My heart races up and down like a rollercoaster when I see a toddler standing in a grocery cart. Yes, they look cute and parents enjoy the look on the toddlers face when pushing the grocery cart while they try to do their best balancing act but when they arrive at the checkout lanes, I feel like I’m the responsible parent. When the parent is unloading their groceries or paying; kids like to grab onto things, actually they grab onto anything they can get their hands on and when they do they pull the grocery cart as well.
I find myself trying to watch the toddler and checking out groceries at the same time. When I see a toddler doing something that I think is potentially dangerous, I’m bagging groceries with one arm and bracing my other arm with anticipation of what the toddler may do. Parents don’t seem to mind what their kids do in the grocery cart because they probably think its already safe. Most of them don’t pay any attention to their kid when they unload their groceries or paying, that is until you touch their child.
I see a toddler about 2 years old wearing blue overalls standing in a grocery cart during checkout and he’s grabbing anything he sees. His mom pushes him up to payment terminal and he grabs a hold of the pen. He’s pulling the pen and stepping back to the other side of the cart, all while his mother is reading the tabloid covers.
I grab the grocery cart and pull it towards me…
Don’t Touch the Toddler: WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!??!?!
Me: [shocked] Ummm… your kid was pulling the pen and so…
Don’t Touch the Toddler: DON’T YOU EVER MOVE THE CART WHILE MY BABY IS STANDING IN IT. HE CAN FALL!
Me: But he was pulling the pen…
Don’t Touch the Toddler: IF HE FELL, I’M SUING YOUR ASSES!
Me: …
