One Canadian Mom's Quest for the Perfect Double Stroller

The Quest for the Perfect Double Stroller
as told by an obsessed mother of twins

When I was a born my grandparents sent my mom a Silver Cross pram from England so she could proudly parade her first-born around our suburban neighbourhood. It was the very large, shiny kind of pram you see in old movies, with a giant sun hood, a steel frame and impressive chrome wheels. Imagine a sort of crib on wheels. That same pram lasted through three children and my mom talks about it the way some people talk about their first cars. She affectionately remembers the way the wheels smoothly navigated the streets in any kind of weather, the wonderful suspension system and the thick, comfortable mattress for napping babies. She loved that pram almost as much as she loved the three babies that each took their turn sleeping in it. Of course that Silver Cross pram was about the size and weight of my current car, but my mom didn’t have the TTC to consider, as there was no bus service in our growing subdivision outside Toronto. She also didn’t have to worry about folding it up and squeezing it into the back of her car because she didn’t have her license in those days. So fond is my mom’s memory of that Silver Cross pram that she excitedly volunteered to buy my husband and I our stroller before I even finished the sentence “I’m pregnant.” She imagined me strolling the Danforth with my single baby in a giant English pram. I envisioned me nimbly popping into shops with my trendy Bugaboo. Turns out neither of us had the right idea. I was expecting not one but two babies and all bets were off.

The news that my husband Mike and I were expecting twins sent me into a frenzy of internet research. It was like trying to understand an entirely new language. Bumbos, exersaucers, bundle-mes, bouncy seats, boosters, pack and plays, snap and gos, swaddlers – what the hell were all of these things? For someone who had never even spent time alone with an infant and didn’t have any children in her extended family, this was uncharted territory. I knew our babies could live without molded rubber chairs, but they would definitely need a stroller. So I buried my Bugaboo dream and optimistically began looking for the perfect double stroller.

As it turns out, trying to find the perfect double stroller is a tall order. It became more than just a research project, the search became my very challenging, expensive and time-consuming hobby. My husband likes to tease me that Evan and James will have to forgo college because I’ve spent so much money on strollers. But I just don’t seem to be able to find the perfect, all-purpose stroller. My mom and I purchased the first stroller on ebay when I was about six months pregnant. I was on bed rest at the time, and we spent an entire morning waiting by the computer, sipping tea and making last-minute bids, then screaming with excitement when we “won” the side-by-side First Wheels City Twin. This was going to be the perfect stroller! It was a fashionable shade of charcoal, the seats could face forward or backward, the wheels seemed sturdy and, according to their website, First Wheels strollers had been popular in Europe for years. Everything seemed great…until my husband and I went to pick the stroller up from the retailer in Mississauga. Technically it fit into our car, but unfortunately it didn’t leave any room for two babies. I tried to ignore the slight sarcasm in my husband’s voice when he asked how we were going to decide whether to bring the stroller or the babies out with us on car trips.

So I did what any good business woman would do. I re-sold the First Wheels on Craig’s List for $25 more than we paid for it, and then continued my search. Within a week I was the proud owner of a Graco DuoGlider with matching infant seats. It wasn’t small, it wasn’t glamourous, but it was affordable and it fit into the back of our Pontiac Vibe. The storage area was decent, the seats reclined (one more than the other) and it had a cup holder for my tea. This was the stroller the boys took their first walks in, and it fit into all doorways, since it was a tandem rather than a side-by-side. Unfortunately, it was so long that although I could fit inside doorways of the shops on the Danforth, I found actually maneuvering once I got inside very difficult. I remember getting quite a few dirty looks as I knocked into shoppers and shelves, trying to turn corners in the IGA. Also, I found the DuoGlider incredibly heavy. So I decided to expand my collection by purchasing a lighter stroller for car trips. The DuoGlider would be my walking stroller and I’d have something easier to lift for the mall.

