You twin moms out there will understand.
Our local Whole Foods is a favorite outing. It’s sort of like running an errand, in that I can pick up groceries and all. Plus, the kids can get a snack at the customer service desk, I can wander the aisles looking for samples, and maybe we’ll hang out in a booth after shopping to eat a snack together. Mine is pretty new and big, and I don’t go at particularly crowded times, so it can be an altogether lovely experience.
Except the times when I get cart rage. You see, my local store has three of the kid-friendly double-seat shopping carts. Three is not a lot, especially in an area with a pretty high density of twins. I end up driving around both sides of the store, trying to scope out an available cart before I park. Sometimes there are none to be found, so I have to use the stroller, and am thereby confined to only purchasing as much (or, rather, as little) as can fit in the under-seat basket. Or, I get inside the car thinking there’s a double cart available, only to find it is not, and then I get to put one kid in the seat and one in the main basket. Not safe. I don’t dig those carts because they’re cute and red, I need them so that I can effectively shop and contain my toddlers at the same time. And I know people would freak out if they were not contained, and I know people give me the stinkeye when they see one of my kids just standing in the cart.
The moms of more-than-one can imagine my rage when those carts are taken by people with only one child. ONE child, in one of the only two-seat carts. ONE child, who very frequently is not only old enough that she is probably too BIG for the one-seat carts, but who also is so BIG that she actually has no interest in even RIDING in the cart. So mom is ambling around, carelessly blocking aisles, with a big fricking EMPTY shopping cart. Or, even better, just HOARDS the cart, EMPTY, while the kid plays in the kiddie area or sits in a booth for a snack. Only their coats in the cart.
Yesterday I almost flipped my lid. We’d already had a rough afternoon, with a too-short nap. We decided to hit up Whole Foods, and even managed to get one of the coveted carts. Wohoo! The kids were contained, I could actually get a normal amount of groceries. Would you believe that, as I was paying, I was all but stalked and chased out of the store so that a mom with ONE kid could take my cart?! Seriously, one of the (crazy) bagger ladies (who won’t stop touching my kids) literally hustled me out of the store, followed me to my car, and snagged the cart for the lady with one four-year-old. “But don’t feel rushed,” she said.
I was already in a bad mood with cranky kids, so I felt a little more ripshit pissed off than was appropriate to the situation. But it’s an issue with some frustrating history. I know, I know. The kid thinks the cart is neat and really wants it. I get it. But dear people with one kid: please pause for just one second and remember that those of us who have to drag two kids to the store don’t take those carts because they’re cool… we take them because we need the capacity. And while I’m not saying people with a single child shouldn’t be allowed to use them, I am saying that maybe you should think about the fact that there are only three of them.
And just cut me a fucking break. I need it.
/rant
I DO think that people with a single child shouldn’t be allowed to use double carts – or should at least be strongly discouraged. The closest grocery store to my house has ONE, and it is almost always in use by someone with only one kid. I’m impressed that you didn’t scream at anyone. I know I would have.
I’ve never been to Whole Foods before, but I’m considering going today to see if mine has any double carts and scope out who is using them!So, yeah, I’m fully prepared to go crazy today if I have to
I thought of you yesterday when I stopped in the store and saw the empty double-cart. I’m parent to a single-ton and never even THOUGHT of using the double-cart. My kid hates riding in the cart anyway.
I don’t think I’ll be able to see a double cart and not think of Goddess.
Oh, I’m so there with you, and have complained repeatedly at that Whole Foods that they don’t have enough double carts. You can see how effective my complaining has been (I complained the very first week they opened that store! I’m probably known as the “crazy double cart lady” there
However, I have gotten a lot of flak from parents of singletons, about how just because I’m a parent of twins it doesn’t make me or my kids special and somehow entitled to the “cool” carts. I know you’ll be shocked to hear I got those comments directed at me online, and anonymously. People suck.
I will say that I think it’s a mistake on Whole Foods part, not to have more carts, or at least not to post a “don’t hoard the few double carts while you’re not using them” policy. I rarely shop at Whole Foods anymore, even though I’m certainly their target demographic (kind of insane about local/organic food, and willing to spend money on food). Without a doubt, they’ve lost at ton of money from me, solely because of their stupid double carts. And my kids hardly even use carts anymore, but I’m still annoyed and rarely go there!
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I will definitely think about this next time I see a double cart! I have to confess that I once let Jack ride in the only double cart at our local grocery store, because it was the kind with the little car attached to the front, and he was SO happy to see the little steering wheel.
Luckily, my neighborhood isn’t brimming with twins, but I definitely won’t make that mistake again!
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I totally get how you feel. I was actually feeling that way the last time we went to Whole Foods. Now that my girls are 3, I can “sort of” manage a shopping trip while letting them walk and that’s what we do if we are just there for entertainment and picking up a couple of items. But if I NEED to shop, then I need to have both of them confined and consuming snacks so I can finish up my shopping before the kids have a total meltdown. The last time we were at Whole Foods, we were walking to the last 2 seater cart, when a mother with 1 child who was at least 4 years old, maybe 5, told her child to “run and get the cart” before anyone else does. Who does that kind of thing?
