Gransnet forums

Pedants' corner

Children in shopping trollies

(230 Posts)
MollyAA12 Tue 06-Apr-21 13:56:44

Does anyone else get mad at seeing children sitting inside shopping trollies.

After successful lobbying at Waitrose I got this knocked on the head. However, at Tesco I regularly see kids in nappies and outside shoes sitting in trollies. This is so dangerous Even without the virus, sputum, dog wee and dog poo contain horrible bacteria. When I have complained the assistants say they will not approach mothers with children in trollies. I even wrote to Tesco head office many years ago and had a reply saying that this would be stopped. Laugh out loud.

I did speak to a mother once and she told me p off.

janeparry39 Thu 08-Apr-21 11:37:50

Have you seen the study they have done on the boxes they deliver your food in? They are only cleaned once a week if you are lucky!

Beau1958 Thu 08-Apr-21 11:40:38

I totally agree with you Hithere I’d rather see children in a trolley rather than running around. As you said it’s hard enough for mums as it is without people judging everything they do.

chris8888 Thu 08-Apr-21 11:40:48

Maybe just stop trying to fix the problem and just shop where you are happy to do so or online.

Bluedaisy Thu 08-Apr-21 11:42:24

??yuk, after reading REDHEAD56 ive decided to take a black bin liner with me every time I go supermarket shopping and just lay it in the bottom of the trolley to line it before I put my shopping in it. I already wear gloves as the M&S near me doesn’t (much to my disgust) have wipes for the trolley handles but at least by taking a bin bag hopefully my trolley would be a bit more hygienic hopefully!

Teddy123 Thu 08-Apr-21 11:43:02

I've always been far too busy getting my shopping to notice. I definitely wouldn't speak to a mum coping with toddlers in her trolley. Seems over the top to me.

polomint Thu 08-Apr-21 11:45:11

I agree it's difficult to go grocery shopping with children in a supermarket, however, how on earth did our grandparents/great grandparents manage when in days gone by , they had far more children. Granted there were no supermarkets and the mothers had to walk round different shops to buy various groceries.butcher, Baker, chemist etc. I think the answer is discipline. Teach the children how to behave in shops. I don't agree with the modern idea of children should be seen and heard. I think they should be seen and not heard as much.
Many of you probably won't agree with me but it's my opinion and we are all entitled to that

jaylucy Thu 08-Apr-21 11:45:41

Allowing young children to sit inside trollies has always annoyed me!
There are so many trollies provided with seats built in that I really can't see the point of allowing them to do that!
I suppose that above a certain age, their legs either don't fit through the gaps on the seats but I would have thought that having an under school aged child sitting or standing in a trolley would make it even more unstable than they already are. Only benefit is that the child (or sometimes even children ) are contained!
Our local Lidls introduced small trollies for young children to use in their stores - they seemed to disappear very quickly , mainly because they apparently had so many complaints from other customers about the fact they had been injured by a child ramming a trolley against their leg or heels !
It's not easy having to shop with young children - gone are the days when it was possible to leave children with their father or a relative for a couple of hours and quite honestly, I think it is time that the supermarkets came up with some alternative to the trollies that they currently provide! No doubt someone is jumping up and down shouting that it isn't the responsibility of supermarkets to provide for people's children - but surely, they take enough money out of our pockets, it may work in their favour if they come up with an idea that will actually help families ?

Doodledog Thu 08-Apr-21 11:45:45

I honestly thought that all the comments on this thread were about children sitting in the designated seat, and thought everyone had become neurotic all of a sudden. It never occurred to me that people were talking about them sitting in the body of the trolley. This is yet another reason why online shopping is so good.

I haven't done regular supermarket shopping since my two were little, and I put one in the toddler seat and the other walked by my side, or was sent to find items that he could easily spot and reach and were no more than a few feet away, to stop him from getting bored. It was tedious, and as I worked full time we had to go on my only useful day off, a Saturday, when the place was full of other families in the same boat. I don't drive, so my husband had to come too - fun for all the family!

I don't think it's a great idea to put toddlers in the body of the trolley for safety reasons, but I doubt there is a serious hygiene risk compared to sitting on a train or bus, or a lot of the other day to day things we do as a matter of course.

