Shopping Cart Research

I have recounted my story of Lucy in the runaway shopping cart to many people in the last two weeks. I even went to the scene of the accident and spoke to a manager of the grocery store. He listened very politely, but basically said, "Tough." I wanted to look on the internet and see if there were ANY grocery carts that have brakes installed on them. The only ones I found have to do with preventing theft of carts, not as a safety feature.

Upon further research, I found several articles which site the American Association of Pediatrics recommending that children never be placed in grocery carts. Which is impossible! But their reasoning is that, many grocery stores don't maintain the straps and so many carts are suspect in their safety mechanism. I can totally attest to that! I mean, I can't tell you how many times I have been to a store and the strap is broken, torn off or the buckle doesn't work. They also say that the center of gravity on the cart makes them able to tip over without much work. Since a child is actually buckled in on the tipping point, that makes them extraordinarily dangerous. I have to admit, I have never thought of these issues before.

But a majority of the articles admonish parents to never let their kids stand up in the carts and recommends not shopping with them. Well, whoop-dee-do. Who wouldn't rather shop without their kids? You think that I love taking my child to a location where it is open season on what a bad mother I am because I can't control my kids? Or, I get stopped every aisle by a grandma who wants to play peekaboo? I would LOVE to just run in and run out. But that is not the luxury that I have these days.

What does a grocery store offer for me? Nothing except for a freak accident to occur. But it isn't so freakish. Over 24,000 kids are injured in shopping carts a year. 24,000.

So they suggest using a stroller, a backpack, bring a extra set of hands, or use the carts with a car in front. Wanna know how many "car carts" we have at our grocery store? Zero. More than that, they only have those double seat carts where Asher is afforded 3 1/2" of plastic to sit on and to be strapped into the cart by two suspender-type belts which he slips out of faster than I can buckle him in.

I think the only thing that I can do from now on, is force someone to unload my groceries while I deal with my kids. I just hate making the guy do that cause it is 12 degrees outside and I am not allowed to tip him.

I can't believe that this is not a bigger issue and that no one wants to make grocery carts more safe.

A Note to People Who Drink and Drive

STOP IT.
Last night, as Matt was on his way home from Work Crew Training (high school kids who are learning spiritual disciplines to prepare them to work at YL camps this summer), he was sitting at a stop light when a drunk driver swerved into his car and hit him going at a pretty fast clip. Thankfully no one was hurt. But the guy hit Matt's car right perpendicular to the front wheels of the car. Matt is pretty sure that he broke the axle. After the police arrived, he was arrested on the spot. Matt said it was really sad and heartbreaking because the man knew that his whole life was about to change and he had to just sit there and wait for the police to come.

This is only a two-year old car that the YL area bought for Matt and his staff to use. Now it could possibly be totaled just because this guy decided to drink and get behind the wheel. And from what Matt says, he didn't just have one beer! It really could have turned out much worse if he had hit the car at Matt's door instead of at the front wheel. We are so thankful!

One other note about this incident, it proved to both of us how different Matt and I really are (as if we needed confirmation!). After I picked Matt, Anne Marie and Nate up; Matt realized he had no idea where his car was towed to and that he forgot to take all of his other keys off of the keyring! So today is going to be an adventure trying to track down where the police tow all cars that have been in an accident and hopefully retrieving Matt's office and home keys off of the keyring!