First Gripe of the Day: A “Private” Shopping Cart Seat Belt?

In theory I don’t have a problem with something to make a shopping cart more comfortable for a kid. My son, now 4, tells me that they hurt to sit in, he’s rather walk. And I’m not a germophobe, but shopping carts are nasty.
I think the problem here is marketing. It blows the whole thing out of proportion

That wide seat belt looks pretty silly, but we did use the “bag that unfolds into a seat” – not so much because we were concerned about germs but just because it caught any toys or food that the boy dropped, instead of having it fall to the floor.

Juice box holders are useful for very young children because they prevent them from squeezing the box and spraying juice all over. My son doesn’t use one now that he’s old enough to understand that concept, but he did when he was just a toddler without any language skills.

I rarely buckled my kids int he shopping cart anyway. They knew better than tot try to get out and I was pushing it, for crying out loud, not parking it and shopping without it.

BUT we had a juice box holder and it was fantastic! It was just a little rectangle box with handles but it kept the kids from squeezing the boxes and spraying juice everywhere. Alternately, we pulled out the “wings” and had the kid hold those but they really liked their Dora juice box holder.

I used a shopping cart velcro strap, not because I was worried about germs, but because it lets you put a much smaller baby in the seat – it keeps them from falling over when they are not the best sitters yet. I would not have been able to get groceries with both my kids with me without it!! As soon as they were able to sit better it got abandoned because it was too much of a hassle to 1)remember to take with me and 2) to put in the cart while holding a squirmy baby! So I do see the benefit of the straps from a non-germophobe angle.

I never had a juice box holder, we didn’t use many juice boxes (I usually just put whatever they were drinking in their sippy cups) though when I handed one of my kids a juice box the other day and they promptly squeezed a bunch of it all over themselves, I was thinking a holder would be really nice!! 🙂 (and for the record, it was my 4 year old, and he barely touched the sides of the box and it all came squirting out – he wasn’t really doing anything wrong!)

My 5 month old son just recently (past week) got to sit up in the shopping cart for the first time. I have to strap him in real tight so he doesn’t fall over but he is so excited to be able to interact with all the other shoppers. I’m so proud of him already. I do have to say I’m happy the straps hold him upright so he doesn’t try to eat the shopping cart handle.. he’s in the everything in the mouth stage. I don’t see a need for private straps… they don’t even touch his skin to begin with, how much damage could they possibly do?

He’s been sick 3 times so far (ahh the joys of daycare) but each time he handles it better and gets better faster. I’m just happy that his immune system is getting better now instead of him having issues for life.

Just ran across your book at the library yesterday. I am having a hard time putting it down. Hallelujah, another person who probably thinks it’s ridiculous to have to walk my 7 year old child 2 doors down to the neighbors house, but I do it, why because the other mom does and what would she think if I just let my child walk all by herself??!!!?? My husband thinks my daughter shouldn’t play alone in the front yard. Really?? Is a wayward vehicle going to crash into onto our lawn right when she is turning a cartwheel? Is a kid snatcher going to drive by and grab her up and for some reason she just submits with no kicking or screaming?
Love, love your work! Keep it coming!!

While I totally agree the shopping cart strap is absurd (I also refuse to use a shopping cart cover), I like the idea of the juice box box. But that’s only because my 2-year-old squeezes the juice boxes and squirts juice all over himself and anything within a 2-foot radius. Of course I don’t actually have any juice box boxes, but I think they make sense!

As a mom of twins, I can say that a product similar to this (very utilitarian, though…just a black strap like the one on the cart) was a lifesaver to me when my kids weren’t walking yet but had outgrown carseats. Most stores don’t have carts that provides seats and belts for two kids, so I would put one in the child seat by the cart handle (using the belt already attached to the cart, by the way! 😉 ) and the other in the basket, strapped in with the extra strap I’d purchased. Both of them stayed safety seated and buckled so I could shop with at least as much ease as a mom of young twins can achieve.

Juice box holders rock, so your kids don’t squeeze juice all over the place and make a mess. But yes, the regular shopping cart belts are fine, and then you don’t have to carry your own around with you. Who carries all this stuff around all over the place? Someone gave me a fabric seat to put my kid in so she wouldn’t have to sit in the seat at all, and all I could think was why on earth would anyone carry such a huge thing to and from the store every trip.

The “Extra Arm” is invented.
http://mothers3rdarm.com/lang-en/content/30-baby-bottle-holder

I gave up worrying about germs with my kids very early on. My oldest licked the floor of the public swimming pool change room when she was 13 months! I wasn’t thrilled but she survived (and I have a great 21st story). Kids who grow up in this bubble kind of world where they never have to share anything, do not learn to cope when mum isn’t there or when things are not laid out for them. Perhaps in some of the cases I could see the point, but really if you are worrying about germs on a strap in the supermarket trolley, you need to find more things to do with yourself!

Never used those shopping cart seat belts, hardly ever used juice boxes. Don’t see the need for either.

Basically, people make things hoping other people will buy them. By and large, I don’t. Makes life much simpler.

I think it might depend on where you’re shopping. Someplace like Target or Home Depot is usually no problem, but the straps at the grocery store where we shop are pretty vile.. knotted straps soaked with mystery fluids, broken buckles etc. Plus, they’re often so icky that you can’t really adjust the straps. I hate digging for a cart that’s got at least a mostly working strap. It might save time to just have a strap on hand that’s the right size.

I am not a huge fan of that kind of thing– for one, I like to keep my baby in a carrier or sling until they are quite a bit bigger (big enough to sit reliably in a cart regardless of whether the belt works). And I just hate juice boxes in general and never buy them, so wouldn’t even consider a holder.

I’m one of those assholes using a shopping cart/high chair cover, because:

1) it makes the seat more comfy for my 8 month old, which means I can shop/eat longer without him flipping his lid. It’s hard to push a cart while holding a screaming, wriggling baby and wrangling a 4 and 6 year old. (In an ideal world, the 6 year old would carry the baby!). It’s also hard to eat with a squirmy baby. I’ll never forget the time my 8 month old daughter stuck her hand in my hot soup at Panera because I was trying to eat and hold her at the same time. I wear my kids a lot (I have 3 different carriers in my car) but sometimes it’s just too hot, or I’ve had him on me all day and I need a break, or I know I’ll need to bend down for something heavy like dog food or pop which doesn’t work with a carrier, or he’ll play better in the cart.

On the other hand, I will happily let any random stranger hold the baby, just so I can have arms for 3 minutes, and if that random stranger is willing to walk through the store with me, s/he is welcome to carry him while I shop. I never carry my kids in the bucket, because it’s too damn heavy, and I never put the bucket on the top of the cart, because anyone with even passing understanding of physics could tell you that it makes the cart top-heavy and unstable.

2) the restraints in the cart/restaurant high chair are often broken or impossible to adjust (especially for really small kids – sometimes you just can’t get a secure fit). I can’t imagine what kind of head injury would happen if a kid actually fell out of the cart onto the hard grocery store floor (especially with a baby who isn’t big enough to at least try to break his own fall with his arms). I don’t have time to sort through all the carts to find one with un-broken seatbelts that will fit tightly so I bring my own.

