The Safety Of Our Children

So I realize that being a parent isn't easy. There is no magic manual that you can turn to when you need to know what is best for your child. You get advice from people all around you, most of it you just shrug off because hey, lets face it, it's your kid right?

Well there is something going on that I think every parent needs to open up and use their head. It's common sense.

Here's the scenerio:

You are running late to a birthday party and you still need to pick up a gift for the birthday girl. You grab your daughter from daycare and drive to the local store looking for that last minute gift. Now you've taken the time to correctly buckle your child into their car seat because you know that in the event that you get into a car accident, your child has a less chance of injury when buckled correctly.

So you pull into the store parking lot and go into the store with your child in hand. You grab a shopping cart and you pick up your child. NOW PAUSE....here's the question I want you all to ask yourself right now.... where in that shopping cart are you going to place your child?

If you said, "I'm going to put my child in the seat and buckle her in properly because that's what that seat is for", then congratulations!! you pass!! In my opinion you are already doing a great job of parenting, go ahead and pat yourself on the back.

For those of you who answered "I'm going to put her in the bottom part of the basket (the place where the groceries go) and she'll be fine." You are the ones who need to pay attention.

I am a cashier and I've seen that scenerio too many times. Negligent parents failing to use the safety seat which has been provided for them by the store to prevent accidents. Avoidable accidents.

I'm going to tell you just a handful of things that have happened in the last MONTH. I am being completly honest and serious that all these have occured since Jan 1 2010.

The first incident happened just after New Years, a mother and a father who were frequent guests in the store in which I work we coming towards our self-check registers. Their 1 year old son was standing in the bottom part of the basket. As they got closer to the register the young boy reached forward trying to grab something on the belt. He toppled out of the cart and landed head first on the floor bounced on his back before actually stopping. What did the mother do...she picked him up and started bouncing him hard. At this point I had called for help from my management, however the parents left the store without waiting for an ambulance.

Was this a serious thing? YES, it was extremely serious. And honestly I don't know if that child is even still alive today. I haven't seen the parents or him in the store since this incident occurred.

The second incident happened just a few days later. I was working the other self-check lanes and a father was paying at a register next to the self-checks. He had his maybe 1 year old son in the cart behind him and wasn't paying attention to him at all. I watched as the child lifted one of his legs out of the basket and tried to push himself over the edge, at this point I ran to the register and got there just in time to catch him before he hit the ground.

Was this an avoidable situation? YES, if the father had properly buckled the child into the safety seat it would have avioded him being able to get out, and also he should have been paying more attention to his son rather than to talking to the cashier.

The third incident I would like to share with you could have been a terrible, horrific scene. It was about a week and a half after the second incident and I was standing at a regular register. I had finished with my customer and had looked behind me to see a mother and father pull up in the line next to mine. The father took off and the mother immediately turned her attention to the magazine stand leaving her TWO children (approx age 2 & 5) in the shopping cart behind her. At first they were sitting there quietly, but then the candy caught their eye, and they both started reaching for candy that was out of their reach. I watched in horror as the cart started to flip, and I yelled "WATCH THE CART" and I ran over just in time to catch the cart as it was falling (with the two children inside) into the rack of candy. As soon as I stopped the cart the younger boy was still falling forward ready to go out of the cart and I grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him back in. When the father came back the mom told him what had happened and his response was "that would have been so cool if they flipped it"....I have never come closer to hitting someone as I did at that moment.

I shouldn't even have to tell you whats wrong with that situation. If you honestly don't know, then do the world a favor and don't have any children.

So what is wrong with parents now-a-days? Is it seriously that hard to take a couple extra minutes to ensure that your child is properly buckled into the safety seat? You take the extra minute for the car seat because of the risk of accident injury...but do you know that a fall from a shopping cart can cause brain injury, spinal injury, they can break a leg or arm, and they can even die. I don't know if it ever crossed anyones mind but the flooring in ANY store is nothing more than concrete with linoleum (maybe carpet). Thats it....it's not feathers, or pillows, or soft cuddly teddy bears....its hard and it can and will injure your child.

Now who is at fault if your child is injured from falling from a shopping cart? Is it the stores fault that you didn't properly restrain your child in the seat? Is it the stores fault that you turned your back on your child and got focused on something more "important"? Or is it the PARENT who is neglegent because they made bad choices from the second they placed their child improperly in the shopping cart?

My answer is that it's definately 100% the parents fault. These kind of injuries are avoidable if you just take the extra two minutes to buckle your child in the seat. And if your child is too large for the basket seat, then stores have those bigger carts which you should be using for your older children.

Under no circumstances should you be endangering your child's life. So please next time you go to the grocery store, take TWO minutes to properly save your child. And save yourself the embarrassment of all the other patrons and employees who will think you are an idiot when you allow your child to get injured.