You have to maneuver your cart through the traffic of other people—their problems, phobias, opinions, fears, dreams, temperments…need I go on?

Since this is a blog about the life of a family of shopping carts, let me expound (for your enjoyment, hopefully) on how the Cartlin Carts are taught to play well with others.

Don’t Park Your Cart Sideways in an Aisle

Haven’t we all ran across that cart?

The one blocking our path down the aisle with their “my-issues-take-precedence-over-your-issues-so-pay-attention-to-my-needs-first” disposition.

Caring only about their circumstances, they are unable to see another cart’s perspective and how their actions block others from traveling down the aisle.

After all, their issues are very important and need your attention now!

Can you believe the nerve of those carts?!

Ahem…(cough)…Time to be Honest with Ourselves.

Haven’t we all been that cart once or twice (gulp…maybe even more times?), blocking someone else’s lane with our “my-issues-take-precedence-blah-blah-blah…” stuff?

Knowing this is a problem all carts face, Grampa took the time to teach Jack and the family that blocking someone’s way because we feel our needs are more important than theirs is an act of (yikes!) selfishness.

So stay in your own lane as much as possible, and when you need some help—ASK!

Remember—No one likes a selfish cart.

Keep Moving or Your Wheels Will Rust

It is perfectly alright for a cart to take its time shopping.

Go ahead—stroll down the aisles, look up and down, read labels, compare items. These are the actions that produce a healthy grown-up cart.

Making good choices, planning your route down the rows, saving the frozen items until the end to put in your basket is all part of learning life’s navigation process.

So enjoy it!

But Keep Your Wheels Moving

Stopping too long to examine a particular item will eat up valuable shopping minutes that you can’t get back.

Lingering over whether to buy the sprinkle-covered crawler or the double-dipped cookie is fine—for a few moments.

But the longer you stay parked in one spot, the harder the choice you face may get.

So if you’re not sure, keep moving.

But maybe it’s not a choice that has your cart stopped.

Maybe it’s a memory from the past that keeps your wheels stuck from moving forward, frozen in a moment you can’t get back.

All Carts Experience Rust in One Form or Another

Carts can feel frozen at times with the choices they face or have made in the past.

Don’t get stuck. Take action to remove the rust from your wheels.

Take a step back to move forward—look at the choice from a different viewpoint.

Or brainstorm options to find potential solutions—expand your thinking to find a new solution.

Moving forward to clear your mind, stepping back to see the bigger picture—these are actions that allow your cart to take a breathe.

Remember—carts get rusty when they don’t keep moving.

If You Overload Your Cart, You Can’t Move Smooth

All carts want to believe they can carry 30 watermelons, 15 cases of soda, AND the ever-popular bulk brand of toilet paper to the check-out line without breaking the carton of eggs that got added to the pile at the very last minute.

Easy peasy!

(Really?)

Overloading our shopping trip seems plausible at the time.

After all, it’s just adding twelve eggs!

And we don’t want other carts to think we are under-achievers—slackers who complain about tiny breakfast foods!

So we take on more and more into our cart until our capacity for more is gone, leaving us with broken wheels and bent-out-of-shape baskets.

STOP THE OVERLOAD!

Many carts live overloaded lives. As a result, their lives are no longer in good shape, and their health and relationships suffer.

This is no way for a cart to live!

Don’t fill up your cart to the capacity—leave room to breathe and experience the shopping trip.

Get rest, pray, and make time for quality relationships with other carts.

And never put 30 watermelons in your cart at one time! It won’t end well.

Resources

7 Strategies I’m Using To Become Less Selfish & More Selfless

10 Strategies to Keep Moving Forward When Feeling Stuck

Six Ways to Stop the Overload in Your Life Today

And no, this story didn’t originate in a faraway galaxy.

And no, there weren’t any rebel forces to battle or a hidden starbase to destroy.

This simple story began as all stories begin—from the act of finding joy in an ordinary action that, in turn, brings joy back to you when you acknowledge that action.

The joy—

Seeing the world through the eyes of a child sitting in a shopping cart—knowing that the reaching and dreaming and hoping for what was just out of its grasp was the beginning steps of a growing and curious mind.

The action—

Recognizing that the reaching and dreaming and hoping for what was just out of grasp is a life-long journey of discovery to be nurtured and encouraged and supported in any way I can.

From that, three decades ago, The Cartlin Carts story was born—inspired by my own “carts” and the experiences that sprang from our trips to the supermarket.

Grocery Shopping with a Toddler

My oldest cart, barely a toddler at the time, was my exuberant shopping buddy.

She loved sitting in the cart’s front seat, holding our shopping list tightly in her tiny hands while swinging her legs and feet to her own crazy rhythm.

As I filled the basket with our groceries, one particular item on the list kept my little cart occupied for three whole aisles worth of concentrated shopping time!

She would clutch that yellow box tightly to her chest and trace her tiny finger over the hundreds of O’s pictured on the front—allowing me a few minutes of uninterrupted peace to finish my shopping.

Happiness Comes in Many Different Shapes

But true joy came when we turned the corner into the BAKERY department!

I would pick out the freshest French bread loaf I could find and watch as my little cart’s beloved yellow box was quickly tossed aside (usually onto the floor), waiting to be replaced by a handful of the soft, warm bread.

I would tear off the end of the loaf while her tiny fingers strained to grab the piece from me.

She would gnaw and gum and work her baby teeth over every part of the bread until the entire piece was wet with slobber—all the while her crazy cart dance growing more and more lively from her seat.

The joy on her face danced up to her eyes as she looked at me—wet French bread hanging out of her mouth, and her shirt covered in drool and crumbs.

An Idea was Born

I was blessed to have many more moments like that with my baby girl cart.

Five years later, we made even more memories when my baby boy cart was born.

Thousands of shopping trips later, an idea was born—inspired by the antics of their childhood whimsy and play.

Take a Moment.

Think back and remember…

When you were a child, didn’t you desperately want all those magical items high on the shelf and out of reach to find their way into your basket?

I sure did!

Or maybe you were a runner, zipping around the corners as your dad tried to corral your energy and buckle you into the cart seat?

Did you spend long moments scanning every magazine on the shelf, searching for a coloring book?

Or maybe you were a tween, looking for the new MAD Magazine?

(I am guilty of many MAD Magazine moments.)

The Cartlin Carts

The memories of my carts’ antics were the inspiration for The Cartlin Carts. My own frantic and hilarious shopping experiences have inspired me to create Jack and his cart family. To have Jack live out those experiences once again for the child in you and me.

But most importantly, Jack and the Cartlin Carts are for every child who ever sat in a shopping cart seat and wondered what it would be like if their shopping cart could talk.

Come along with us and find out!

Resources

13 Ways to Encourage Curiosity in Children That Most Parents Ignore

Why Curiosity is the Most Important Skill to Teach Your Child