3) I have worked in a LOT of restaurants (McDonald’s, Burger King, Olive Garden, Mountain Jacks, a Holiday Inn, two local diners you’ve never heard of, and two wedding venues/ballrooms). I have never, ever, ever seen an employee clean a high chair or a booster seat. Ever. I’ve seen parents do it, but it is not on the list of things to clean every night before close, or every morning before open. Eeeeewww.

Incidentally, no one cleans the changing tables in the bathroom. Ever.

I promise I’m as free range as they come, but that doesn’t mean that I have to sacrifice my kids’ comfort and safety, does it?

As to the product at hand, it looks a lot more portable than the one I’ve got (which looks like this, different fabric – http://tinyurl.com/3ap27ka). But it doesn’t look like it would buy me any valuable shopping or eating time, so I’ll stick with the one I’ve got.

You can judge me if you want. 🙂

I believe the child is seating right in front of you. Unless the child is unusually active no need for a seat belt. Exactly how fast are you pushing that cart?

More unnecessary safety equipment that doesn’t really help the kids and adds to the parents stress of not taking enough care to secure their children from all harm.

You have to laugh. It bets just sad.

Thank you for not making me the only person who gets frustrated by the products we market to parents.

never mind the juice box holder what about the sandwich quarterer
http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=425756&cmSource=CrossSell&relatedProductId=456756

when mine were small you just cut them on the slant and gave them a bit of a press with the flat of the hand to stop the filling squidging out of the sides.

I can almost see it. If the straps aren’t broken or tied in knots, they have one of the new buckles where you have to press the middle along with the two edges to release it. These things are taking more coordination now. I assume that’s to keep the kids who figured out how to push the sides to get out of the buckles in the cart.

That said, not going to buy it. My two year old loves sitting the the cart at first, but then she wants out and will try to climb out. She’s a runner, so having her out of the cart is not a convenient way to shop. She loves to help push a cart, but has the unerring tendency of a two year old to ram into all kinds of things and people because her head goes down as she pushes, so she doesn’t see where she’s going, and her steering is set on “random.” Can’t let go of the cart for an instant to put something into it if she’s helping, can’t tell her to stop helping if I don’t want to play chase.

LOL, your rave about the juice box holder made milk come out of my nose (and I wasn’t even drinking milk).

Yeah, it’s true that, until they learn, kids will squeeze the juice box when it’s full. The holder protects against that. It also protects them from learning not to squeeze the box when it’s full. Parenthood is full of little messes, might as well get them out of the way as early as possible and let your kids learn from their mistakes.

Here’s a thought for those defending juice box holders: If your child is too young to understand that it’s better not to squeeze the juice box, maybe it’s too soon for a juice box.

Less is more, is what I say.

You could actually get radical and “teach” your kids to sit down in the shopping cart. Then you might not actually need that “gross, germy” belt at all.

I generally didn’t need to use them, but my kids liked to put them on by themselves.

For a while, my kids were dumb about putting their mouths on the shopping cart handle. They found out that was a good way to hurt their lip if the cart was bumped while they were up to their yucky tricks. A couple of accidental bumps were enough to fix that problem.

I am not afraid of germs. I do, however, understand those who avoid them due to specific health issues. It’s just wrong to advertise as if avoidance is best for everyone. It would be like advertising that milk or peanuts are scary just because some folks are allergic.

I’m just laughing (LMAO) out here in CO. I’ve seen those shopping cart things and shaken my head at them. Who has that kind of MONEY for stuff like that, on top of everything else???

I don’t find anything wrong with the strap thingy. When my daughter was just learning to sit up, the straps helped her stay upright in the cart seat. But the majority of the straps were broken! I find this product awesome for that reason, not germ-a-phobe reasons. 🙂

on tbe juice box topic i always ‘drink it down’ for my kids which basically means i take the first sip and it mostly stops any squirts. since we rarely even buy juice boxes cause, lets face it, they are an environmental disaster. my kids get frustrated that i get any of their precious juice and get the first sip no squirt hang pretty quickly.

Two of the three local grocery stores have big boxes of sanitary wipes right by each door. Wipe the handlebar and the seating area, keep your fingers away from your eyes/nose/mouth, and make everybody wash their hands as soon as they get home. Tah dah, illness prevention without spending extra money.

Just imagine, shopping carts here in Germany NEVER have seatbelts (except the ones at IKEA)! And none of kids has ever fallen out of one! Why would you even need one? *scratches head*
Don’t even get me started on juice box holders. So ridiculous.

When did we actually stop trying to teach kids things? When did avoiding a tantrum at all costs become the general philosophy of parenting?

My child quickly learned that if she squeezed the juice box her juice squirted on her instead of going in her mouth. She didn’t get more juice. She didn’t change clothes (if we were going somewhere where juice would matter, she didn’t get juice). Tantrums have never gotten her anywhere, except maybe but put into her bed until she was done. I don’t have carpets but I don’t see the need for children to be able to drink juice wherever and whenever they want so limiting juice boxes to outside or non-carpeted areas doesn’t seem like too much of an imposition. Don’t see the need for any fancy juice box box.

As for the strap, I can see where that would be helpful if the cart straps in your grocery store are in disrepair. But lets be honest, that’s not who this product is marketed to and that is not the majority of purchasers.

I think we could probably all agree to disagree over whether many of these products are “necessary” or not — I think it’s a matter of personal opinion. What I do agree with is that they don’t need to be marketed in such a way that preys on parents’ fears. Market the grocery cart strap as “practical” vs. “oh no germy carts!!” and let parents decide whether it’s something that would fit into their lives or not.

Same with juice boxes. I don’t think this was meant to start a war on whether or not we should be allowing our kids to drink juice boxes. Some parents like them, some don’t (I don’t like them, I never buy them, but I can see the appeal of the juice box holder if you do like them). I agree that many of the products One Step Ahead sells are relatively silly, but if people didn’t buy them, they wouldn’t sell them. Most of there stuff has applications SOMEWHERE. I just don’t think that fear-mongering is the way to sell them.

You can’t just teach all kids to sit still in a shopping cart. My younger one was a climber, starting at like 10 or 11 months, and would try getting out of a cart. You can’t teach a 10-month-old squat. And by 15 months she was big enough and agile enough to do it quickly. I turn my head a second to check what the price is on something, and she’s standing up. No, some kids simply require shopping cart belts. I don’t see the point in her own personal cushy one, but she just plain needed to be strapped into the cart.

In reality, these people really need to learn to read between the lines. Then they’d read, “You people are so paranoid, that we can sell you a rock if it meant making you feel better about how your raising your children. So here’s a useless strap for $14. We’re going to make millions off you people. Thanks!”

The last time I was forced to drink out of a juice box (a picnic, no water nearby, nobody brought cups, etc.) I wished I had one of those stupid juice box holders. I ruined a shirt with a beverage I can’t stand. Clearly, I did not know about the wing trick. You learn something new every day!

I think in the last 10 years I’ve only seen two or three people use various shopping cart things. I know plenty of people who got them as gifts from concerned grandparents, but they are just too big a hassle and you look incredibly stupid while using them. Who really wants to wrangle a device when you have a kid to wrangle first?

