I'm on maternity leave right now, and so I sometimes find myself with spare time. (read: time when I can no longer stand being at home, no matter how much laundry needs doing!) Some of that time I spend helping out at a friend's baby store. (Yay Cat and Fiddle Kids!) I have fun meeting other moms, sharing my passion for cloth diapering and babywearing, and I get to try out all the gear.
We often see moms come in with the inexpensive travel systems sold at major chains. They come in at first with newborns tucked cozily into the carseats attached to the strollers (my opinion on THAT for another post) and at first they look all right. Everything works, they're not stylish but they're fine.
And then we see the moms with babies a few months older. Now they're crammed into those same carseats, and half the time the strollers have one wheel that seems to want to go in a different direction from the other three like the worst shopping cart at the grocery store. The plastic frame of the stroller is showing wear and tear, and it looks like it's been through the wars - and the kid it's supposed to grow with can't even sit up without help yet.
And then the stroller goes in the landfill, and another one is purchased - plus a new carseat because the travel system ones don't hold a very big baby.
And I know cost is a huge factor. But here's the thing - you can buy one good quality stroller and one carseat that will both last from birth right through the toddler years for the same price as buying a couple of the cheap ones - and your child will be safer, the products will be easier to use, you will both be more comfortable, and there will be less garbage in the landfill. Not to mention, depending on how hard you are on the stroller, you might even be able to sell it or donate it when you're done with it. Makes sense to me.
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