Don't let your kids drive the shopping cart

[TravisRB69]

DON'T LET YOUR YOUNG KIDS DRIVE THE SHOPPING CART!!!!!!! It's not cute. It's not adorable. It's not precious. Your little ray of sunshine isn't being a cute lil' helper. They're being a pain in the ass, and dangerous to boot. No, in case you haven't noticed, just because you have your hands on the cart "keeping him steady" he's still running into things and almost knocking things off shelves.

[Seraph]

Actually...my 2 year old likes to "help" push the shopping carts. She's amazingly good with it...she takes it slow and makes sure she steers far away from any obstacles. I have seen that exact behavior you're talking about though...but the one time my kid started to do that, a swat on the bum got her back in line. She's been very well-behaved about it ever since.

[friendofjimmyk]

I know that its cute and all...but most kids can't see where they're going. Double bonus points for the parents that let their kids climb ALL OVER the cart while they're shopping. My friend lets his girls do that. One time, one of them was UNDER the cart on the bottom area where you can put bigger items. She decided it would be neat to play with the wheels while the cart was moving and she seriously injured her thumb. That's his point...they'll keep doing something until they get hurt and then they won't do it anymore. I can see his point, but hopefully, they don't seriously hurt themselves.

[CaroPhoenix]

Harris Teeter has those little "Customer in Training" shopping carts. They look like the real thing, but are the size for the little kids. Child Rum loves to use them, but as soon as she starts to ram her cart, she doesn't get it anymore. She cries, but eventually understands why it was taken away.

[Seraph]

I know that its cute and all...but most kids can't see where they're going. Double bonus points for the parents that let their kids climb ALL OVER the cart while they're shopping. My friend lets his girls do that. One time, one of them was UNDER the cart on the bottom area where you can put bigger items. She decided it would be neat to play with the wheels while the cart was moving and she seriously injured her thumb. That's his point...they'll keep doing something until they get hurt and then they won't do it anymore. I can see his point, but hopefully, they don't seriously hurt themselves.

She can, though....I probably should've mentioned she does not push it from behind or from the front. She will latch onto the sides and help, lol.

Oh, and she DEFINITELY knows not to climb under the cart. <_< Thats a biiiiig no-no.

[TravisRB69]

I once had a mom let her kid climb all up ON THE SIDE of a nearly empty shopping cart (except for another kid sitting in the kiddie seat on the handle, already making the cart top heavy) while she sat there yakking with friend and doing nothing. The cart tipped over but luckily the kid wasn't hurt. I hope it brought her to reality and she isn't so stupid any more.

[PepperElf]

especially if she'd already gotten her eggs!

[Gerrinson]

I once had a mom let her kid climb all up ON THE SIDE of a nearly empty shopping cart (except for another kid sitting in the kiddie seat on the handle, already making the cart top heavy) while she sat there yakking with friend and doing nothing. The cart tipped over but luckily the kid wasn't hurt. I hope it brought her to reality and she isn't so stupid any more.

The grocery store had a lot of customers like that. The one woman in my line had several cases of soda and was letting her kid dangle himself off the front of the cart. The kid was like 8 or 9, so old enough to know better. I tried to warn her what would happen when she pulled the soda out, but neither one listened to me (nor understood basic physics.) Soda comes out, back of cart goes up and over, kid winds up trapped underneath the upside down cart. Fortunately for him, he wound up covered by the empty basket area and only bruised himself a bit on the floor. She then went off about how our carts were 'dangerously imbalanced' and we should warn people.

[RetailWorkhorse]

What Travis descibed that could happen at his store, DID happen at my store.

Munchkin was climbing all over the stupid cart and the thing just flipped over. Right smack into another cart. Kid got a goose egg on his noggin for it his trouble, and I got a migraine from the screaming of the kid.

What did Mom do?

STAND THERE AND SAY "I Told You That Would Happen"!!!!