I agree with you that many kids today are overprotected, and I read your blog for tips on how to raise kids in a more balanced way and give them freedom to explore. But I do take issue with the judgmental tone of this post and with the tone of many of the comments left. I do thank you for this post though because you have introduced me to a product that I will most likely be purchasing (if I can’t find a lower cost version first). My daughter is 7 months old and is very capable of sitting up on her own and loves to sit in the cart and in highchairs at restaurants. In fact she will not tolerate sitting in her pumpkin seat anywhere but in the car. However, because of her small size we have run into the problem of her not being very secure in shopping carts and restaurant high chairs which tend to be designed to fit toddlers. The straps are usually broken and even if they aren’t they often just don’t feel that secure for a baby her size. Due to the width of this strap it looks like it will hold her much more snuggly, plus I know it wont be broken. It’s great for all of you with toddlers who can tell your kids “don’t climb out of the cart”, but my 7 month old doesn’t understand language quite that well yet. It’s not so much that my kid needs a strap *of her own*, it’s that it’s nice to know that when I take her to a store or restaurant I won’t have to spend time or energy searching through all the carts and highchairs to find one that will keep her from falling out (and that I will be guaranteed a working strap, which isn’t always the case). There are many reasons why parents might want to use a particular baby or child product. Thankfully, I’ve found I don’t need many of them, but sometimes I’m surprised by how useful some of them really are. Everyone’s situation and children are different and I think it would be good for everyone to remember this and not make judgments or assumptions about the choices people make regarding raising their children. So thanks again for introducing me to this product. I only wish I had known about it a couple months ago. Cheers!

I’m just glad One Step Ahead moved the toddler helmet to a ‘special needs’ section. 😉

Sounds like it’s less for the baby and more for the lazy mom who doesn’t feel like picking through the carts to find one with a strap that isn’t broken.

I used to solve the juice box problem by not buying them. My kids got juice at breakfast in a sippy cup or regular cup, and otherwise, they drank water. Solved two problems – no squirting, and no conditioning to think that everything needs to have sugar and flavor. Sure they did squirt themselves when they got the occasional juice box. Didn’t die from it. Besides, with my kids, juice is the most benign thing they spilled on themselves. When they’re covered in mud, grass stains, marker, and spaghetti sauce, who cares about a little juice? It might even wash off some of the other stuff.

And honestly, I never even considered bringing anything but my kid, and maybe a small diaper bag, when I went shopping. A lot of times I used the baby backpack (tended to put them to sleep so I could shop in peace), but I rarely obsessed about buckling them in. I just, I dunno, told them to sit down, and if they didn’t they had to walk, holding on to my coat. They wanted to ride, so they sat down. I just don’t understand where this total fear of shopping carts came from. I mean, we all used them as kids, and our parents used them, and we didn’t all drop dead from terrible diseases.

Another thing we did was just shift shopping. I mean, really, who the hell wants to shop with two toddlers? So we bought an extra stand alone freezer, and got in the habit of shopping once a month. We froze bread, used powdered milk or shelf stable soy milk, and rarely ran out for stuff mid month. One grownup stayed home with the kids, the other went and did a marathon shopping session. Fewer car trips, less aggravation all around. Never understood why some of my friends were dragging their kids into the store every single day. I’ve got no patience for that!

Ok, I am jumping ahead here, not reading everything but the first few comments.

Juice Box Holder: Sippy cups work fine. When we are out and about, they got water bottles. No worries if it spills on anything or anyone. But then, I always thought juice was over rated sugar that just gave my kids the runs. We do milk and water, and not much of anything else. When they need fruit, they get whole fruit.

Seat belts, covers, etc. I stopped putting my kids in those car shaped ones because they never got cleaned, and my kids got all sorts of illnesses. My family history is that as kids we all got sick a lot. And, my youngest has viral induced asthma. (Despite us having cats, dogs and him eating sand and stuff at the playground and beach.) I never used those covers, but I do like the wipes for the carts and do use those on areas that kids will touch.

When the swine flu came along, I pretty much did my shopping at 6:30 am so I could leave the kids home. We avoided it until school started and I had stopped the am shopping. (We homeschool, so it when public school started that it flared up in our community again.) When my youngest got it, he ended up at the hospital with an asthma attack (we didn’t know he had asthma then – it was his second time, at 4, first was 9 months.)

But, despite our family medical history, I never went out and bought stuff like this. Maybe I am just too lazy to lug three kids and that stuff. Maybe if we had bought it we would have avoided some of the strange stuff that they got, like Hand Foot and Mouth disease. But I do believe in vaccinations, so we are covered with the worst of the sicknesses.

Oh, and as for the juice…kids who drink fruit juice are more likely to end up obese. I was happy when I saw that as I was too stingy to buy juice for my kids. Now I have a prefect excuse for why it is only for birthday parties (as opposed to soda….)

10-month-olds are babies, and are not going to understand why they can’t crawl or jump or catapult out of a cart. If there’s one thing I don’t like about this site, it’s how holier-than-thou some of the parents act. It is reasonable to want to be able to buckle a baby into a cart so he/she can’t fall out.

She’s quoting me, but nicer. I said, “You can’t teach a 10-month-old squat.” And my younger child, at 10 months, no did not understand not to dive off the cart. My older one was more cautious. But people could stand to stop making assumptions about other people’s parenting realities here. There are plenty of truly unnecessary safety devices out there, but some kind of strap to keep little ones in the cart rather than on the floor doesn’t qualify.

N, oops. I thought SKL was insulting me, not you. 🙂 You and I can just commiserate on the diving baby front.

Oh, sure, if we take several months to teach them, by when they’d have outgrown it anyway. But that doesn’t help me when the 10-month-old is trying to jump out of the cart.

Re: the juice box thing. Why give your baby/toddler juice boxes to begin with? ‘Juice’ contains boatloads of sugar. It contains as much or even more sugar than coca cola or pop. Why addict your child to sugar and rot its emerging milkteeth when you can give it water instead?

People are mislead by the juice thing. They think because it’s ‘fruit juice’ it’s good for their kids, ’cause hey, fruit is good, right? Only, ‘fruit juice’ is actually fruitconcentrate (if that and not food colouring and artificial flavouring), sugar, additives, sugar, E-numbers, sugar and water.

Little movie about the amount of sugar in juice boxes:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhp48j_parenting-u-juice-box-sugar_news

If you want to find danger anywhere, this is where to look. Not in the danger of slipping out of the grocery cart, but the danger of constantly sipping liquid sugar.

N and Talyn, I wasn’t insulting you. Talyn was insulting 10-month-olds. I was sticking up for them.

I clearly said it’s your choice whether or not you want to teach them vs. restrain them. I never said one thing nasty about it.

But consider that “you can’t teach a 10-month-old squat” implies that parents who rely on teaching rather than restraining are endangering their children. So please keep in mind that you may come across as judgmental too. (Even when you aren’t attacking me for making a true, objective statement.)

N, I didn’t even read your comment that you assumed I was answering.

“You could actually get radical and “teach” your kids to sit down in the shopping cart. Then you might not actually need that “gross, germy” belt at all.”

I’ve always been one for “teach your kids rather than remove all possibilities of trouble” but there was something about sitting, and shopping carts, that most of my generally obedient, relatively docile kids just WOULD NOT cooperate with. Same with high chairs.

