A man didn’t realize babies actually require strollers, that this was not a marketing ploy by Big Stroller, until having a baby himself. This is an article. I’m not sure the point of it. Is he trying to let as many people as possible know that he got his Uppababy Vista used? When men realize they like shopping, it is not men-be-shopping. This gentleman is “gearpilled.” Like when men want to fit into their jeans from 10 years ago but don’t want to say it’s a diet, they are optimizing their performance.
The man who realized strollers are good actually take led me via Twitter to a different man’s 2018 countertake avant la lettre, about how Actually babies don’t need all the junk sold to new parents.
There is in fact only one existing stance regarding baby goods: ‘they’re stupid except when I personally find them useful.’ Everyone has a use for some of it. No one would even begin to know what to do with most of it. Having never formula-fed I have never purchased the various accoutrements for that, nor—same reason—the pumping-for-the-office equipment. I never bought a diaper bag because the L.L. Bean zip tote in the camouflage pattern somehow took on that purpose. I’m so streamlined, right?
Wrong! Unlike the “gearpilled” article-writer, I got one of those Uppababy Vistas not used but new. It cost as much as some (very used) cars. I’m that asshole, maybe, or maybe I live somewhere arctic where an umbrella stroller is useless for much of the year, or, perhaps, both. I cannot count the number of small-child conveyances (some gifts, some from the local free-item yards, others bought) in my home.
Everyone is proud of themselves for not buying a wipe warmer. I’m convinced that’s the actual purpose of that item. As in it exists so there’s something everyone can point to and say, See, I’m not like those other parents who buy all the baby crap, my child is using room-temperature wipes like a peasant!
It’s the same as for any other type of consumption. People excuse what they find valuable and are aghast at the wasteful spendthrifts who make slightly different choices.
If gender enters into it, I guess it’s insofar as the baby-stuff context kind of ramps up the thing where, not infrequently, straight men need to understand their urge to shop as a hunt for gear.
As for all the stuff that seems too nice for a baby, it… is too nice for a baby, and is also not for the baby. High-end cribs, etc., much like upscale pet accessories, are home decor. The mystery of why someone would spend $6,000 on a lucite crib (not even the store’s priciest crib) is fine yes mysterious to little old me who somehow has two identical IKEA cribs in her home (a brief overlap when both children slept in a crib), but also, this is clearly that some people have a whole vision for what their living spaces look like? And not about anyone genuinely thinking an infant requires midcentury modern.
"Gearpilled"
My second grandchild is on the way, and the first thing my son and DIL bought was a wipe warmer. They learned their lesson from their first daughter shrieking about cold diaper changes.
I don't think wipe warmers existed when my son was small, but if they did and if I had known about them, I would have bought one in a heartbeat.