September 16, 2010

Shopping Carts


Yesterday afternoon, I took my kids to the grocery store. The minute we pulled into the parking lot, my kids began screaming.

"Park over there! Park over there!" they shouted.

When I saw what they were pointing at, I deliberately parked as far away from the object as possible.

"You are so mean!" they cried in unison.

"We are passed that stage in life," I told them.

"It's just a shopping cart!" they whined.

What they were referring to was the size of a small sedan. It had four seats and the turning radius of a semi-truck.

"Nope," I said again.

Much wailing and gnashing of teeth and whining about paralyzed legs and unfair lives followed.

I told everyone to get out the car. After unbuckling Cameron from his car seat, I turned around to find all three of my older children crammed into the basket of a regular shopping cart.

"Now what are you going to do?" their eyes taunted.

I shrugged my shoulders. Then I plopped the baby into one of the million empty shopping carts surrounding my car and started making my way to the store entrance.

"See you later!" I called out.

The wailing and gnashing of teeth continued, but for different reasons :)

34 comments

Anonymous said...

ahh! I absolutely cannot stand those things! Now I don't have children but being a nanny for lots of children over the years I am quite used to them. I wouldn't mind them if you could actually turn the thing! Good choice for parking as far away as possible!!

Jennifer said...

Ugh.. I know JUST what you are talking about! They don't fit between the checkout line either! So annoying.. you can't just unload your groceries and push it through. The other beef I have with it is that it is so freakin' enormous, but the actual basket for groceries is much much smaller than a standard cart.

regina said...

i love you meanest mom and think you are my best friend.

Jessica B said...

UGH! Definitely cannot stand those carts!! They look all exciting, but they are SO HARD to manuever, and the novelty definitely wears off before we are finished shopping. Yeah, I avoid them at all costs. :)

Anonymous said...

I deliberately park on the side of the grocery store where they only have normal carts...

Nolie said...

I have no clue what carts you are talking about however I LOVE that you grabbed a different cart and started walking away.

Anonymous said...

My friend used to tell her kids that she'd race them for it, but if she beat them they'd have to push HER around. Oddly enough, although her children are normally much faster than she is, nobody ever took her up on it. Perhaps because they saw the evil gleam in her eye.

Totally Taylor said...

I love the multiple kid shopping carts, don't care if it's shaped like a car, butterfly or just molded plastic. I only shop at stores that have those.

Sounds like a firm "knock it off" was in order.

Em said...

That is too funny, I too hate those things, my kids won't stay in them after about 5 minutes, and then I'm carrying one screaming kid on my hip while trying to steer the huge truck with one hand.

Angie said...

That was a brilliant move on your part.

Annie (Lady M) x said...

We don't have such things in the UK. Instead we have carts with wonky wheels, carts that don't hold enough food, and carts that hold babies but no much else. It's like a third world country over her it is.

Anonymous said...

Yesteday was my last time ever getting one of those carts. Because somehow it's more fun to ride on the top of the car...then inside. So, then they are fighting for who gets to sit on top! Doesn't turn. Run into people. HUGE! Curse you...whoever thought those kinds of carts would be "fun". Definitely not a mom. Probably a group of people, in a board room, who have never shopped with kids.

canadianmom said...

First it was just one kid... not bad.. then two, tolerable but cart fills up faster... Now I have 4 kids and stay the heck as far away from these cursed carts. Good for you on walking away in the other cart! I'm not sure I would have thought of that myself.... :P

Lori L. Miggins said...

Have you heard about the shopping carts at KROGER grocery stores in Atlanta. They have little TV's in them. One for the child to watch and another for the mom to watch. Crazy!!!

Jessica said...

those carts are the worst!

Heather said...

We have those with tv's in them here. I tried it once thinking he would stay in it and thus make it worth it's cumbersome-ness. No dice.
I hate, hate, hate those. Almost as much as the miniature shopping carts kids run around the store pushing like maniacs until they run into your achilles.