Donna’s right, though — for all the times we can find legitimate reasons to use something like this thing, that’s NOT how it’s being marketed. It might even be said that it’s really the marketing that’s the problem, not the fact that someone’s come up with something that *could be* handy in some circumstances. It’s not being sold as “handy in some circumstances,” it’s being sold as “you need this to keep your child safe and sterile.”

Teri, I get the part about being extra careful in your situation because you just can’t afford to have anyone sick. But do you really think it’s the cart, and not just being out and about and around a greater mix of people when you shop?

My “teach” comment is a reaction to the issue we’ve talked about before – that our culture has gotten to the point where we first look for a device/restraint to solve a developmental issue.

I 100% agree that some kids are more challenging to teach safety rules, and parents need to make their own safety decisions individually. But, when the marketing is all on the side of “restrain,” and folks have come to believe that “you can’t teach” a baby/toddler, someone needs to speak up for the other side – in my opinion.

I do NOT want to make this about “my kid vs. your kid.” But the fact is, I had babies who were teachable. My mom had babies who were teachable. Maybe one of her 6 was too headstrong – he was the exception to the rule. (He was very good at opening straps, too. Lucky to be alive, I say.) Yes, we need a solution for those kids, but don’t assume it applies to all kids.

I feel really dumb now because I’ve read all the comments and nobody mentioned a simple solution I’ve got for this problem… I put my baby/toddler in the cart… like where you put your stuff. Is there a rule somewhere that state that you can’t do that or that you are a bad parent if you do? I always thought that climbing out of the cart was harder than out of the child seat. At least they won’t be able to until they grow a bit… It only works with real shopping cart that actually have room but I just don’t shop at places with new-age shopping carts.

So is there a problem whit that? Have you all not access to old-shcool shopping carts where you live? Or maybe it’s the reason everyone raves about shoppings cart straps? They were non-existant when I was a kid and as I recall, nobody let their squirmy 10 months head-first-diver in the child seat or did they?

Yah, I have had problems finding a shopping cart available with a working strap. The hyperbole about “all for your own child” stuff is just marketing fluff, but I can see some utility in having a safety belt. What I used to do is detach the carry strap from my diaper bag (which had hooks for D-rings on either end) and just cinch it around my son’s lap.

Of course, if the $)#@) stores kept their carts in order it wouldnt’ve been necessary…

I think what wins the pointless product of the year is:

Hands-Free Car Seat Carrier!

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=533870

Seriously, people, it’s okay to take the baby out of the bucket.

As for the website, the slip-proof baby kneepads for crawlers is just beyond ridiculous, IMHO.

Of course they didn’t have belts on shopping carts when our parents were raising their kids. So it’s not absolutely crazy to think a child could survive without being belted in.

I pray for better shopping cart seatbelts! My one half year old has worked out how to get out of those flimsy click around your waist pieces of crap.. .. after she worked her way out of the belt, climbed out of the trolley and accidently knocked some pasta sauce over on her way down the other day I was so exasperated I said to the guy helping me clean it up.. do ya think the stores can fit better seatbelts in trolleys!!! something that goes over the shoulders would be super helpful! so the kids CANT CLIMB OUT!

(I know its just a stage… she started about 2 months ago and as I have four kids so I know it wont last forever but it sure makes shopping a pain in the butt!)

Well I don’t understand why it’s not safe as I personally think it’s less safe to put your kid in the child seat, buckle him with the seatbelt, thinking he’s safe and keeping less of an eye on him because of that, and then the first thing you know, he is able to climb out anyway (as many commenters here have commented) So I think this rule is stupid!

Personally, it would take me like 3 hours to grocery shop if I had to worry about my baby falling off the child seat but now, I know that he can’t climb out (for now) and I feel better!

These products, just like Lenore has stated, prey on parents who think that they have to buy every last gizmo in the store or else they’re a sorry good-for-nothing don’t believe in taking care of my kids piece of lazy trash.

And by the way, SKL is right, you CAN teach a 10-month old. It’s called exploiting the fact that you’re bigger, and morphing into “angry dad/mom” as needed. It reminds me a lot of the “stay in bed at night-time” debate–someone I knew swore that if a child was determined enough you couldn’t keep them in bed at night-time. Well, mine went through a phase of about 10 minutes on 1 single night where they dared to challenge mom whining “I don’t want to go to bed.” Let’s just WITHOUT BEING ABUSIVE mind you, I morphed into a strong hard-core intimidating scary type of dad, the type that would make Quadafi wet himself (did I spell his name correctly?–the ruler of Libya is who I’m referring to), and they got in that bed and they didn’t dare move until the next morning. To this day, when I simply outloud say “bed-time,” they go straight to bed and are as quiet as a mouse until the next morning without any power struggles.

I’ve never understood the term “power struggle with your kids.” WHAT struggle? I’m big, they’re little, I win–end of story. THAT is how you do it, my friends.

LRH

Half the reason I’m a free range parent is because I’m lazy. Why on earth would I waste my time trying to teach a baby not to stand up in a cart/squeeze a juice box/what-have-you when I could teach them the same thing in a hundredth of the time in six months?

All this talk of juice boxes reminded me of what someone found in a del monte juice pack…
DO NOT WATCH if you have a weak stomach…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIMnk0smyvI

I wish somebody had given me a shopping cart strap instead of a full seat cover for my baby shower, because by the time my baby came home, he was already too big for the seat cover…. big enough to try to hurl himself out of the shopping cart seat when I couldn’t find a cart with working straps… and not yet able to walk. Then again, that stage lasted only about 5 months, so it still would’ve been a waste of money.

I regifted the shopping cart seat cover, ignoring the skeptical look of the new mom who probably never expected such a gift to come from me. Oh well, life goes on.

I think the unifying theme of these products is “do it for them, save time for yourself.” This isn’t overprotective parenting; this is LAZY parenting. Yes, it will save yourself time now, but later you’re gonna have to spend that time and more teaching them what experience has not. Or they’ll be living in your basement at 30 while they “get their lives together.”

Lenore, you are sooo funny when you are annoyed. In fact we actually pay people to come up this stupid crap so we can enjoy your hilarious responses!

oh yeah … I have the best solution for that: No more juice boxes (not hard to put juice in a REUSABLE container) et put the young ones in a baby carrier on your front or your back … no more issues. Worked for me and both my boys until about 2 years old, after that, they either stayed in the seat with or without the strap, or walked and ran through the aisle with me

Jynet and SKL — about teaching first, then falling back on restraints if necessary, I totally agree.

Juice is sticky and dirty, we make our kids drink water especially in the car.

As for shopping carts I love when the manager of the store comes up to me and says, “Your child has to sit down.” and I say, “You tell him. I already did.” The manager tells the toddler, and the toddler politely replies, “No, thank you.” Then the manager says, “You have to make your child sit down.” To which I reply, “He will not sit down. Are you suggesting I spank him?” The manager hurriedly walks away and I get to laugh at how crazy people are.

I do use the yucky dirty strap for the babies, but I haven’t had a toddler yet who can’t wriggle out of those straps and I have 8 children– and they hardly ever get sick, so i doubt those dirty straps are causing much harm.

