Setting the trolley-bound toddler free - encouraging independence or complete madness?

[gladbag]

Silly dilemma, but I'd really appreciate your thoughts....
Dh was taking ds (2.1) to the supermarket for a quick shop to buy stuff for cake-making back at home (he had ds for the afternoon). As they were going I noticed he had ds' toy shopping trolley. On asking what he was doing dh told me that he thought it would be fun to let ds put the stuff in his trolley, as they were only getting a few bits. I was completely horrified. Ds sits beautifully in the trolley when shopping, and I don't think it's ever occured to him that he has the option of getting out. He doesn't even try to stand up. He just chats and smiles and puts stuff in for me. I do all the big shops, and I can imagine now the tantrums that will take place once he has experienced trolley-free shopping if I then try to put him back in. He's generally ok with listening and stopping when we're out walking, but I just can't cope with the thought of chasing him round the aisles and all the extra stress it will involve.
So, my query is...

1. At what age did you start doing toddler-roaming-free shopping?
2. Was it a liberating experience or a nightmare?
3. Am I a mean old reactionary mummy with no sense of adventure, and no desire to encourage my toddler's interests and independence (unlike fun-loving, creative and supportive daddy) or am I sensible leaving things as they are a bit longer?

(Can you tell that dh and I had a little discussion about this )

Sadly, dd got a book for her birthday in December about a little boy who gets lost in the supermarket. Very good message about not straying too far from Mummy, but crap message about getting down from trolley on demand - dd, now 2.2, has started wanting to get down 'just like T'choupi'.

Tried it recently, surprisingly fine if supermarket quiet and/or have DH with me. Won't do it if busy/big shop/on my own - she still goes in trolley then!
I'd hang in there with trolleys as long as you can, but daddy may have blown it...

Would love dd to go in trolley (2.5) she usually walks for the first 10 mins before going in - usually after she has touched something or knocked something over but occasionally she asks to go in. Definately in trolley before paying though.
(tantrum or not)

trolley

supermarket shop enough of a nightmare as it is

those bloody car things in tescos even worse. My dd had fallen out of the little door and I didn't notice until the next aisle as I was so busy pushing tank-sized trolley that I couldn't see over...

TROLLEY! My DS is three and is very tall for his age but I still shoe horn him into a trolley poor boy. I just don't have the time or inclination for my shopping to take ten times as long and consist mainly of wrestling things out of his hands to put back on the shelves as I see some poor mums doing...

He had a reluctant phase with trolleys but we play that it's a bus he's driving - I also sometimes drive it 'backwards' so that he sits facing forwards and is the driver, telling me when he's putting the brakes on....

LOL about Tesco's car trolley - how many people can you crash into on the way round - also the inside is usually minging with all kinds of food and crap.