Mal said...

I HATE those things! They take up SO much room in the isles. I know a lot of people say things like, "well, they're great for the kids." Ya know what, a kid is gonna be happy in a shopping cart no matter what it looks like as long as they don't know those things exist.

I vow now never to put my child in one of those. And to cuss out the person who invented them if I ever have the chance to meet him/her.

the thrifty ba said...

i love when they HAVE to sit in one of those car cart and their knees are up past their heads. or legs are out the windows.
gggrrr...

Ashley S :) said...

My favorite place to put the kids when I grocery shop will always be at home with their dad :) I'd much rather be going alone to the store at 8 pm (like I did last night) than during the day when I have to take the whole damn circus. Or at the very least, I go during school hours so I only have 2 monkeys to manage. In that case, I have found those carts to be quite useful as my kids are still small enough that I can pretty much tie them in with a few sailing knots and do not have to worry about escapees!

happyfamily said...

I'll take those carts any day over letting my kids push the mini carts around the store. It's darling and all, but I'm just waiting for a lawsuit after they run into someone's backside or a display to come tumbling down.

Chalen said...

there is a special place in Hell for those and there best friend, the stupid mini shopping cart.

Just Plain Tired said...

I have a feeling the bailed out of that cart and trooped into the store on your heels. ;)

Laura, Ben, and family said...

my kids just *adore* the carts that have the steering wheels. The biggest problem (learned very early) most of them have a steering wheel missing.

Two seats + one steering wheel = a no win situation.

We use boring carts now.

Stephanie said...

My kids cannot even fit in them anymore and they still beg. Although a couple weeks ago I saw a mom pushing two really grown kids in one and I was totally bewildered by it. And they were eating ice cream cones. Puh-lease.

Emily Heizer Photography said...

Hee hee hee, outsmarted by the mastermind of them all!

Breezi@ Not Your Average Fairytale said...

AHH... I get the SAME THING! My almost 8 year old wants to ride in the cart?!?! What is that about?

Deborah said...

You know the carts are trying to escape, don't you?

Poor things...overburdened by screaming children, left with wobbly wheels and covered in decaying lettuce.
They make a break for it whenever they can.
That's why you see them on grass verges and in parks.
Of course it's the ones that throw themselves in the river I feel most sorry for. No hope left...

When my girls and I see them we yell, " Run, run now...get away if you can!"
Of course it might just be us....

JMS said...

A+.

New follower. Love it.

Kelly said...

I hate those limo sized shopping carts too. I don't know anyone who likes them. What do they think we are Moms on steroids?

Ashley A. said...

AH I laughed so hard at this one and the above comments are hilarious, too. I hate those carts, too. My kids just stick their hands out of the little car windows and pull stuff off the aisles. We've never used one since...

Ashley A. said...

oops, shelves not aisles.

Mamajil said...

I would have done the same thing I HATE those things too. Only if I have one of my teens with me to push one of those monster truck carts (while I shop with the normal cart) do my kids get to ride in them.....and it always ends the same way...the teen gets in the car huffing saying "I remember why I hate those carts mom I took out two displays....You owe me big" I always just smile :)

Anonymous said...

Way toooo big! Can't someone come up with a smaller way to make shopping carts cool? I was checking out and my butt knocked a whole case of wine bottles over....not enough room to even walk around those huge carts to GET to my food! I didn't even flinch. I was so mad that those carts are so over sized. Plus, what on EARTH are they thinking when they put a case of wine bottles near the check out, free standing. Really? LOL
Check this video out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2BaEETN_Ws

Lynette said...

hahaha! I loathe the dreaded "car carts" as my kids call them. They need to have a "back up" beeper/indicator light, I swear! And once the kids are loaded, along with the groceries, the wheels aren't all touching the ground so as you push, the cart jerks up and down. Much fun! :) :)