Also I thought I would tell a tale that kinda proves that shopping carts are pretty gross. One day I went shopping when I was in college to a grocery store. It was raining very hard and all the carts were wet. I saw one lonely dry cart and thought what luck! I went and got it and did not notice till a few minutes later that there was VOMIT all over the kid seat area and handle. Yep, my hand was in someone’s vomit. I about vomited myself. So yes, it is not crazy to want to wipe down carts before you use them. The vomit kinda blended in so I didn’t notice it at first.

I thought the juice box thing was kinda neat but not something I need or would buy. Mostly because my kids do not drink juice. They drink milk or water from sippy cups and soon we are getting them on regular cups for at the table. I was too scared of the juice thing with rotting teeth and extra calories and making them not like just plain water.

Oh @Krista I’ve got no interest in that strap/harness, but was happy (nay, delighted) to keep the baby in the carseat if doing so adhered to my number one parenting rule: Never Wake a Sleeping Baby!!!

Alexicographer – I understand your concern for the environment, but equally concerning is the number of parents who think juice is nutricious. They wouldn’t dare give their kids candy, but juice is “natural” so it must be good. Ugh.

WOW! Here we HAVE to strap our kids into the trolleys or else we are asked to leave the store. There have been quite a few instances where kids have fallen out of trolleys onto the concrete floor. My brother is one of them. He fractured his skull and was really lucky not to do any damage to his brain. But the great thing is that the straps here are clean and maintained and if one isn’t, you tell the supermarket and THEY FIX IT! The trolley wranglers (yep real term) are responsible for this.

Maybe instead of buying a pointless item, tell your supermarket to clean them and keep them maintained. I’m guessing they would want to avoid getting sued. 🙂

@Jules, “it’s less for the baby and more for the lazy mom who doesn’t feel like picking through the carts to find one with a strap that isn’t broken.”

I’m sorry, but I didn’t feel “lazy” because I wasn’t willing to juggle one kid on the hip and some running around at my feet to find the cart with the intact straps. When you’ve got your hands full, getting the kid into the cart ASAP is a priority, and if thinking that way meant I was “lazy,” then I’ll guess I’ll just have to take that criticism.

Mind you, I never had stuff like these straps or worried much about finding intact straps, but it wasn’t because I was so very energetic and full of free time that I considered hunting down the correctly maintained cart a worthwhile use of time and effort.

And yeah, some stores are just like that — lots of bad carts. I could keep shopping at that place regardless, I could fruitlessly complain to the management that doesn’t do a great job of a dozen other things that are a higher priority, or I could pay 30% more for food at another store or several dollars a week more in gas to go to a more distant affordable store. What to do, what to do? Probably put up with less than stellar shopping carts.

I used to carry my own strap…but I re-purposed it from my backpacking equipment. Plush it was not. But I have a kid who liked to climb out despite all the teaching in the world (I think some of you are lucky to have very docile kids) and I can’t actually reach the milk in our grocery store without letting go of the cart and turning away from him.

My strap was because many stores around here don’t maintain their seatbelts, and most you have to put a dollar in to get the cart out of the cart corral. Life is too short to waste shuffling shopping carts. Took the first one, used my strap, problem solved. I can’t get too excited about this product here…though I might on a personal finance blog, ’cause there are many cheaper ways to get your groceries.

I don’t really have a problem with the cushy cart seat – when they’re really young its great for keeping the kid from sliding forward and sucking on the cart handle – Gross!

I usually agree with you, but not here. First I am not a germaphobe, but most shopping cart seats & child buckles are usually absolutely discusting if they are not broken or missing altogether. At least where I live in So Cal they are, maybe they are not so bad where you live. The age of a child that is most often in a shopping cart seat is also at the age where they touch everything & put everything including their hands in their mouths. I actually prefer a shopping cart cover that is padded. My son was quite wobbly in the cart when he was young & I was concerned he would hurt his head & he also liked to put his mouth on the cart & knaw on it. It had loops to hook for his toys & a pocket for a drink or snack. It’s one of the most usefull things I purchased for him. Regarding the juice box I disagree with you on that one too. All you have to do is touch a juice box & they oozze everywhere. Personally I prefer to not buy them altogher, but sometimes they are convient.

@anyone who got bent out of shape over the “lazy” comment: usually if I find a cart with a broken strap, I pull out the next one and is OK. It’s not like finding a needle in a hay stack. I had 4 kids and survived just fine with the buckles on the carts. I did get one of those cushy cart-seat liners, and it’s sitting in my basement because I found that to be more work than just grabbing a cart with a strap.

Wow, I can’t believe how judgmental everyone’s being right now (and I’m not talking about the original post, either!) Insulting parents who let their kids have juice/ juice boxes, or who don’t care to frighten their children into submission, or people who think safety belts are necessary? I thought free-range was more about respecting other people’s parenting decisions even if we don’t agree with them. I like reading about everyone’s opinions on the above things, even if we don’t agree, I just wish we could do it without attacking each other.

OK, that said, I love you guys.

I sympathize with people who find that most or all of the shopping cart seat-belts are broken at their store. Ours had the same problem. Now they have these brilliant retractable seat-belts. I actually got to use them for about a month before my younger kid outgrew the child seat! I can see wanting to have your own strap for an “all the carts are broken” situation, but I’d make my own. And then I’d forget to take it, anyway. 🙂 But making regular, working seatbelts seem like something to fear is just disgusting.

As for juice boxes, we’ve managed to mostly avoid them by using the plastic re-usable ones (I think ours are Rubbermaid, less than $3 each). Cheaper, less garbage, and the kids can’t squeeze juice all over themselves- and I can water down the juice, which I like. Or just have water or milk. Or whatever.

When we do use juice boxes (because sometimes the boys think it’s a fun treat), I take a big sip when I open them, or a smaller one as they get better at regulating their grip. It helps a lot. I like the “wings” idea, too- I’d never thought of that!

I just don’t have enough money to waste on stuff I don’t need. I try to remind myself that whoever makes this stuff is telling me I need something (or worse, trying to scare me into buying it) because they want my money, not because they actually care about my child’s comfort or safety. Helps a lot when I’m tempted to buy things.

“They drink milk or water from sippy cups and soon we are getting them on regular cups for at the table.”

Really? Aren’t your kids over 4? It’s waaaaay past time for regular cups. I didn’t use sippy cups for very long (too hard to keep clean without a dishwasher and I didn’t have one at the time) but, even at daycare (not exactly a bastion of free range parenting), they switched from sippy cups to regular cups at 2.

I just have a pet peeve of treating children like babies with pacifiers, sippy cups, diapers, strollers, etc well into childhood.

The marketing is painful, but I could’ve used that product a time or six. We have a local store that has probably 50% of the carts with broken buckles, and while now my son just sits, when he was a first-sitter the strap helped him stay upright and when he was first able to stand/walk it helped keep him in place. (Yes, I intervened when he started to stand up, but I WAS turning and bending to grab things off the shelves and it gave me peace of mind to know the strap would buy me the couple seconds needed to see what was happening if he did it while I was getting stuff.)

