golfer – I agree with you and Oomis but I am not understanding how this set up isn’t safe. It is much safer than perching a car seat on top of a bar on a cart facing 4 feet of nothingness. I must be visualizing something very different than you are. “
Golfer, thank you very much for your very kind words in the other post. And yes, I am Ema to my kids.
SYAG: of COURSE you don’t put the car seat across the top! It can ONLY fit inside the wagon (which is what I did at times, with my child’s snowsuit unzipped,the hat and mittens off, and facing me, so the baby could see me, if he or she was awake. But they never went into the front raised seat part until they were old enough to sit upright without sliding sideways. I also brought along a safety harness when I went shopping, to strap them in securely, once they did sit up front. All it takes is ONE SECOND for a child to maneuver the body enough to fall out, while the mom is chatting with a friend, ro reading a food label.
I tried very hard to avoid having to go shopping with my babies altogether. That is not avoidable for many parents, so it really is best if they either go together and one carries (or strolls with) or stays in the car with the baby, or stays home while the other parent shops. I didn’t drive for a long time, so my husband and I went together, and he took the baby in the stroller or I used the Snugli carrier.
I understand how hard it is, but I see dumb things being done all the time by parents. I’ve seen babies in their strollers left alone outside a store, 18 month old infants walking alone blocks from their home, because no one was watching them, kids allowed to stand up in the backseat of the moving family car (this was before the car seat and seatbelt laws were in effect), parents feeding 2 year olds hot dogs and popcorn or whole grapes. You get the picture. Parents do a lot of foolish and sometimes potentially deadly things with their babies. And nebbich, sometimes the babies pay the price for their parents’ actions. I daven for Hashem to protect ALL children from the consequences of such careless and reckless behavior.