Have Wagons replaced double strollers?

[Anonymous]

I don't think I have seen a double stroller in years, but these wagons are everywhere, even our local grocery stores where they are a menace...

[Anonymous]

The first time I saw a wagon was, I think, a 4th of july parade in some midwestern town over a decade ago. It struck me as a great idea, especially because big kids can sit in there along with their smaller siblings. And, as i recall, the wagon had cup holders and seats and a shade and space for a cooler--it was perfect for a parade + fireworks.

Those double strollers look incredibly hard to navigate, and very, very heavy.

[Anonymous]

Where do you live? I’m in NW DC and see double strollers daily and hardly ever see wagons.

[Anonymous]

I’m in NE DC and there are still more double strollers than wagons but the number of wagons I see seems to be increasing.

[Anonymous]

I'm in NE/Capitol Hill and have definitely seen an uptick in wagons around the neighborhood. My kids are too old for it but I think it's a great idea. I often see a couple kids in a wagon with groceries or gear for camp and I remember trying to lug all that stuff around in a double stroller and it makes so much sense. I think a lot of the wagons also fold down better than double strollers and are thus easier to store.

I also see a lot of parents who skip the double stroller and just do a ride-on board. Unless you have twins, that can make a lot more sense. I have a friend whose kids are 18 months apart, and she never got a double stroller. She would carry the baby in a carrier and push the toddler in the stroller, and then transitioned the toddler to the ride on and the baby to the stroller as they aged. Saved them the trouble of buying a new stroller, and dealing with a double stroller in a narrow little row house.

I still see double strollers, of course, but it's great that people are figuring out other solutions because they are kind of a pain.

[Anonymous]

The Veers have definitely started to eclipse the Uppababy Vistas.

[Anonymous]

I wish these had been around when my twins were younger. The amount I spent on different iterations of strollers for 4 kids in nw is embarrassing. Now we’ve entered the travel sports stage and I’m in the market to purchase a wagon.

[Anonymous]

I see strollers mostly at the farmer’s market/places like that. I rarely see double strollers except like infant/toddler style. The ones that are wider or longer than a regular stroller are rarer, I assume because they’re hard to navigate on city sidewalks.

Not sure why you find them more menacing than feral toddlers running free or double strollers or frankly shopping carts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see strollers mostly at the farmer’s market/places like that. I rarely see double strollers except like infant/toddler style. The ones that are wider or longer than a regular stroller are rarer, I assume because they’re hard to navigate on city sidewalks.

Not sure why you find them more menacing than feral toddlers running free or double strollers or frankly shopping carts.

I think the "menace" comment was about the wagons in the grocery store where they can take up a lot of space and be a tripping hazard. Though a double stroller is no better in that respect.

When I had young kids and would take them to the grocery store in a stroller, I always tried to go on a weekday at off-peak hours if I could. Showing up to the market at 6pm on a Friday with two kids in a wagon is obnoxious.

[Anonymous]

Not for the city crowd. We have an Uppababy Vista for our 1 and 3 year olds and no car, and it seems like everyone with kids close together has one. Wagon's are great for the occasional outing, but I'm not walking 30 mins to swim class pulling a damn wagon.

[Anonymous]

We have the evenflo pivot and it is by far our best baby/toddler purchase. You can fit two kids, there’s a separate shade on each side, there is a removal cup holder/snack tray that divides it. There’s a basket in the front to stick extra stuff in. It’s easy to steer and collapses for storage. We don’t bring it to the grocery store but it’s great for the beach (the big wheels work really well in the sand) and other outdoor outings. Tbh I don’t use any stroller for the grocery store, though. Much easier to use the cart (or a carrier if you have an infant).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in NE/Capitol Hill and have definitely seen an uptick in wagons around the neighborhood. My kids are too old for it but I think it's a great idea. I often see a couple kids in a wagon with groceries or gear for camp and I remember trying to lug all that stuff around in a double stroller and it makes so much sense. I think a lot of the wagons also fold down better than double strollers and are thus easier to store.

I also see a lot of parents who skip the double stroller and just do a ride-on board. Unless you have twins, that can make a lot more sense. I have a friend whose kids are 18 months apart, and she never got a double stroller. She would carry the baby in a carrier and push the toddler in the stroller, and then transitioned the toddler to the ride on and the baby to the stroller as they aged. Saved them the trouble of buying a new stroller, and dealing with a double stroller in a narrow little row house.

I still see double strollers, of course, but it's great that people are figuring out other solutions because they are kind of a pain.

The novel solutions people are figuring out are the same solutions that existed before double strollers were even a thing. I had two under 3’s and never considered a double stroller. We were in a European city and everyone did a baby carrier or put the older one on a scooter.

[1SWMom]

We opted for the wagon, more from , kids face each other and more sporty and because honestly being an NYC kid myself I always wanted a wagon so our DC Girls got one.

[Anonymous]

I think of it as stroller indoor, wagon outdoor.

Doctor visit? Double stroller.
Zoo? Wagon

Wagons are a pain indoors whereas strollers can be parked, but they’re amazing for things like the zoo or Dutch wonderland where you need a place to park the kid to get from point to point. Plus flat napping space is so amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in NE/Capitol Hill and have definitely seen an uptick in wagons around the neighborhood. My kids are too old for it but I think it's a great idea. I often see a couple kids in a wagon with groceries or gear for camp and I remember trying to lug all that stuff around in a double stroller and it makes so much sense. I think a lot of the wagons also fold down better than double strollers and are thus easier to store.

I also see a lot of parents who skip the double stroller and just do a ride-on board. Unless you have twins, that can make a lot more sense. I have a friend whose kids are 18 months apart, and she never got a double stroller. She would carry the baby in a carrier and push the toddler in the stroller, and then transitioned the toddler to the ride on and the baby to the stroller as they aged. Saved them the trouble of buying a new stroller, and dealing with a double stroller in a narrow little row house.

I still see double strollers, of course, but it's great that people are figuring out other solutions because they are kind of a pain.

The novel solutions people are figuring out are the same solutions that existed before double strollers were even a thing. I had two under 3’s and never considered a double stroller. We were in a European city and everyone did a baby carrier or put the older one on a scooter.

Different lifestyles. I think I see wagons on the Hill because a lot of people here will do pick up/drop off plus errands with little kids and it makes sense for that specific sequence of events. You take kids to camp in the wagon and then put groceries in it on the way home, or you can pick up younger kid in wagon, add groceries, and pick up older kid and put them on the scooter that you transported there easily in the wagon.

Now, if your commute regularly involves public transportation, or you are dropping kids at daycare on the way to the office (instead of on the way back to your home office) a carrier/scooter solution makes more sense.

So it's not people coming up with new solutions to problems that have already been solved. It's people solving problems different from the one you had. I never had a wagon or a double stroller either (I did carrier plus stroller, or carrier plus scooter, or stroller plus scooter), but I can see how it makes sense for other families.