It would’ve saved me a few tedious searches through the carts for one with an unbroken strap – and depending on construction (I didn’t go look) it might also have helped with the local restaurant that doesn’t figure high chairs need to have functioning buckles, either. Broken cart/high chair buckles really are a pain.

I agree sometimes we sound judgmental. But readers, don’t be over-defensive. This post was about a company marketing to fears. Many of the “critical” comments here are really directed toward the commercializing of fear and the resulting de-emphasis of non-commercial approaches such as teaching. If you are feeling defensive, you could read it as an insult to you for buying their products or taking their advice. But that’s not really the point.

I think parents should make their own choices, but it bothers me when companies or misguided movements twist and spin facts to influence parents’ choices.

I guarantee that I’ve made some choices others here would consider lazy or unnecessary. I have my own reasons, and I don’t feel the need to defend my choices. Others are entitled to their opinions about them.

PS, I used to get this company’s catalogs and I have ordered from them. It was fun to look at the ridiculous stuff along with the useful stuff. Yes, it did seem they were sometimes out to shame moms who didn’t, for example, put up a clear plastic barrier so the kids couldn’t fall through the railing above the stairs. But when you think about it, it’s not that much different from companies who imply your kids won’t love you or won’t be happy if you don’t buy the most pretty sugary cereal, the latest expensive, revealing outfits, etc. I don’t understand why anyone falls for any of those tactics, but apparently some do.

I never even knew there was a juice box holder out there. My kids didn’t get many juice boxes, but I used to buy milk boxes (no refrig. needed) when they were babies, as a backup for when we were out & about. I don’t recall them spilling them all over themselves. Like any method of eating/drinking, initially there is going to be some spillage, but kids will learn if you let them. Then again, I was kinda bitchy when it came to wasting food, so my kids might have had more motivation to be careful.

I was always looking for ways to carry less, not more. This again goes to my personal situation – single working mom with “virtual twins.” I had to take them everywhere, alone; and time was at a premium. Shopping meant hauling them, their stuff, and whatever I was buying, all while trying to keep things fun and interesting. Up to age 1.5, I used a small diaper bag in which I carried foldable potty seats, diapers, wipes, and various stuff for feeding them. Between age 1.5 and 2, I stopped carrying stuff for the kids. They were able to eat/use whatever I ate/used.

I’m not saying whether other people should or shouldn’t buy a bunch of stuff for their kids. Whatever makes you all happy. But, I’m glad my situation forced me to err on the “less” side. It saved money, time, and space. I have to say, I could not WAIT to be done with sippy cups. They take up too much space and are a pain to clean.

I didn’t notice anyone saying “you’re a bad parent if . . .,” – but I did not read all of the comments.

@ SKL

I agree with you but I also think that it’s the companies and their publicity that are the most to blame. Before we were mentally comfortable just right because it didn’t exist but now we need it because those company created a need. Companies are out there to create needs, it’s the same for the portable straps or juice box boxes.

I guess some are more vulnerable to advertisement than others, but I will never blame someone that fall pray to advertisement, I blame the companies!

As usual, SKL nailed it. The companies are marketing to fears, tickling the scardey-cat bone so as to seduce you to buy their product because–well, otherwise, you’re apparently a horrible parent who doesn’t love your kids if you don’t. If they company doesn’t tell you that, many of the people who buy these products will.

If I was out-of-line in terms of judging other people’s parenting then I stand corrected. We’re not here to snip at each other and so forth, and I don’t need to contribute to that. My point was simple–I do see and hear a lot of parents act as if they can’t control their kids or that the pursuit of trying to control your kids means you’re a mean parent. I respectfully disagree. It isn’t really my business to judge someone’s parenting style anyway, with one exception–when it creates a disruptive environment in places like (say) church or nice restaurants and in doing so ruins the occasion for me.

When you see a parent “bargaining” with a child throwing a tantrum over silly stuff and you know good & well you yourself have successfully squashed such tantrums on the part of your own child easily by asserting your authority & larger size, you can’t help but think in your mind (if not even say out-loud) “c’mon, just handle it already.” After all, their failure to do so is spoiling the environment for you. It’s not a matter of meddling in someone’s parenting affairs so much as holding them accountable for how their failure to handle things is spoiling the occasion for you because of the noise/disruptions etc.

I agree with SKL‘s style of “traveling light” as well. I used to see how people with small kids had more luggage than anyone else I knew. That never made any sense to me–how can such little things require such huge amounts of luggage? I always felt like it was overdone, and again not my business to judge THEM, but I always said I wasn’t going to do it that way when I had kids, my kids would just have to learn to do without some things that probably aren’t essential.

The way I handle it–if they lose the item (they’re 2 & 4), they do without. End of story. The only exception is shoes, they’re in big trouble if they keep taking their shoes off & end up with “orphaned shoes.” It’s the point that I morph into “mean daddy” the split second I hear velcro tearing. I don’t have a problem with them playing in our yard at home barefooted, mind you, but for going to stores etc especially with these 105’F temperatures making for hot concrete, they are not allowed to go without their shoes, and if they goof around and lose them, they’re in big trouble.

Children tend to rise to the level of expectations you set for them, so I set the level pretty high. In return they get lots of fun with loads of free-ranging.

LRH

¡Ayyyyy – Dios mio! Has anyone considered translating all these comments into other languages so that mothers around the world can have a good laugh at our expense. At heart we are gullible, die-hard consumers.

With regards to juice boxes squirting, can anyone tell me why the heck the companies make the hole for the straw air-tight with the circumference of the straw? If they just made that sucker a millimeter wider, we’d never have trouble with the squeeze-squirt.

You guys claim the little ones will learn how to hold a juice box correctly after squirting themselves, but truth be told, I’m 39 and I still squirt myself with those suckers once in awhile. I don’t why I feel compelled to blow into them to force collapsed boxes back into shape after my kids have manhandled them, but I do. That precedes most inadvertant squirts. You’d think I’d learn my lesson. 🙁

haha I am with Daniel, I still squirt myself with them too. Caprisuns are the worst since they are already soft. I also can’t get the hole punched with the straw ever. So yeah, we don’t use them much in our house because mommy hates them.

Who said stupid? I think everyone here acknowledges that there are some kids who have conditions that make some of these products truly useful FOR THEM.

Bottom line: if you are using it to address an actual issue that an individual in your family has, you have nothing to be defensive about (unless someone actually said you are stupid – but I didn’t catch that.)

But if you are using it because you heard somewhere that there’s these tiny things called germs that might invade your normal, happy family life? That’s about your mental intolerance to reality.

And when I say “mental,” I don’t mean “looney.” I mean, it’s in your head. You don’t have to be a loon to be influenced by propoganda.

SKL: True. Several posters were getting down on sanitizers and I thought it did need to be pointed out that for some people they are not overkill or paranoia. Some people really do benefit from them. I had to go a little crazy with that stuff when they were preemies. Then overtime I slowly do it less and less. Now we only use it when we can’t wash our hands but they feel like they might be dirty like at the store or at a playground, etc. Still I think it is easy to judge someone for being overly paranoid about germs when you have perfectly healthy kids.

@ Dolly

Ok since I felt you included me in your last comment I will answer.

