A Singaporean [Quitter] in Maesai

First of all, I wish to declare that I have nothing against strollers.  In fact, I have bought one myself even before my daughter was born (no thanks to my wife's constant bickering).  And sincerely, I only used it once or twice as my girl would never want to sit in it.... maybe Ah boy will be different.

Its actually good to have one if you are walking in the park or going some place which needs a lot of walking or moving around.  As it does have compartments for you to off load baby necessity items on it.  Such as diapers and milk bottles.  I sincerely think they should be an age limit to kids using a stroller.  And the reason I say this is because I get to see ridiculous situation of Singaporean parents taking their 6 or 7 year old kids in a stroller.  Pushing them around like nobody business... This is not healthy at all for the kids.  Can't they walk?

When I told some friends of my observations, they were a bit shocked and skeptic of what I say.  So I was lucky that day when I went to the airshow.  As there were tons of kids in different varieties and styles of strollers that I could not help myself and started taking photos of them.  I find them more interesting than the planes that were on display... So here are some of the highlights...

 First we have the old classics!  I used to sit in one too until I was 3... Think my parents gave it to someone else once I could run... Wonder how old is that girl.... looks like 5 to me...

Next we have another varient of the old classic with the sun shades down.  Check out the happy kid in it!

Next we have the tray attached.  This allows the kids to eat or place their toys while their parents/guardian push them.

If you have twins or 2 kids.  We can have the double deckers!!! Looks so cool and that huge wheels...

And here is the newer strollers with removable bags that you could carry addtional stuff in it.. The seat is also foamed and cushion to give a more comfortable ride..

I won't be surprise if 3 years down the road the kid in the stroller will be the same size as his brothers.  We already live in a very comfortable environment and we are still pampering our next generations.. How are they going to serve the NS and defend our country?

And for the finale.  One of the most ridiculous scene I saw.

The kid and his family was on the same shuttle bus as I was and I actaully followed them to the showground to take this shot.  All the way, this boy was in the stroller!! Even from the bus which his parents or guardian lifted him down the bus.  And there's nothing wrong with him as I clearly saw him playing his little PSP on the bus.

I'm not sure what the parents were thinking.  Its just plain stupid and sad to see these kids being trapped in a stroller.... I know its tiring and tough to bring kids out for a trip (my own girl is hyper and I know!)  But that's also the fun part isn't it?

Thanks to Mr Brown for notifying.

This really proves that our local papers and mass media are plain stupid (more like idiotic) in the whole Internet era. Anything posted on the net will be cached. Its no longer like the good old days where you can burn periodicals or books. This new medium is here to stay and by display this sort of behavior of deleting the post without any sorts of explanation is just plain integrity suicide (not like they have a lot left anyway).

The only way out now for them is to republish the posts or give a really really good explanation. Come on please! Don't expect deleting these posts will stop people discussing about this issue. This will just makes things worst?

And about that mayor who don't know anything about the whole bonus incident. I seriously wonder how come we pay you so much?

Thanks to the gutless and stupid 66% Singaporeans who voted for these people to power. I'm ok, as I'm leaving for good. For the rest who are staying. You're screwed.

First of all, I want to inform the reader that I myself is hooked to all sorts of new gadgets that are available in the market. Be it electronically sophisticated or as mundane as a piece of magnet.

The most phenomenal lead in improvement is our little mobile phone. Wow. No longer we could just make calls. Now we can take photos, listen to music, watch videos and surf the web on it. All on a little piece of plastic and silicon. I'm not sure who came first came up with the idea of combining an mp3 player to a mobile phone (Sony?) and its a great idea. (I have one too) But the idea is not that great when you allow some joker to play their favourite tune (blarring distorted notes) at a public space such as a bus or coffee shop. I have encountered several times these "people who thinks that they have the right" to play their music loudly anywhere they like. Come on, why don't you just use a headphone instead like we used to do? No matter how good is the song, it won't be nice if it's coming out from a small speaker of a mobile phone right?

Speaking of phone. Apple's iPhone or those PSP and Nintendo DS are great too. So are those PVP (I have one too!) I watched movies on them while I'm on the plane to Thailand or back. Or in a bus. And all the times, with my headphones on and seated in a comfortable position. And I do make sure that I only turn my gadgets on when the plane took off and the seatbelt sign is off. But do I watch my PVP with my headphones while walking? Nope. But nowadays, I see kids and teenagers trying to commit suicide by playing their PSP or watching a movie on the little mobile phones or PVP with their headphones while walking on the pedestrian crossings or along the road. So I guess the kids here either has another set of eyes or some sonar detection devices that helps them to navigate while they pound the keys on their screen....

Sad to say. Gadgets are cool. The problem is how we kind of abuses it and cause inconvenience to others or harms to ourselves. Guess something "bad" will happen and our gahment will be our Nanny again regarding this issue.

PS. Anyone can tell me where to get the Sonar Navigational system that these PSPians are using. Would like to get one to play with it.

Recently on the local SG papers were tons of letter about Singaporean parents and their strollers.

I have bought one in Thailand and sad to say is that its totally under utilised. That's because my girl doesn't like to sit in it and interestingly noted is that here in Thailand, most of them don't use strollers. They carry their babies or even just let them walk on their own. My girl now is 2 plus and she don't even want us to carry her at all when we go out. So sometimes my wife and I really have some headache when we go shopping. Because girl girl would always struggle free from our hands and ran off on her on. Jia lat man.

So back to the story of strollers. I chatted with my cousin a week before the newspaper outburst and he too mentioned to me about the recent "increase" in seeing parents or grandparents pushing a stroller with a 6 or 7 year old kid in it. I told him as I didn't noticed that but I started to monitor this situation myself. Today I went down to Parkway Parade with a friend for breakfast and I did noticed this strange phenomenon. My cousin was actually right!!!

I saw not 1 but at least 3 sets of parents with their HUGE strollers. Their kid is definitely above 3 or 4 years old and they are happily seating in their strollers while their parents push their "SUV" in the crowded shopping mall. Really interesting scene.

I'm not sure what's really happening to typical Singaporean parents nowadays? Are they pampering their kids? Or is it the kids will behave better if they are just sitting in their strollers? Is it for the protection of their kids? Since its crowded and they are afraid that their kids will get knocked down by some clumsy adults?

I think for safety reasons, maybe a kid less than 5 years old on a stroller is fine with me. But those strollers are HUGE man, not those that I sat last time while I was a baby. (I used to walk all the time and my father or mother will carry me if I'm too tired. And I clearly remember that I never go to the shopping mall before my 8th birthday. And the stroller is only for the beach or parks.)

So to conclude this post. Anyone interested in buying my under-utilised stroller please drop me a mail... Item is in Thailand though..... And yeah, its those HUGE types oso (wify picked one).