On a recent suburban, all-terrain field exercise (or shopping trip), I realized that most of us parents of young children possess coordination skills worthy of recognition from the Pentagon.
After fitting our 9-month-old with his first pair of Stride Rites, we wheeled him through the mall parking lot to the minivan for the ultimate deployment test. Despite falling snow in the eyes, frigid winds gusting in the face and vulture-like drivers circling for parking spots, I successfully unbuckled baby from stroller, strapped him in a five-point safety seat harness that barely stretched over his pressure-suit thick winter coat, secured the sliding passenger side door, raced around for a final check and climbed into the driver’s seat to back up and out of the way in under 30 seconds.
It was so quick, in fact, that the shopaholic in the silver SUV waiting for our spot didn’t lean on the horn, despite the possibility of losing rapid access to the sale rack at JC Penney. All right, so my wife loaded the stroller in the van, but in a week I’ll be doing that and clearing snow from front and rear windshields without losing time.
The few. The proud. The schleppers.