I will never say that someone who use sanitizer is stupid or a bad parent for that matter. I just said that this stuff is nasty and should not be used. I am perfectly aware that it’s only my opinion forged with information that maybe not everyone came across before. I only think that those who use it don’t know better, but maybe they do know and they chose to use it anyway, I don’t care it’s a choice and it’s your choice.

That said if I had a special need baby or child that require me to pay attention to germs I would never use sanitizer, only regular soap and it will be more complicated in logistic but I will only be more adamant on this matter because I would be aware that because my child has special needs I would need to use that stuff often and on a long period of time which is just a lot more harmful that on an occasional basis.

I don’t think it’s your case, but I also believe that the number of children that needs to be germ-proofed is exaggerated and I think that the doctors are to blame for a part of that problem. Many many children have MORE problems because they lived in a (almost) germ-proofed environment.

You may very well be right about the doctors, Coccinelle, but it’s hard to be brave and daring when your little baby has had far too many close calls in her short life. Docs and nurses (at one of the best baby hospitals in the world) say that kids with her history have a high risk of dying if they catch the common cold, until their lungs develop a lot more. I’m not messing with that. At least it’s only temporary.

But I think you are right about soap and water. People don’t realize what’s in sanitizer. They took it out of daycares because kids were poisoning themselves by using it and then licking their hands. Even though I’m not over-protective (I don’t think), I don’t let my kids use that stuff except in very rare circumstances. I don’t want to encourage the habit.

Yes, I also say know and utilize soap and water over hand sanitizer when its feasible. If we can wash hands with regular (not antibacterial) soap than we do. I worked in a daycare and my hands actually were rotting off from all the sanitizer and anti-bacterial soap. I have sensitive skin.

Sanitizer does have its uses though. When you are at a grocery store to wipe off a cart handle and seat, when you were playing at the playground and now want to sit down to your picnic lunch and there is no bathroom nearby, etc. That is about the only time we use it. When they were smaller and during cold and flu season we used it a bit more like every time we got back in the car from being in a store or playing with toys other kids touch, etc. But again, if we could just wash hands with regular soap that was what we did.

SKL – My kid drank pool water at your kids’ ages too (last summer). She seems to have outgrown it somewhat this year. At least she doesn’t intentionally drink it anymore but I still have to sometimes tell her to close her mouth in the pool.

“They work great and actually kids love tham because thay do not have to be careful with juice boxes”

But that implies that we should actually want to teach our children that they don’t have to be careful with juice boxes. I see absolutely nothing to be gained by teaching children they don’t have to be careful with something instead of teaching them that there are many, many things – juice boxes being but one out of thousands – that they do need to be careful with.

Funny, we had the cleaning etc. discussion at work today. At lunch one of my co-workers started talking about whether she wanted to have kids or not. She was sitting between me and another mother. The other mother started talking about how you become more worried about cleanliness, hand washing, sanitizing, etc. once you have children. I totally contradicted everything she said. I never made anyone wash their hands before touching my baby, handed her off to strangers to hold, have not altered my housekeeping methods (which were never sterile to start with), never sterilized a single thing, allowed kiddo to put things from the floor in her mouth, don’t use hand sanitizer. My kid is very much healthier than my co-worker’s. Some of that is genetic since I have a great immune system but that may well be because my mother was also not a perfect housekeeper.

… In case it’s not obvious, that last coment was a joke . . . .

The thing about babies putting stuff in their mouths – I was lucky. My eldest, who was 12mos when I took custody, was caught sucking on the hotel carpet (she had a thing about sucking on furry stuff). (Excuse me while I recover from the queazy feeling that memory still gives me.) When we arrived home, my house was unexpectedly full of dustballs. Our maids, who were supposed to come while I was traveling after a break of 5 weeks, had postponed. My kid happily crawled through the dust many times before I had a chance to sweep it up. All that dirt had zero bad effect on her. So I thought, what the heck. Dirt is our friend! She remains one of the healthiest kids around. As for my other kid, her skin allergy actually cleared up shortly after coming to our dusty domain.

So I was lucky – I didn’t suffer under the “my kid needs a clean house” illusion for more than an hour.

@SKL, Maybe you could try to tell them that babies are wearing diapers in the pool and you don’t think the water could be drinkable because of that? Surely they won’t regress to peeing in their pants because you talk about babies wearing diaper? I guess you already told them that the chlorine is not good to drink… Maybe the only thing you can say to children to dissuade them to drink water will dissuade them to go swimming… not a good idea!

Personally, I always try to not think that people are peeing in the pool because I think it’s gross but I know that urine is sterile.

SKL, if/when they pee in the pool, you probably won’t ever know. You know that silly old story about pool water changing color when people pee in it is an urban legend, right?

NOT that you should tell your kids to just pee away 🙂 but at least you won’t have to hide your face in shame.

People don’t realize what’s in sanitizer. They took it out of daycares because kids were poisoning themselves by using it and then licking their hands.

Oh, god, I know. I once pointed out to a woman that her baby probably shouldn’t be gnawing on the hand sanitizer on the keychain, and she just stared at me. And I don’t think that was particularly wrong of me to say or overprotective!

And you know what’s worse? A lot of those hand sanitizers? Aren’t even at an alcohol concentration strong enough to kill everything like they say they do.

am not ready to deal with all the spills and tantrums and crap that will come with teaching them to drink from regular cups.

See, with my nieces and all of us it was the other way around. We were too lazy to deal with sippy cups, so they drank from a real cup almost from the start. By two I refused to fill up cups with water for the nieces if I was watching them. “There’s a sink in the bathroom, get it yourself, you have young legs!”

I love poison control. Had to call them once when my brother-in-law took too many extra-strength excedrins (like, really really too many), and it’s calming just to talk to those people.

I’ve been gone on vacation all week so I’m late posting this. I just wanted to say that when my kids were little they were always gumming the cart handle while I shopped. I would stop them when I saw it, but they’d be back at it when I turned around again. I credit all the dirty shopping carts they sucked on with their excellent immune systems! 9 & 7 now and they’ve never had a ear infection, strep, or the flu! I cringe when I see a baby in their own fabric bubble contraption in a shopping cart.

Yeah CSP because we all know you can teach a six month old stuff and they will always listen. All you need to do is tell your six month old not to put stuff they find on the floor in their mouths once and then just forget about it. I am sure when they find a penny or a thumbtack or a lego on the floor they won’t put it in their mouth at all.

I am being obtuse here but so are you. Childproofing like everything else can be very good in moderation and very bad if over used.

I probably wouldn’t have ever bought anythiing like thiis for my kids because I couldn’t see spending the mney on something I could easily improvise.

Grocery store cart straps are always either missing, sticky, broken or tied in knots. The carts themselves never get cleaned unless something major and gross happens to them like someone vomiting on it. The grosses isn’t a big issue for me but it’s always in the back of my mnd. With my oldest they didn’t even have straps on the carts. I didn’t use a sling with her or a bucket seat. I layed her on a blanket in the basket part of it until she bgan to roll and squirm. At that point I started proping her in the seat part by stuffing large amounts of balnkets around her. When she got squirmier and trying to climb I used a large receiving blanket t tie her in lol. withmy other kids I either carried them in the sling or tied themin the seat with the sling. I gave up on trying to adjust the straps on the carts when I found a working one. With a couple of my kids even at the tightest setting, could turn themselves around and stand up in the seat and then attemppt to climbinto the basket at 10 months. Little boogers. The sling material wa thinker so softer tha the straps and I could make it as tight as I needed to keep the boogers from acting like monkeys in the cart.

