I bought my husband a jogging stroller when H. was a baby, five years ago. I did my research, and I paid a decent amount of money for the model I bought. It held up well until last year, when J. and H. decided to pop some wheelies and bent the frame. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that H. is a big kid, but he is. At age five, he wears a size 8 and weighs nearly 65 pounds. Too big for wheelies in the stroller.

Now F. has joined our family, and we need another stroller. Because we didn’t use the last stroller as much for jogging as for walking, I decided I wanted a hybrid model. One that works for walks on the sidewalk as well as trails, and one that will work as a jogger—in case someone chases us. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money this time, and after cruising the classifieds for a decent used model with no luck, I decided to buy a new one.

I found the Baby Trend Jogger Stroller at Target on sale for $99 (regularly $109.99). The front wheel swivels for walking mode and locks for jogging mode. Indeed, this was what had most attracted me about this model. But during the assembly process, when it came to the instructions about how to lock the wheel, I was flummoxed. “Figure 17a is a remote release lever located under the right side handle,” intoned the instructions, mysteriously. “Pull to disengage the wheel and push to engage the locking device located under the footrest.” I look under the right side handle; no remote release lever. I caress the handle up and down with my eyes closed, Zen-like; no remote release lever. I get on the phone to Baby Trend and wait for a long time.

After fifteen minutes of looping through the hold system (they’re Canadians – maybe they’d gone out for a Molson), I give up on the remote release lever and locate the locking device (guess that would be a “lock”) located under the footrest. It’s just a button. You don’t really need a remote for it, unless you’re really lazy. But you’re going out for walk, so how could you be?

In any case, we’ve used the jogger a few times now and it works well. The wheels turn, the baby is kept off the ground and propelled in a forward motion at approximately the same speed at which we walk, and everyone is happy. The only hitch has been our inability to fold the thing up properly to stash it in the car, but we probably just need to locate the directions. And read them.