The stroller is the hero of the day when your toddler is just beginning to walk.
Young children will insist on showing off their newfound perambulation skills right up until the point that they crash from exhaustion, which usually happens to be at the point when you are furthest away from home. Thankfully, a stroller is lighter and less effort to push around than a bulkier pushchair that younger kids spend their time in. You can take it with you, ready to cart your child back home when they’ve worn their little legs out.
Here are some of the best stroller hacks to make the most of your buggy.
- Add Weights to the Front Wheels
The stroller is great for carrying your child around, but it also has other uses. Namely, carrying your shopping home. The trouble is that too many bags on the handles can cause it to over balance, particularly if your child is still skipping around the pavement.
The solution is to take those ankle or wrist weights that you velcro onto yourself and which you bought one January in the sales and never actually used, and attach them to the front wheels. This balances things up and helps you get home with your eggs intact.
- Use a Carabiner to Attach More Bags
Once you’ve sorted the balance issue, you might want to add extra bags of shopping. Once the handles and basket are full, you can create more capacity by attaching a carabiner (one of those metal loops with spring-loaded gates) to create a hook. Simple, but effective.
- Use a Bike Lock
You might not think about stroller theft, but these items can cost a fair amount of cash. Where there is potential cash, there is theft, unfortunately. However, it is easy enough to protect your stroller. Use a bike lock to keep it secure when you have to leave it anywhere, and put off potential opportunist crooks.
This also helps if you leave the stroller in a place where there are many similar models being stored. It stops anyone taking yours by accident.
- Make it Winter Ready
If you need a little extra traction on the ice through winter, you can make your own snow tyre-style device. Wrap cable ties around the wheels and then you don’t need to worry about slipping and sliding around when you hit the pavements.
- Carry Drinks Upright
Children need drinks, and often require a selection of different beverages to suit their ever-changing whims. Carrying multiple bottles can cause clutter and also run the risk of spilling liquids all over the pram. However, by inserting a shoe organiser into the basket at the back, standing vertically, you can place each bottle into its own slot, ready to be produced on demand!
- Personalise With Coloured Tape
Another way to prevent someone mistaking your stroller for theirs and walking off with it is to personalise it with coloured tape. Find your favourite colour and wrap it round the handles so you never have to search through a room full of strollers to find yours ever again.
- Bungee Cord for Better Storage
The bungee cord is your friend when it comes to strollers. Rather than just shoving the stroller in the boot of the car, letting it roll around all over the place, attach the stroller upright to the back seat by wrapping the bungee cord around the headrest. Similarly, this principle can help with storage in cupboards, hallways and porches in the home. Simple.