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HI, I have been lurking on your blog daily since for almost 2 years! I have fraternal boys that are 18 months (this week!) Anyway, I had to finally comment on this cart rage!!!
For a while, my grocery shopping depended on these double carts. I live outside Tampa, near a retirement city, so they are few and far between! I give dirty looks to people when they see me toting two kids, as their one 5 year old “drives” in the carts with cars attached.
My rage spills over to restaurants and highchairs. A lot of places have ONE highchair. I know they can’t expect twins, but at least expect that you will A. have more than one family eating, or B. have a family with 2 kids! (not twins) I have had to leave so many places due to them not having highchairs. I have had hostesses try to put my not even sitting up infants (at the time) in booster seats!!! Hostesses have asked, “oh, you are leaving?” Umm, yeah, cause I am not holding my kids on my lap while I eat. Especially when there are 8 zillion other restaurants to choose from!
Glad to read about other twin mom’s lives that I totally understand!!
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Hearing it, feeling your pain.
I find Whole Foods to be the worst in double cart offenders (singletons riding in carts). I’m just always happy they provide them bc TJ’s does not, so Nate and Alex NEVER get to to go TJ’s alone with me.
Our local Lowe’s has about TEN double carts and guess where Jon takes the boys on winter mornings???
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Wow…tell us how you really feel!! Just kidding. For 10 months I have avoided taking our twin girls to the grocery store alone because it scares the crap out of me. I am not easily scared. I don’t even know if I have ever seen a double cart there. I realize that your kids are too old for this, but I have contemplated putting one in my child carrier backpack and one in the cart. Thank goodness I have just opted to go grocery shopping at like 11pm instead…blah.
Oh boy, that would really get me steamed. No double carts on this island, but that’s probably a good thing. If there were I’m sure they’d be taken by Moms with singletons or clueless tourists with no children at all and I’d end up shooting my mouth off and have to be escorted out of the store.
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And its not just a twin issue – lots of people have more than one kid close in age and really need those carts, too. Some people (like this awesome woman…) just don’t think!!
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I think, of course, that part of the problem is that the Whole Foods carts are actually kind of neat looking. They’ve got no shortage of mammoth double carts at the regular grocery store, and you don’t see anyone fighting me for them because they’re boring.
Uugh! I did the whole carrier and cart option once….then my cell phone rang and one of the boys started crying…I almost lost it in the frozen veggie aisle! Now that the boys can sit up I have put them in the front of the Costco carts. Every single cart has four leg holes!…one more reason to LOVE Costco!
I don’t ever got to Whole Foods…guess I’m more of a “give me those preservatives” kinda gal
Costco is our saving grace – LOVE it. Although, we still need 2 carts with the 3 kids
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Okay, just got back from Whole Foods and it was TERRIBLE! They have NO double carts, and regular carts so small that I can’t put the graco snugride in the body of the cart and one on the top part, like I do everywhere else (except Costco – the only place I’ve found double carts.) So I put the boys in the double stroller – it’s an umbrella tandem stroller, not that big – and the store was so tiny and the aisles so tight that we barely fit and had to keep going down different ways. Couldn’t find the bread I needed and the cashiers were talking to each other about getting hammered tonight and cursing. I have no problem with cursing in front of ME, but SHUT UP in front of my children!! I won’t be going back. I’m disappointed. I really need to find someplace with double carts, because they’re going to outgrow their infant carseats in a few months and then what the &#@$ do I do????
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I still push the tandem stroller while pulling a cart behind me when grocery shopping. It’s becoming a total pain the heavier they get…..difficult to steer 60 pounds of toddlers with on hand! Even worse is that the stroller doesn’t fit through the checkout aisle at our grocery store! We live out in the country, so the next closest major grocery store is 15 miles away. So, this means that I have to leave the stroller back by the candy rack (ugh), pay for the groceries, then back the stroller out through the line of customers and go all the way around the line of cashiers! What the heck kind of design is that?? I guess this would also be a problem for someone without twins, except for they NEVER push a stroller in the grocery store because they can fit in the carts!
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Oh, I hear you! I’ve switched grocery stores, driving a little out of my way to one with an unending supply of double carts. Seriously, we were there tonight, and I counted 20 double carts. Our old store only was down to one double-seater when I abandoned it, having left in tears after a woman took it in front of me (I’d turned around to pick Melly up) for her one seven-year-old. She had the gall to look at me and say, “She refuses to sit in anything else.”
This was like 6 months ago, and it still makes my blood boil to think about it.
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Argh!! My blood boils with you. I’ve complained to the management and been told that it’s not fair for singletons to not get the fun carts just because there’s only one of them. It’s insane. My kids like that it’s a fun cart, but they’d be just as happy in a non-fun double cart. Wonder if there’s a way to get them to supply some of those?
I’d like to request a picture of the double carts. I’m completely confused. Are they more than just the Costco doubles? The grocery store close to my house has double carts that have a racecar in the front – can’t wait to use those when my boys are old enough
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If I was as irate as you, in my ballsy old age, I think I might say something to these other ladies:) I promise when I am someday shopping with one of my kids, I will never steal the double cart!