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Shopping Cart Safety

Misplaced Worries or a Real Concern?

By Kelly Burgess

"My biggest complaint is the overall lack of cleanliness and maintenance of the carts," Glover says. "I have found that many stores have multiple carts that have dirty, broken or missing safety straps. I always try to bring these problems to the attention of the store manager, but I don't always see improvements."

Glover has solved the problem by purchasing a cart cover, which fastens securely on the cart and has a harness with a multiple-point restraint. She uses it in conjunction with the safety strap that is attached to the cart so her son is strapped in around his legs and over his shoulders. She also has found that a little preparation helps and offers these tips to other parents:

• Be sure your child is well-rested and has been fed.
• Bring juice and finger foods.
• Keep a stockpile of small toys in the car that are only for shopping, and bring several in your purse when you go into the store.
• Be organized. Know the store and organize your list accordingly to make shopping go as quickly as possible.

Ideally, Dr. Smith says, manufacturers will get the message and improve their designs. It's not difficult to do. In Europe, shopping carts are held to a higher stability standard and their carts are much more stable than ours in the United States.

"The two main messages are that government and industry need to look at the problem and come up with a stronger standard, and parents need to know that this is a real issue," Dr. Smith says. "A fall from four feet off the ground onto concrete is a potentially life-threatening fall and people need to be aware."

Want to see more?

• Check out our Article Library.
• Basket Wars: Tackling the Grocery Store with Little Ones
• Mall Madness: Tackling Shopping with a Baby or Toddler
• Safety at the Park: Preventing Playground Injuries
• Talk about it!