stroller (婴儿车, ベビーカー, 유모차)

One of the downsides of having a child (fortunately for our baby, outweighed by the upsides) is having to make all the buying decisions for another person who has no way of expressing their likes and dislikes but has an immense amount of needs at the early stages of life. Combine that with someone like me who doesn't like having to make purchasing decisions, and it's a bad combination of reluctance, apathy, and "why is this thing that looks and feels exactly like the other $200 more expensive?" It's true, I've never been one to shop around, haggle, try to get the latest technology like the new brand of iPhone, etc., I've just gotten whatever is the most popular or will get the job done. Like buying a Honda Accord 2013- it runs fine, it has large trunk space, it seats 5 people. 'Nuff said, and almost 170,000 miles later, I'm still enjoying its "tank-like" longevity, as the car shop I took it to for aligning the wheels told me the other day. Today, the first day of November, MJ and I went to go shop for something I've never shopped for before: stroller and a corresponding carseat. Apparently, they can come in a package as a "travel system" because carseats can fit on top of a stroller. We went to a warehouse to shop around with all of the strollers and personally get a feel for all of them, with the sales associate comparing the strollers to buying a car, with terms like "all-wheel drive" and "handling.' My approach is probably different than MJ's: I ask what will get the job done most efficiently with the least amount of hassle and highest likelihood of longevity. MJ's priority (and I'm not saying it's wrong)....is different. She does more research, looks into what others have said about the product, looks at Youtube videos of how other people evaluate the product, what the latest trends are.....when for me, it's like, it's just a baby car to drive the baby around. If it has 4 wheels and a seat, we can make it work. (At least we don't need to get oil changes and tire alignments for the stroller!) I get that this is just the start of a lot of decisions we have to make on behalf of the baby: where the baby sleeps, what clothes the baby wears, starting with the most basic step: The baby's name! The weight of responsibility is just now starting to creep in: not only do I have to supply money for the child (I'm doing OK on that front), I have to make decisions on what to do with that money to make the baby happy, not knowing any of her preferences or what she wants, just making educated decisions on what's best for her. This is a little daunting but the upside is the baby will not give mixed messages like certain adults might about wanting one thing but actually wanting a more expensive model, the baby will not know about the price tag (for now) and will just vote through her crying and/or laughing (hopefully more laughing or grunts of joy). Or maybe she will be a very low-maintenance baby like her dear old dad Bobby. (Please be like that, please, it's not easy being a non-picky person trying to satisfy a picky person! So much easier the other way around). I guess the thing with buying products is, it doesn't EXCITE me. I know it does for some, that's why they like doing it. I buy things to fulfill a need, to get it over with, because I am compelled by the government (health insurance), etc. I didn't even feel excitement buying my first car! It was just, "OK fine now I have the ability to drive myself to work." I can't even pick out a movie to watch on Netflix, I don't really get excited by anything anymore. I don't get excited going on Amazon prime and seeing 1000 choices of what to buy for a baby seat or a diaper changing station, for example, I would actually just prefer ONE (two, tops maybe) so I don't have to choose. Choosing doesn't excite me; buying something I need and checking it off my to-do list excites me. That's the illusion of choice being a good thing: sometimes we drown in choices, especially when we only need one of something (some people online are saying you need 2 strollers, one to travel with and one to wheel to the park. Some people even say to get 4 strollers over the life of the baby!) Sounds like the same people peddling Christmas gift-giving and Valentine candies to me: a pyramid scheme.