Stroller

"Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Among the many things expectant parents are told to buy, none is a more visible symbol of status and parenting philosophy than a stroller. Although its association with wealth dates back to the invention of the first pram in the 1700s, in recent decades, four-figure strollers have become not just status symbols but cultural identifiers. There are sleek jogging strollers for serious athletes, the baby-gear version of a carbon-fiber bicycle. There are impossibly compact travel strollers for parents determined to make international travel with pre-ambulatory children easy. There are strollers designed with older siblings in mind, featuring a ride-on kick board or second, less "babyish" seat. We're all familiar with the caricature of a harried mother taking up the entire train carriage with a stroller she can't collapse. There are anti-stroller evangelists, fervently preaching the gospel of baby wearing and attachment parenting. All of these attitudes, seemingly about an object, are also revealing of our attitudes about the ways in which we believe parents and children ought to move through the world. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic."--