When it comes to my kids, I have changed my stance over the last few years. I used to sanitize everything. Carrying around WetOnes, wiping the table, never letting them eat anything off the floor or a dirty table. My husband claims that germs will strengthen their immune system. Who knows. When going to the grocery store, I had a shopping cart cover. I didn't get the fancy Floppy Seat or Boppy Seat, I think we settled on the Eddie Bauer one from Target. Worked okay... didn't fit all shopping carts.. but it worked sort of how I needed it to work. I think we used it maybe 4 times. It was just more work to remember to bring it with you, hold the child with one hand, then put the seat on, put the kid in and go. I must say that the expensive ones do look pretty cool. If I had to do it again and if I know what I know now, I guess I would have passed on this product.
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about the FLOPPY SEAT. She is a mom of three and said, "You know... I have one but we returned it. I never used it. Now when I see other moms in the store with little babies in the FLOPPY seat, I think "Good for you Mom, Good for you for using it because I just can't be bothered with it". That's kind of how I feel. It's probably a great product, but for me, its more trouble than its worth!!!
I shop at the grocery store usually after school drop off weekday mornings or Saturdays when I can sneak away. Our grocery store is always packed with older people who love making comments about my kids. I try NEVER to take my kids to grocery store but sometimes it's unavoidable. I have the kids who are trying to crawl out of the cart and asking for balloons. If I have BOTH of them with me, God help me because sometimes I want to cry because I don't think I'm going to get out of there alive. One time at Trader Joe's... my kids actually FLIPPED the cart. I told them to sit down, but they didn't listen and they actually flipped it. Talk about embarrassing. I used to love going grocery shopping with just one kid in the infant carrier. They would just sit there and I would give them a bottle. It was nice. They didn't move and didn't talk back and rarely did they cry because I planned out their bottles and feeding times in advance. Then they had to come out of the carrier which made it harder. I remember when I had only my second child with me and she literally was CHEWING on the handlebar of the cart. I had already wiped it down (like I still do) but a lady came up to me and said "Ma'am, do you realize your kid is chewing on the cart???"... I just stopped and said "Yep, I know. Thanks". She looked at me like I was insane. I wasn't insane, I was just a tired mom who wanted to get through the store without a meltdown. It really was either that or have her scream. I chose the lesser of two evils. I know there are tons of gross things on that bar, but really.... I have to pick my battles and this was definitely not going to be one of them.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, as time goes by and your kids get older you get a little more lackadaisical when it come to germs. You don't freak if they drop something and pick it back up. You don't hose them down with Lysol when they go play with other kids or go to the gym Kidcare. You realize that they will live. It's kind of like letting your kid jump on the furniture knowing full well that they are going to fall off. You know that something is going to happen but it's not going to hurt them that much. They just have to learn. It will be okay.
As for me, I'm going to skip the shopping cart cover this time, but if you have the patience and time and drive to use it, go ahead! I have a good friend who uses one because it has a shoulder harness on it and she needs that because her son actually wiggled out of the shopping cart belt and flipped out of the cart and landed on his head. Okay, that would probably get me to use it. My plan in life is just to never take my kids shopping at a grocery store again! I like it better that way.
Happy Baby Thoughts :)
R
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