Do you feel strongly about toddlers inside regular shopping trolleys...

[squatsandcrunches]

...or at least, do you feel strongly enough to have a go at a stranger in the middle of Sainsbury's about it?

Today a very noicely dressed, well spoken lady in her 60's (I'd guess) actually shouted at me in Sainsbury's for having toddler DD in a regular (small) basket trolley without a toddler seat. From what I could make out, she felt that it was unhygienic as "my food goes in there".

(In case it's relevant, I was trying out a little trolley because I've been finding the big ones there increasingly hard to manouvre with my raging SPD - I'm very pregnant.)

I'm not sure I get her logic - surely the vast majority of stuff in a Sainsbury's is going to be packaged; and the stuff that isn't you'd wash before eating anyway? If my toddler had handled an apple (or if it had brushed against her) in a different circumstance would she feel that apple was irreperably damaged?

How sterile does she imagine the trolleys are normally? Does she know they're parked outside where spiders can rub their willies on them with impunity all night?

Very keen to establish whether society at large would consider this a revolting thing to have done. It has honestly never crossed my mind to think that people who do this are doing anything wrong.

I hate it. Yes the trolleys stay outside in the rain, and some are not the cleanest, but a child can have dog shit on their shoes (my kids seemed to search it out!) and that is disgusting. No one knows what's on grass where kids walk. It's vile. Stick them in a seat.

And toddlers with full nappies! FFS, disgusting

I really couldn't care less. I never got in as a kid but I always stood on the bar at the side of the trolley and rode on there.. until they made the bar diagonal If you're pootling around then I can't see a safety issue..

Easy to say 'stick them in a seat'. I had twins and on many times when only a single seated trolley was available, I would have to put one twin in the main part of the trolley.

Yes, it's yuck
Purely due to what could/would be on the bottom of their shoes.
Never thought about leaking nappies though, that is beyond disgusting.

I have no opinion on toddlers riding in trolleys but pushing a trolley is literally the worst movement that you can do for SPD. You need to start getting your shopping delivered.

I feel strongly about people who voice unsolicited personal opinions to strangers.

It bothers me as it just looks unsafe!

Those little trolleys aren't designed to carry a child and could easily tip over.

Just put them in a proper seat.

I feel strongly that its absolutely fine. Who wpuld put loose, unpacked food directly in a trolley that's been left outside in the rain, with foxes and possibly people pissing on it. A toddler is likely to be considerably cleaner.

My 7yo loves a ride in the (shallow) trolley. She sits with her back to the handle, doesn't fidget and she doesn't have dog shit on her shoes. Have been never ever been told off or given the side eye in the wide range of supermarkets I frequent. We must be more easy going round here.

Why not get home deliveries if pushing the trolley has become difficult?

To those using twins as an excuse: by the time your kids could sit in the wrong part of the trolley you already know which supermarkets have the correct trolleys. I have twins and wouldnt dream of putting one of them in the main part of the trolley. I know which supermarkets have the right trolleys for my needs so I only go there. If they don't have them that day then the kids go in the pram and I use a basket - you couldn't do a full shop with a kid taking up all the space in your trolley anyway!

It wasn't my mum was it? She hates it for that very reason! I just think, if a child is too heavy for the toddler seat but wants to ride in a trolley then let them. Better a child in a regular trolley than a screaming child! I do, however, take of my DC's shoes if they ride like that. Probably because of the disapproval of my mother.

Off, I take their shoes off.

I never did it with my children but it doesn't bother me if someone else does it with their child. There are more important things to worry about.

If shoes are off I wouldn't mind but honestly I don't let dd sit in one because I find it unhygienic.

The people with a problem with this are probably the same people who don't like dogs because they're 'slobbery'

Also the same people who give me cats bum face when 2 yo DS either cries because he doesn't want to sit in the trolley seat or runs cheerfully round the shop while I chase him.

There are miserable gits out there who just don't like children existing and there's no pleasing them.

I let my son sit on a regular shopping trolley (the shallow kind) once, after seeing friends doing it and I was in a hurry that day. I have no problem with this from a hygiene point of view.

However, he stood up whilst my back was turned and fell out. I thought he hadn't hit his head on the floor, but he had. 20 minutes minutes later he was still whimpering with his head in my lap and we were waiting for an ambulance.

He was concussed. It was awful. The first aider from the supermarket told me to plead with other parents not to let their kids do this as it happens often. And so I do and I am.

Hygiene aside it’s extremely unsafe. Shallow trolleys are not designed for small children to clamber in and out of them. I’ve worked in retail for years, I have seen countless children scrambling all over the trolleys. They tip, they slide across the floor and if the child happens to fall the potential for injury is huge. Bear in mind the floor is almost certainly concrete and if a grown woman can fracture her skull fainting onto a supermarket fall what do you think that floor will do to your child’s skull?

No supermarket allows children anywhere but the seats on the big trolleys. It goes unremarked upon purely because of the mouthful of abuse complete with foul language you get when trying to enforce the rule. And yes I speak from experience!

Having thankfully been in the right place at the right time to catch a toddler about to fall head first out of a deep trolley I hate seeing it. Shallow trolleys sound like even more of a recipe for disaster.

I can see the issue from a safety point of view, actually.

I don’t want to scare you but a good friend of mine permanently damaged her pelvis and is now dealing with chronic pain after she tried to push through with SPD in her second pregnancy. Pushing trolleys and prams is one of the very worst things that you can do with an unstable pelvis and you could do permanent damage. Please get your shopping delivered from now on and protect your pelvis.

It’s not really hygienic I suppose. If there’s dog muck on the shoes that could transfer on to the trolley. But the worry of the child falling out is more of a concern to me.

It's all well and good people saying get your shopping delivered but sometimes that's just not possible and you need to go to the shops in person.

OP it wouldn't bother me - I'd be concerned about the safety if the toddler was standing up/jumping around but sat still I think it's fine. Having also had SPD I know how much easier it is to pick up a child and dump them in the trolley rather than struggling/twisting etc to get them in the seat of a trolley and pushing big trolleys can make it worse.