Mall & Shopping Safety Part 2

Shopping Cart Safety

It is estimated that about 21,600 children end up in the hospital each year after they've fallen -- or even leaped -- from shopping carts, according to the National Safe Kids Campaign. Children 5 years old and younger, particularly boys, are especially at risk. Shopping cart injuries include head and neck trauma, fractures, lacerations and damage to internal organs. Three children have died.

Part of the problem is that shopping carts can tip over easily because the wheel base is narrow. Adding to a cart's instability, children have a hard time sitting still.

Statistics compiled by the National Safe Kids Campaign show that 80 percent of parents leave their children unattended at least once during a shopping trip. The only way to keep children safe is to stay with the cart at all times. Even if you strap your child into the cart seat, he may still manage to tip the cart over. Just wiggling out of the harness or seat belt can quickly unbalance an already unstable load. To keep shopping carts from tipping over:

Place young children in the seat, not the basket.

If the cart comes equipped with a harness, use it. Otherwise, bring your own.

If you've got a child walking alongside you, make sure he does not try to climb inside the cart to join his brother or sister. You might want to pack a second child into a stroller or backpack -- it's cumbersome, but safer.

It's not a good idea to let a child push or steer the cart for you. He may not see or be seen by shoppers and could be struck or run over by other carts. Those miniature carts some stores supply for children to push pose the same problem, so stay close by and make sure your shopper-in-training follows the flow of traffic.