Cart Blanche

[tleberle]

I do not enjoy shopping. At all. It brings me no joy. I prefer to get in, find what I want and vacate. Most of that problem is interacting with other people. People who get in the way, who can't work the self-checkout, kids who are grabbing for stuff or whining because they can't have everything in the toy aisle.

Last night, I was shopping, moving

Comments

[lilgrnfroggie]

First, the young lady should not have what she did. If it would have been me, you would have gotten a "Sorry about that." as sincerely as I can muster as I'm chasing my child.

But, please do not judge her parenting (or her watching of the child if it was only her sister). Did you observe the little girl pinballing down every aisle?? Do you really expect a toddler (which to me is a child between the ages of 1 to 3 years old) to be on perfect behavior at absolutely all times?? Stuff happens, parents look away for just a second and the kid can take off down the aisle. The child was obviously being watched just fine since someone was chasing after her. It's the children who are pinballing down every aisle with no adult following them that you should be upset about.

As for using those carts meant for kids, I stopped using them (when they are available) after my 3rd kid was born, and I used them very rarely before that. They are horrible to manage and never fit everything I need (which includes the other kids that are too young to sit in the fun plastic part). I spent more time trying to not run into people than shopping or watching the kiddos (who were probably trying to escape from the cart because shopping was taking twice as long as normal).

Just for the record, I'm not one who advocates bringing your children everywhere. I get away once a week after bedtime to grocery shop (I'm the lady with the overloaded shopping cart and the stack of coupons going through the checkstands at 11pm). But life is what it is, and sometimes I even have to bring all four children into the store in order to get the few items I need.

Sorry so long! There are just a few things I am irritated with, and being judgey about other people's parenting is one. Love your writing, and I have it on my RSS feed so I don't miss it!