Single Kid, Double Cart: Don’t Do It

Final ImageI hesitate to write this post because I know it will annoy some people, but I have a serious pet peeve. You know those race car carts at Whole Foods? The only ones in the store that have seating for 2 children? When I see you put your 1 child in the double cart, it enrages me and makes me think that you are selfish. I have three children who range in age from 5 to 7 months. I have many days where I have to take them all of them to Whole Foods for groceries alone. Most times, there is a double cart available, which makes my shopping trip just a tad bit easier. There are days, though, when there is 1 double cart left, and as I am hustling all 3 kids to grab it, a person with a single child casually walks over and takes it despite seeing me struggle towards it. Situations like that make me see red.

When there are no double carts, it means that I have to put two kids in the basket of a regular cart and somehow find room to put the groceries in as well without the bananas getting squished. It also means I have to constantly police the kids from opening up all the food and eating it since it’s literally in their laps. And because the kids are in close quarters in a regular cart, it means the likelihood of a fight increases 435%.

I understand the argument that you don’t want to “deprive” your precious child of the “fun” double race car cart. Here is what I say, though: “This is not a ride at Disney World.” The race car grocery cart has a function, and that function is to hold TWO children while the parent shops. Furthermore, have you ever pushed that gigantic cart through Whole Foods? If I only had one child with me, there is no way we would be using that beast of a cart for logistics and bulkiness alone.

Shopping with three kids is hard; I basically look like a traveling circus, and I’m okay with that. But the double cart is one of the things that makes my shopping trip just a little more manageable. I wish the double carts at Whole Foods were like the ones at Costco – no frills with a focus on functionality – but they are not.

Single children go in single carts. Save the double cart for families that have two or more children.

35 COMMENTS

  1. This article should be titled “I have more kids than I can control and it’s everyone else in the world’s job to help me.” Sounds to me like this is more poor planning and poor parenting than other people’s behavior. I have ONE kid that rides in the cart, and he knows better than to open stuff we haven’t paid for.

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