I could see someone else fed up with broken and gross cart straps and not having other ways to tie in their little monkeys buying one of these straps. This cart covers started coming out when my youngest was a baby. I thought about buy one but the price kept me from it. Again it wasn’t a germ issue. I thought it looked more comfortable than the highchairs and cart seats plus some of them had toys sewn onto them so they couldn’t be droped or flung everywhere. If I’d been gifted one I’d have probably used it a dozen or so times before putting it away. even with the toys and comfort factor I’m sure the time setting it up and remembering it would have gotten annoying seeing as he was my fourth and my hands were already full with rangling and remembering all kinds of things everytime we left the house.

Juice box holder are just obnoxious. I showed each of my kids a few different ways to hold a juice box without squirting it everywhere. If they still couldn’t manage it then I just didn’t give them a juice box.Again it would have benone more “thing” to rember to pack up when we left the house. I’d probably have needed several to have one clean and ready all the time and I wasn’t spending the money on one more gadget.

I think there are a lot of over price gadgets for babies and toddlers onthe market. They often seem great and handy at first glance but then in practice they are a hassle, waste of money and just more stuff to have around.

I completely disagree with this rant. Have you ever seen the seat belts in a shopping cart? Half the time they’re broken and if they’re not broken then they’re absolutely nasty. The grossness doesn’t matter much because the kid is probably wearing clothes but if it’s broken then it’s pointless. I think bringing your own, that you know won’t be broken, is a great idea. And not having to touch those nasty seat belts is a great bonus. I love communal things, but they should be reasonably clean. As for the juice box holders, those are to keep little kids from squeezing the juice all over the place with their toddler death grips. I think the juice box holders have a place. Of course kids need to learn how to hold a juice box, but if you want to give it to them without making a mess (like in the car) then they could come in handy. I really don’t see how these products hinder free-range parenting.

Juice boxes are comfortable becasuse you can transport tham easy but at the same time you may have a problem using them or even trying to pass the straw through. This is a problem for an adult too. Teaching kids won’t help. Kids are kids now are carefull and 30 seconds later they forget. If a juice box holder is “obnoxious” so is a bib or a sippy cup or any other utensils that we use. I’d rather prevent (as much as I can) the damage than dealing with it after.

When we were waiting for son#1 to come home, lots of people wanted us to generate a wish list so they would know what to get us for baby gifts. I remember that my husband and I had a lot of trouble populating it. It never occurred to us to want things like juice box holders, diaper wipe warmers, a diaper genie, and a lot of other stuff that people thought was ‘essential’. We bought a used stroller for $25, borrowed a car seat from a neighbor whose son had just outgrown it, got a free crib from a cousin, bought our own cloth diapers and just used a regular plastic trash can for them, etc. We traveled light wherever we went – often I had the baby in a sling and a small diaper bag with bottles and formula, and that’s it. I used tap water to make the formula, and ordinary plastic grocery bags to put wet diapers in until we got them home. When son #2 arrived, we got the smallest back to front double stroller we could for $40 at a yard sale, and only used it unitl the youngest was 2. Then we just walked. We really found that we needed very little to deal with the kids, and that we could do without and survive.

And while we’re on grocery store equipment: does anyone else fail to see any benefit at all in those huge carts that have an entire plastic miniature car attached to the front, so the child can sit in the driver seat and pretent to drive? The car is actually not so miniature — probably 3’x3’x3′. They entirely block the aisle. We so cater to children’s desire to be entertained at all times.

I have a love/hate thing for the car carts. Hate steering them, love that my kids are more distracted and better behaved while I shop.

Having a strap would be very helpful at times, there are several stores here whose carts don’t have straps and the ones that do are always broken (of course I would forget it most of the time). And it is easy to say that you need to teach the kid not to stand up or jump out, but that takes time. I went to such a store when my littlest was about 15 months. She spent the last half of the trip trying to climb out of the cart, and every time I turned to grab a grocery item she was standing again. Makes shopping very difficult. Then when I was trying to get the groceries on the till at the end, bag them (a place where you bag your own stuff) and pay I finally had to get her out and have her biggest sister (7) chase her around the till area. A strap would have made it so much easier, louder too since she would scream if she wanted out, but easier, and being she is my 4th baby, I can pretty much ignore the screaming, and don’t give a hoot if it bothers the other shoppers for a bit, they’ll survive:)

Never had a juice box holder, and we only use juice boxes occasionally for our littest, but it is irritating how anyone under the age of 2 squirts half the juice out the second they hold it, and anyone under the age of 4 usually make a bit of a mess too. Probably one of the reasons we only use juice boxes for school lunches and not home.

I also have to admit I have a shopping cart cover. I am not afraid of germs, just afraid of the fact that if one of my kids gets the stomach flu, they all do, and my kids have terrible barfing aim, it goes EVERYWHERE. 5 kids barfing everywhere is just no fun, so if I look a little nuts with my cover I don’t care, if it stops even one barfing episode every couple of years, I’m good. Plus it has built in straps. With 5 kids we have enough opportunities to practise free range in other areas:) Making my life a little easier here and there is nice.

I use the high chair cover when we go out because my 6mth old gets bored pretty easily, and with no teeth, her “allowed” food is fairly limited (so we don’t make a big mess in the restaurant – home is another matter). The high chair cover that my mother bought us has toys strapped to it – so she can play with her toys when she’s done eating, and my husband and I get to continue to eat without having to hold her on our laps. I could care less about the germs, but those little toys (fastened on!) make it worth it.

Shopping carts have more germs than a public toilet. But go ahead…let your kids touch the cart and then put their hands in their mouth. Better yet, let them lick the cart! GROSS.

Also, the juice box holder was made so kids don’t squeeze the juice all over themselves, which is easy for them to do. So, either get the juice box holder or let bring an extra change of clothes wherever you go.

RELAX! Don’t buy these things if you don’t want to. Other people like them, so be quiet.

I am a Registered Nurse, and because of that I see germs in a different light. My wife and raised our children in a log house, home schooled our children for part of their life and where not afraid of exposing them to common germs and did so. When going outside of your normal circle of family and friends this exposure can have some pretty harsh consequences. We teach our children and grandchildren to be hygienic but unfortunately many others don’t. The shopping cart is exposed to food born germs because customers place items like egg, chicken and beef in the child seat portion. Super germs like MRSA and VRE are passed from person to shopping cart to person. The food borne and super germs are not germs that we want our children exposed to if at all possible. That is why I am focused on creating products that limit the transmission of germs that can injure or even kill our children. I invented a cleanable/antimicrobial shopping cart seat belt not because I am afraid of simple germs but because of super germs and even simple germs being allowed uninhibited growth is not healthy either. Thanks to this blog I will be reevaluating my marketing strategy. We gear our marketing so that educated and uneducated can understand it. Unfortunately it can come across as germaphobic. Check out my shopping cart “Child Safety Strap” at http://www.chapmanmedical.com and whether you like it or hate it I would like to hear what your thoughts are.