quick clicks

recipes today articles

recipes today q&a

message boards

research baby names

prepare a birth plan

content channels

ip channel rss feeds

read birth stories

read parenting stories

recommended books

e-newsletters

safety recalls

ip diaries

ip store

mom of the month

dad of the month

editor's letter

letters to the editor

Shopping Cart Safety

Misplaced Worries or a Real Concern?

By Kelly Burgess

These policies are the reason our children wear helmets to ride bikes and play sports, use seatbelts or car seats in cars and play with plastic rather than metal yard toys, to name just a few changes. Also, parents are better educated about everyday home hazards that can lead to burns, drowning or other injuries.

Drs. Smith and Dowd agree that it's a mistake to say we're coddling or scaring our children by doing all of these things. In fact, we're saving them from pain, disfigurement and death in greater numbers every year.

Ask almost any parent and they'll probably agree that one of the toughest challenges of having young children is shopping. Most shopping carts have a seat in the front, but it's not always easy to keep a child sitting there. Add to that the challenge of trying to shop with multiple children – some of them trying to hang on to an already top-heavy cart while a younger sibling is seated there – and it can be a chaotic situation.

The AAP suggest the following alternatives:

• Get another adult to come with you to watch the children while shopping.
• Put children in strollers, wagons or front packs instead of in shopping carts.
• Ask older children to walk and praise them for behaving and staying nearby.
• Leave children at home with another adult.
• Shop online if local stores offer shopping on the Internet.

Also, some supermarkets now have carts with plastic car-shaped seats on the bottom for children to sit in. While they're not perfect, they're much safer and more stable than traditional carts.

Lyn Glover of Tualatin, Ore., shops frequently with her 2-year-old son and always uses a shopping cart. The biggest problem she has is that he often tries to stand up in the cart, and she says that stores aren't always sympathetic to her safety concerns.

Want to see more?

• Check out our Article Library.
• Basket Wars: Tackling the Grocery Store with Little Ones
• Mall Madness: Tackling Shopping with a Baby or Toddler
• Safety at the Park: Preventing Playground Injuries
• Talk about it!

Post As:
Enter your comment below:
Title
Comment Text
CAPTCHA
Please note that any comments submitted become the property of Disney Family / iParenting and can be edited and posted at our discrection.