On Hating Shopping Carts

You know those cute shopping carts with the plastic trucks on the front at ground level? I hate those. Hate them.


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They seem like such a good idea - a truck, often with steering wheels, to help the wee ones pass the time while the parents grab apples and eggs. The carts come with seat belts, and they're fun and festive and hooray for transportation!



But the wee ones (at least the one related to me) only love the idea for the first 1/4 of the shopping trip, and then they want to climb out - which is made much easier by their proximity to the ground. If they can't climb out, they can lean out the side, drag their knuckles on the floor right next to the finger-pinching wheels, and moan loudly.



Or, the kiddo wants to "help" and grab food off of the shelves when you make the mistake of parking the cart too close to the cans of soup.



Of course, with the massive size of the kiddie truck carts you either bump the cereal off the shelves, or you block the aisle - and sometimes, if you're an especially clumsy shopping cart driver like me, you do both. The truck carts always seem to be wobbly and especially challenging to navigate. The wheels always want to go left when I want to go right. It makes me wonder if the steering wheel down in the truck cab is more than just show.



And then there's the typical child's response when the truck carts are absent. Now that Grayson knows they exist, he always wants one. Most stores seem to have two of the truck carts, and those two are already in use 90% of the time, leading to a serious case of toddler envy. The truck carts are a tantrum instigator, and I most certainly do not need another one of those.




They're also a bit too grimy for my tastes, and I'm actually OK with my child eating a little dirt. The seats get a little crusty, and the seat belts rarely work. They have perfect supermarket destruction range - it's so easy to tear open a bag of flour or yank a couple of cans of peaches to the floor. Not that my child would ever do that......



My favorite set up for food purchasing with child is a stroller at Sprouts or the farmers market - the kid is strapped in, but can see everything (and can't reach it or demand sugar cocoa blue frosted high fructose happy cartoon character junk snacks) and even has a handy little tray for mama approved snacks, which is only germed up by the child's own boogers. And if the mama approved snacks are scarffed down too quickly.....one may be inclined to pinch a couple of grapes off the vine, snag a cutie orange, or snatch a handful of organic sugar free gummy bears.....not that I would ever do that.



Actually, scratch that. It's easiest when the child is still in utero, especially at about 22 weeks, when you're no longer gagging at the scent of the fresh fish and you can walk without waddling.....and your toddler is home with Daddy safely tucked in bed dreaming of a giant dump truck full of gumballs.



For some reason, people look at you weird when your almost 3 year old is sitting in a stroller rambling off his ABC's....like he should be in school or something. Unfortunately, I don't have a handy dandy kangaroo pouch to make grocery shopping easier and Daddy comes home ready for dinner.....not wanting to wait around the 2 hours it takes me to pick up a few things at Target.


In a perfect world, every store would have the "mini carts" like Market Street....
Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo PrintingA Market Street without the giant walk thru winery just begging kids to pull bottles off the shelves.......in a perfect world.


I guess I'll just have to stick with the carts.