What the royal fuck?! Ya KNOW it's gonna happen and ya don't stop your munchkin? What the royal shit on a stick is wrong with you?!

[Cookiesaur]

In our store, there was one shopping cart we all hated. It had a bum wheel that squealed like a rabbit in pain when it was pushed. We would dearly have loved to get rid of it all together, but management refused, said as long as it could be pushed smoothly, it was fine. So several times a day, you'd be working away, and all of a sudden you'd hear this shrill squealing arise. It was audible throughout the entire store; you could see the heads of various employees pop up all over and glower. Not once did a customer realise how annoying it was (or find it that annoying themselves), and exchange it for one of the dozens of others. No, they would persist.

Anyway, one day The Cart gets snagged by this family with some little kid around six years old. The kid's head barely reaches the handle, but his mother thinks it's cute to let him push. He apparently delights in the sound the cart makes and begins whipping it violently in short arcs from side to side as they go. Not only does this make the sound louder (one of my co-workers complained that it felt like it was "fucking her eardrums", which is pretty accurate), but he's also bashing the cart into someone else's each time. His parents don't react, and he sticks his tongue out at the people who frown at him.

So he's pushing this torture machine past the bakery counter where I'm working, and we lock gazes. I've always had a thing about irritating noises -- I think partly because I always had to be up so early to work, and thus was sensitive to every little sound that disrupted my sleep. The kid smirks at me as his parents pause to examine the display case and begins rocking the cart from side to side, producing that terrible sound. I stare back, trying to comfort myself with the knowledge that he's probably going to grow up to have sixteen kids just like him. His parents I wish a much more painful fate, because not once do they even acknowledge his behaviour.

Grinning triumphantly, he plants both feet on the undercarriage so he can stand up taller and sticks his tongue out at me.

The entire cart flips over backwards, throwing him to the ground and trapping him beneath, along with all their groceries.

He begins screaming, and so does his mother.

Me? I run into the back of the store with my co-worker and we clutch each other for dear life, laughing like lunatics until we're nearly crying.

Later found out he didn't have a scratch on him. Bet he got a good scare, though.

[blas]

When I was a kid, my brother and I were allowed to take turns HELPING steer the cart. Meaning mom or dad was actually doing the steering and we were helping and learning.

Nothing ever got ran into, nothing ever broken, no one ever injured.

Works great and really makes kids feel proud of themselves.

If the kid whines about not being able to steer him/herself, just say "Life is pain, prince/princess. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something."

[Becks]

Harris Teeter has those little "Customer in Training" shopping carts. They look like the real thing, but are the size for the little kids.

ShopRite has/had them, and supposedly the store I work for does, too. I've seen a sign saying they're at the service desk, but I haven't seen the carts themselves.

[Megg]

My kids are forever trying to climb on the carts, run around the carts, the whole thing. I try to tell them, and am usually successful in making them stop, at least temporarily, but sometimes it takes a whack (with a cart, against a shelf) before they realize mom may just know what she's talking about.

My daughter was next to the cart last time we went shopping, then before I knew it, she was suddenly in front of it, trying to climb onto it. I didn't stop quite fast enough, and it bumped her foot. Didn't even leave a bruise, but now she at least believes it can hurt. At least she learned her lesson without a trip to the doctor.

Kids are stupid. I just wish so many parents weren't stupid, too.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Harris Teeter has those little "Customer in Training" shopping carts. They look like the real thing, but are the size for the little kids.

The Grocery Store of Awesome has them too.

[AriRashkae]

The entire cart flips over backwards, throwing him to the ground and trapping him beneath, along with all their groceries.

He begins screaming, and so does his mother.

Me? I run into the back of the store with my co-worker and we clutch each other for dear life, laughing like lunatics until we're nearly crying.

Later found out he didn't have a scratch on him. Bet he got a good scare, though.

I said it before, the universe is just. It's so huge it takes a while to get things moving though.