Remove the TEN-YEAR-OLD from the carriage, please

[MadMike]

I was overruled, and spent a truly miserable day in the Happiest Place on Earth. I actually noticed tons of infants who were having equality horrible days. Bonus for them is they won't remember any of it.

I won a trip to Disney World, back when my son was still a baby, and I was with his so-called mother. We thought about taking him along, but we realized, like you said, that he wouldn't remember any of it. So her parents kept him for us, and we went by ourselves.

While we were waiting in line at one of the rides, I saw quite a few mothers carrying babies. The babies were tired and cranky, and the mothers looked quite frazzled. We knew then that we had made the right choice.

[raudf]

The only reason my 10 year old was in the basket of the buggy was when he was sick, I'd just taken him to the doc, had to pick up his meds and couldn't leave him in the car because it was too hot. All I was getting on that trip was his meds and some jello for him to eat. Now? He walks, period. If I have to haul my sick carcass around the store, he can too!

Otherwise, I don't care whether another person's kid rides in the buggy or not, as long as it's not my buggy. I don't know their story, so I try not to judge any more.

[thatcrazyredhead]

Question: do those kids have a disability?

If not, then that makes more sense.

Not that I could tell. Even if they did, shouldn't they be in a wheelchair (that they would fit in) rather than a stroller (that they're much too big for)?

[XCashier]

Ugh, that too. And quite often, the cart runs over the kids fingers.

Or their long hair gets tangled in the wheels.

I did see an older kid, probably about ten, climbing into one of our store carts. I suggested to the parents that he not do that. He leaned the wrong way and the cart flipped over, spilling him onto the hard floor. He wasn't hurt, luckily, just scared enough to know not to do that again. And dad told the kid, "well, the lady did tell you!"

I stopped putting my son in the cart when he was about 3, as he was far too big to fit in the seat. He always walked along beside me after that, keeping his hands away from the shelves (because I told him that glass jars and bottles could break and cut him). It's called parenting. We adults are not the center of the universe, nor do we get our way all the time. Why should the children? The sooner they learn, the better.

[Shalom]

"don't tell me how to manage MY kid!"

No, I'm telling you how to use MY cart.

What kind of idiocy is that, anyway? When I was a kid, I'd never have even dreamed about riding UNDER the cart. Inside, yeah, but I was happier pushing the damn thing than riding in it.

Re: the tweenagers in strollers: This is a real-life embodyment of an old joke (translated from Yiddish) about the stereotypical overprotective mother, pushing her kid in a wheelchair. Friend meets her and says "Oy, nebech! Can't he walk?" Mother answers, "Of course he can walk, but isn't it wonderful? HE DOESN'T HAVE TO!"

Never thought I'd live to see that one in reality.

[Dreamstalker]

I still see the Heelies in my store. No way to really ban them as they aren't obvious until the kid starts zooming around the place and getting in the way of our U-boats (which are hard to steer and stop even when not loaded to the gills with cases of water).

[DGoddessChardonnay]

If I had a store, I'd have liability waiver forms ready to go for such people. Wanna let your kid ride underneath? Sign right here or out the door with you.

I see some of that happening at my store as well . . . we're not allowed to say a word to the parents (that would be bad customer service, after all.)

And it's just a question of time before a kid gets hurt doing that crap - be interesting to see what Management has to say about that then.

AT least we're not dealing with those blasted Heelies . . . glad that fad left as quick as it came. Otherwise we'd have seen a lawsuit or two already.

[bainsidhe]

Or riding underneath the cart, which always infuriates me.

Ugh, that too. And quite often, the cart runs over the kids fingers.

[otakuneko]

If I had a store, I'd have liability waiver forms ready to go for such people. Wanna let your kid ride underneath? Sign right here or out the door with you.

[Monterey Jack]

I agree it looks odd, yet at the same time, I'd rather see that than a 10 yr-old dangling off the cart or doing wheelies with it.

Or riding underneath the cart, which always infuriates me. Some other customer comes barreling around a corner and slams into the cart with a kid underneath, and the kid is possibly going to be seriously injured...and yet the parent will always give me grief when I ask them to please coax their kids out from under there. It's not only common sense, but it's also store policy (and even illustrated on the carts themselves ). One time at the register, I politely asked a customer to please remove their kid from under the carriage, and the kid's knee got wedged in-between two of the metal slats, and while the kid understandably starts freaking out that he's trapped, the parent says to me, "This is where you tell me 'I told you so', right?" No, this is where I slap you upside the head, in a just world. Another time, I asked a different customer to remove their kid from under a cart for the second time in as many days, and she starts going off on me about "don't tell me how to manage MY kid!", and the usual bullshit. Okay, fine, hope you have medical insurance to cover the gaping scalp wound the kid is inevitably going to receive if you persist is letting them ride barely two inches above the floor.

[AnaKhouri]

The ones that make me shake my head are the strollers with room for three children (always sighted in a mall for some reason). It holds one child of six or seven- big enough to walk-, and the mother is pushing it and carrying the baby on her hip. I always think, "What happened to the third kid?! Did you lose it in Yankee Candles or something?"

[Ben_Who]

Question: do those kids have a disability?

If not, then that makes more sense.

I suppose it might, but at that age, and considering those conditions, their parents would furnish the carriage if that's the case. It can't be safe to shove a ten-year-old into a corporate stroller.

It's getting towards the Christmas season again, and they're starting to show up at Local Mall - corporate-provided strollers with twelve-year-olds wedged in them, being pushed by their Moms. The strollers are built for toddlers; the kids want a ride to the GameStop and Hot Topic and probably outweigh the target age group for the device by sixty pounds. The first time I saw a mall stroller with an eight-year-old in it, my jaw just about dropped. Now I see them every weekend.

[notalwaysright]

I stopped commenting on older kids in shopping carts or strollers after everyone (these are people I know and like, mind you) was in favor of it. "Well, at least they aren't running around wild!" And my mind goes, but don't they need to learn at some point? But I'm not a parent, so I can't say things like that. I just look away... Oh, that reminds me, the other day there was a lady with a double wide stroller, and the two kids in it looked to be 7-8 years old. They both were watching shows on their own tablets. The mom had to throw her whole weight into pushing the stroller, and even other shoppers gave her the evil eye 'cause our store has narrow aisle and she went around the place like 15 times.

I can't say I've seen a lot if that with grocery cats, but I've seen kids who look 12 in strollers at Disneyland. I weep for the future of humanity.

Since kids and me are like water and oil, when I was in Cali with a high school group, I BEGGED to switch theme parks from Disneyland to Six Flags. I was overruled, and spent a truly miserable day in the Happiest Place on Earth. I actually noticed tons of infants who were having equality horrible days. Bonus for them is they won't remember any of it. Also, Space Mountain was closed for maintenance.

[Argabarga]

Well, at least they didn't cave..... there may be hope yet.


Aw hell, who am I kidding? 8 years from now, I'll be hearing that same plea of Mummmmm mummmmmm mummmmmmm!!!! over the cellphone as junior pleas with her to wire him some money so he can get his car out of impound.

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

A couple of months back I saw a kid who looked around 10+ standing in a cart at the local KMart. Well, I actually heard him first. 'Muuum! Muuuuum!!! MUUUUUMMM!!!!!!' at top volume, as Mum pushed him around. As I said, standing in the cart, so he was yelling right in her face. Dad was walking alongside the cart, with the smaller kid walking too. The parents were totally ignoring him yelling.

I was there for over an hour and this kid did.not.shut.up the whole time. I made a charitable assumption that there was A Story I didn't know, and took my headache home with me.