I am also not suggesting that my life revolves around any child, but for moments that I am with many children, it does. That is fine when they are children I know and love. But I think in many cases this is a conceit of (particularly) mothers. That people around them should constantly be making exceptions, allowances and compromises to accomodate their lives and their children. Baby carriages are just a simple example of taking up an unnecessary amount of space, and the problem I have is many mothers who you don’t know expect you to wait around while they fidget with their children in carriages, and they can’t move properly around a shop, for instance, so the shop should move around them. There is a sense of entitlement that comes with some peoples’ child rearing, which can be unfair to the rest of us.

I also do not suggest in any way that the issue of sustainability can be simplified to the issue of baby carriages. It was a one week project for which we were asked to make something ‘bigger, slower…’, or as I took it: simplified, with honesty in what it does and needs to be. I agree that it would be best if a carriage was built of non-toxic substances and made to last, and then passed on from person to person until it may need to be disposed of due to wear and tear (at which point it can return to the earth in a nonharmful way). But the unreality of this is the point I am trying to make - that parents seem to be progressively buying and using and wasting thing *supposedly* for their children’s needs and wants. And I don’t think that is true. They are conditioning their children to want and *need* the things that they want and need and raising them in societies that put too much value on possession and consumption. This is certainly not true of all societies. My post wasn’t ‘needed’ at all, it was just a challenge to what others consider ‘needs’ in a particular situation. Need is relative, that’s what I’m saying. Also what you are saying, strangely enough.

3. motherhood is your choice, not necessarily ours. I’m sure your child is super, but I don’t think our lives necessarily have to revolve around them.
Counterpoint: I don’t think there is any chance your life revolves around them.
5. everything you give to your child is depleting the rest of the world. …including you, and them, later in life.
Counterpoint: Matter can neither be created or destroyed. The issue of sustainable environment is more complex than baby carriages. In point of fact, a baby carriage that is built to last…in an environment of zero population growth, would be relatively harmless…it would be nice if most baby carriages were bought used, and only the occasional new one was made to replace one that had gone out of service. Very little environmental impact…compared to buy one for yourself, and toss it when you are done.
6. do you really need all that stuff? no, seriously…NEED. like food and water and air
Counterpoint: did your post really amount to something you NEEDED to do? Like eating, drinking and breathing? It’s not a fair comparison, now is it.