Toddlers in food part of trolly

[Yournevertooldtolovehamsters]

I don't understand why parents of toddlers and young children think it's acceptable to allow their offspring to stand/sit in the food area of a trolly . This is where my food goes, and I really don't want to put my food where dirty little shoes have been, it's disgusting, you wouldn't put your shopping loose on a dirty pavement so why on earth allow shoes in a trolly, what if they've stood in dog poo?. Put your kids in the seat part, or if there to big ,make them walk and control them.

YANBU but you will get loads of posters on shortly saying how rats and all sorts run/pee all over them so it’s fine for a toddler to stand in the trolley.

Do you eat the packets?

It's dangerous more than anything.

I genuinely have no idea why this is a problem!

People do weird things. That is the trouble with borrowing anything publicly available. Weird things will have happened to it. Bring our own bags to line the trolley and scan as you go if it bothers you what weird things other people (or animals as pp mentioned) may have done...

I don’t really see an issue. Food is in packages and trolleys are hardly clean in the first place.

Why did you quote the whole OP?

Does it bother you?

Neither do I.
The trolleys are filthy anyway.

OP Did you think that the supermarket workers sterilise the trolleys every day?

I've never done this. But I don't consider the trolley to be particularly clean generally so it doesn't really bother me that much.

This is such a non issue. If it gives the parent a bit of peace to do their shopping without having to chase a toddler round the shop then I’m all for it.

I don’t care that it makes the trolleys dirty (they already are) but it’s unsafe and I’ve seen two kids fall out and smash their faces off of the hard supermarket floor. One had to have an ambulance called. I’ve no idea why anyone would risk it.

The hygiene issue isn't something that bothers me but, as I said on a recent thread on the same subject, having seen the gruesome bloody aftermath of toddlers/children sitting inside the shopping trolley and getting injured, I do wonder about people's common sense or lack thereof.

I've never done it but mine fitted in the trolley seat for longer than a lot of them.

Doesn't bother me though. Trollies aren't something I've ever thought of us particularly clean. It's not like a child walking on a table.

"It's filthy so it's fine"

"Everyone else litters so why does it matter if I do it?"

Not all food is in packets. A lot of supermarkets have stopped doing bags for their veg now, and I also don't want to be touching packets that are covered in the dirt off the bottom of kids' shoes to then spread it all over the car, house, kitchen, before putting it away.

Unless you're suggesting people wash their packets as they put them in the car?

Honestly anything that is used by other people I assume is dirty so I therefore assume a trolley is also dirty.

Yanbu. It's grim.
Toddlers tread in all sorts. I'd rather their feet weren't in a trolley.

I put the packets on my worktops and cupboards. I've seen a shitty shoe on a toddler in a trolly, gross

I do this with my toddler - however I take their shoes off and put a fleece blanket down first before they sit inside (more to protect them tbh!). Really cannot see the issue - however must add I do have a child that sits nicely, I wouldn't have risked it with my first as she was like baby satan at that age and would have stood up/caused mayhem!

OP I understand where you're coming from but some children are too big/heavy for the seat and especially children with SEN making them walk and controlling them just isn't an option. It's much easier to have them sit in the main trolley colouring or watching something to keep them quiet for 15/20mins while getting some shopping than have them running round the supermarket causing mayhem and stressing their parent/carer out.
From experience I'd rather have my child sit in the main bit, than have every trip to the supermarket be a really stressful experience for myself and my child when they can't help that they have SEN.

Ahh so you mustn't clean your worktops then, is that it? Yes, that's grim.

I do this, my son is 3 and has autism and will happily sit in the back of the trolley with a few books to read through and he doesn't stand up (if he did I wouldn't allow it, purely for his own safety), however he will absolutely not sit in the seat part without screaming bloody murder, even with books.
If I put my phone on and let him watch youtube he would maybe sit in the seat part but then you'd probably judge me for that too...
As far as controlling him outside of the trolley, I'm guessing you've never had to deal with an overwhelmed, nuerodivergent child in a busy supermarket.
The trolleys are dirty anyway, like you point out, there's much, much worse that sees the bottom of a trolley than the seat of my 3 year olds pants so if you're that bothered, just scan and go and use your bags. I'd recommend anti bac-ing your counters on a regular basis if it's something that you worry about, even if you were using a trolley which hadn't been filthied by a dirty child and their bad parent.

The weight limit on a trolley seat is 15kg. My toddler hit that before turning 2. What do you want single parents to do? Supermarkets discourage putting your shopping under the stroller, and even if they didn’t, that would be three rounds of shopping to get one week’s household groceries.

Do you know how often the conveyor belt at the checkout gets sterilized? Or which trolleys haven’t been blown around the car park for days on end?

This isn’t something I can get too worked up
about. It’s in the public domain, it’s probably already filthy. I don’t have a toddler anymore (thank goodness) but I’d rather shop with contented toddlers in trollies than tantruming ones running around.

Yes, obviously they should ideally be well behaved, holding an adult hand and helpfully ticking off a shopping list that the parent has made in advance, and politely assisting with counting the organic lemons into a reusable vegetable bag, but life doesn’t work this way all the time.

Also, these people wouldn't buy a packet off the shelf if it was dirty, I imagine?

I can't say it bothers me personally, but I get that it bothers other people, so I'd never do it.