TerriBull Thu 08-Apr-21 11:46:51

I tried getting this in my trolley the other day but it was having none of it

polomint Thu 08-Apr-21 11:47:04

Sorry I went off thread a bit. No I don't think children should be standing in the trolley. I think they should be in the trolley seat if needed especially if the mum is shopping with more than one child

Baggs Thu 08-Apr-21 11:47:38

Most food is wrapped these days. I don't see kids in trolleys as a major problem. Or even a minor one come to that; the number of times I've seen it can be counted on one hand.

Re the two posts following the OP about the disgustingness of trolleys and high-chairs, it's funny how we all survive and thrive really.

Dillonsgranma Thu 08-Apr-21 11:49:38

The online shopping is fine in these trolleys as well! I wipe all mr shopping with dettol wipes before I put it away. Absolutely everything

Moogalmum Thu 08-Apr-21 11:51:27

Most disgusting thing that I have found in supermarket trollies in the past year are discarded face masks!

FarNorth Thu 08-Apr-21 11:51:28

Why is this in pedants corner, have I missed something.

Trollies vs trolleys?

nanna8 Thu 08-Apr-21 11:51:59

During our Covid infection every supermarket would wipe down every trolley between use. Then we had to use the hand sanitizer or they wouldn’t allow us into the shop. Good on them, I thoroughly support this as did most of the customers. They also did this at each automatic checkout, every single user . Over the top ? No, I don’t think so.

TerriBull Thu 08-Apr-21 11:52:45

Dillonsgranma

The online shopping is fine in these trolleys as well! I wipe all mr shopping with dettol wipes before I put it away. Absolutely everything

Yes me too, but it was after that this happened see above shock

coast35 Thu 08-Apr-21 11:56:11

We can’t live in a sterile world and nor do we need to. We develop natural immunity and largely are not at risk at all from supermarket trolleys. We have had them for 50 years and I’ve never heard of anyone being ill from touching them. During this pandemic we must be more cautious and at least wipe down the trolley handles but I can’t see any need to go mad about it.

Grandmanotnan Thu 08-Apr-21 11:56:56

It’s very difficult shopping with children of any age and sometimes you just have to put them in the trolley, though from what’s been said on here I think they probably need a disinfectant bath when they get home!

Craftycat Thu 08-Apr-21 12:00:37

I presume you mean actually IN the trolley not in the child seat. I have never seen this myself. Much better than tearing round the shop causing havoc. My DH tells anyone with a child in a trolley seat- 'Oh I wouldn't buy one of those - they are very expensive to keep!!'

Battersea1971 Thu 08-Apr-21 12:06:11

I cant say ive given that much thought before, but agree it is disgusting. Next time I see it I will complain. If we all did that maybe something would be done. I cant say Ive seen it happen a lot, maybe it depends what area you live.

Mimipoppetnana Thu 08-Apr-21 12:07:56

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Jang Thu 08-Apr-21 12:09:58

Online groceries are not safer: recent hygiene checks on online boxes showed they were worse than supermarket trollies..... but agree kids sitting in trollies is not good, I had three kids under 5 (1 set twins) but they never sat in the trolley only on the child seat... or walking beside.. one twin ( girl) very good and helped with shop, while ( boy) had a paddy throwing himself on floor and screaming but at least I knew where he was .. all the Grans tut tutted! But you have to do what you have to do!

suziewoozie Thu 08-Apr-21 12:14:24

The more I think about this, the more I agree with the comment made to me about what the eye doesn’t see. So that reinforces my embracing online shopping. It looks nice snd clean when it arrives ?

Craicon Thu 08-Apr-21 12:20:56

I think this is a total non issue and not worth getting anxious about.

Has anyone become seriously ill from using a shopping trolley? confused

I’m of the ‘we need germs to build our natural immunity’ school of hygiene. It really doesn’t bother me at all.

Theoddbird Thu 08-Apr-21 12:21:53

Where do you suggest a mother puts her child when shopping? The seat in a trolley is provided to put a child in. I don't think anyone can manage pushing a pushchair as well as a shopping trolley.