Have you ever tried shopping with a pram, I tell you its an experience that you will not soon forget, almost as traumatic as pushing a 3kg baby out a very small space and just as uncomfortable!

Prior to the birth of my son, there were two things that I hated when shopping…babies in prams and pensioners, have you ever been caught behind either? They are almost always at the tomato sauce shelf, which incidentally has to be placed smack bang in the middle of the busiest aisle of the lot, pram strategically placed to take up the majority of the aisle so there is absolutely no chance of getting past.

While the pensioner is reading all the prices, the little mother is either letting some pure stranger "goo goo gaa gaa" over her precious child, or has bumped into an old friend and they are catching up, while you patiently wait for someone to move before you die of old age. Eventually you get frustrated, and offer to help either party, and politely get told "No thanks, I am still looking for what I want", well hell yes they might be looking for what they want, but you would like to get out of the shop before Christmas 2020 comes along.

Now I have a confession to make, I have become that "little mother", the one who loves her child to be "goo goo gaa gaaed" over, someone who has become so socially depredated old friends, hell even old enemies, make for good company.

I am also one of those ‘loathed" moms with a pram. I have tried putting my little one in those trolley seats, but lets face it, the seats are either broken, gunked with some unknown substance, just plain uncomfortable or baby wants to stand up and so shopping with a pram has become both my nemesis and my friend.

I don’t think any one of us realised the importance of choosing the correct pram when we head out to buy the darn things. No one warns us that during hectic shopping forays they will be our first, last and only line of defense.

For starters, when buying a pram we all look for one that folds up small, small being a relative term. For prams do not fold up small as in mouse to elephant, they fold up small as in baby elephant to grown elephant, and take at least 100% of your boot space. Eventually you load your pram, toddler, snacks and what ever else you might need for baby (and forget everything you need for yourself behind – like money, the shopping list etc etc), and off to the shops you go.

When arriving there, you now have to unpack pram and re-assemble, what amazes me is how you become the sideline attraction while doing this task. Pram in one hand, squirming baby in the other, now unfold pram, and clip – sure, I think building the Great Wall of China is easier. People all stare and a few laugh, but no one offers a hand. The best you get is a sympathetic glance from a fellow mom with toddler in tow. So much for the great benefits bragged about in the instruction booklet – "can be assembled and disassembled with little effort and one hand", reflecting back I wish I had sent the manufactures a letter asking what they defined as ‘little effort?".

Two hours has since passed since leaving the house, quick nappy change is needed (the car boot works well for this), load baby in pram, and finally you make it into the shop, whether this was accomplished by shear determination or fear or having to do it again is debatable.

Shopping begins, and you can only take those miniscule baskets on wheels, as you have to contend with the pram. You get down aisle one, manage to make it to the tinned goods aisle, all the while trying to successfully steer pram and trolley, and suddenly you have forgotten what it was you needed. No need to panic, deep breathes are taken, then some inconsiderate sod comes and offers you help, at this point you feel like cursing the person, but politely say "No thanks, I am still looking for what I want"