And so I began an internal struggle between the two top umbrella-style strollers on the market. Should I spring for a Maclaren (equivalent to about three weeks of my maternity pay!) or the slightly less expensive but perhaps less durable Peg Aria? Both were side-by-sides, both were fairly light (the Aria lighter), and both fit easily into our car with even a bit of spare room for a club pack of diapers or a case of formula. Evan, James, my mom and I did some test driving and eventually we settled on the Aria. This stroller had limited storage, but it was light and we were able to scoop up a floor model for $75 off. The discount helped me to justify another stroller purchase to my husband. So I had two great babies, two double strollers, I’d finally figured out what a Bumbo was, and life seemed pretty good.

And then came the long, cold, and very snowy Toronto winter of 2007/2008. It was the kind of winter I remember experiencing as a child, with snow banks as high as my head and neighbourhood-wide shoveling parties every weekend. But that volume of snow was too much for either my Duoglider or my Peg Aria. Neither stroller could penetrate the snow, slush and ice that seemed permanently adhered to Toronto’s sidewalks and roadways. By the end of December I was losing my sanity. After two months stuck in the house, I broke the news to my husband that we had to get a third snow-worthy stroller or I was moving to St. Lucia. Alone.

The next weekend the stroller goddesses smiled on me and I was able to pick up another floor model. This time I spent almost an entire month’s maternity-leave pay on an all-terrain Chariot Cougar, which is made by outdoorsy types in Calgary and can apparently handle anything from cross-country skiing across the plains, to climbing up mountains. The Chariot was my ticket out of the house. Rain, snow, sleet, hail – nothing could stop me now. Throughout the second half of last winter Evan, James and I could be seen walking the Danforth in any kind of weather. Of course we couldn’t fit inside many stores with this giant contraption, but we didn’t complain. We could still fit inside Starbuck’s for a latte. So I sold the DuoGlider on Craig’s List and I thought I was set.

At this point you may be wondering how I could possible ever need another stroller. Well, the next stroller purchase was not my fault, I swear. Somehow over the course of 18 months Evan and James grew from a pair of 6 lb infants into a couple of 33 lb toddlers. My boys, simply put, are huge. My husband and I are 6’ and 6’3” respectively and our boys seem on a mission to exceed our own heights. Despite what the product specifications might suggest, the Peg Aria cannot accommodate 65+ lbs of toddler. Its plastic frame is wonderfully light and makes it easy to pop in and out of the trunk with just one hand. But plastic is no match for my future NBA stars. I had the Chariot for walks around the neighbourhood, but I needed something light to pop in the car for doctor’s appointments, trips to Ikea, and long weekends away (we don’t actually do weekends away, but I like to be prepared just in case we ever get a twin-toddler-friendly invitation!). And so a couple of months ago I made what I am fairly sure is going to be my last-ever double stroller purchase. I broke down and bought the umbrella-style Maclaren Twin Techno. Luckily I bought a preivous year’s model at considerable savings, but it was still an expensive purchase. The Maclaren is great. I like the ample storage, the rain hood, and the way it folds easily. I do find it a little difficult to push my heavy load with the Maclaren’s small wheels and I wish the sun shades were bigger, but I think it’s a very good stroller.

So let this article be a lesson to optimistic new parents of two stroller-age children everywhere. In my experience, there is no such thing as a perfect double stroller. It is the Holy Grail of twin parenthood. There are near-perfect strollers, but I don’t personally know any families who have one stroller that meets all of their needs. In fact, I know quite a few moms with secret stroller collections similar to mine. They have a neighbourhood stroller, a mall stroller, a vacation stroller, a stroller for Grandma’s house…the list goes on. Their husbands can be heard muttering under their breaths as they climb over endless baby-moving contraptions in the basement while searching for their golf clubs. But I think I’ve finally found a good combination with the Chariot and the Maclaren. Oh, and the two single umbrella strollers we use sometimes when my husband and I are both out for a walk with the boys (did I forget to mention those?). Of course, as I was researching this article I did happen to notice that Silver Cross is now making a side-by-side umbrella stroller. It’s black with shiny wheels and it looks like it might have more storage than the Maclaren…I wonder if they sell it in Canada? Hmm…