Taking kids to the grocery store can be a pain for any family: kids grab unhealthy things, throw them in the basket, and pout when they don’t get what they want. But for parents with special needs children, it’s a whole other level of difficult. The shopping carts can’t seat their children when they grow too big, so they either have to hire a babysitter and leave them at home to run the simplest of errands, or bring them along and juggle the task of both pushing a wheelchair and a shopping cart. That’s changing, though, thanks to an Alabama mother who invented a new device that makes it easy for families to bring their special needs kids along.
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Called Caroline’s Cart, the device was invented for her daughter, who has special needs and quickly outgrew the regular shopping carts that stores carry. It features a large seat that is accessible using rotating handles on the back of the cart, and a harness that holds kids securely. Just last week, a chain of 19 grocery stores in Wisconsin, the Festival Foods chain, made the carts available in its stores. It’s the second chain in the U.S. to do so, after a one in South Bend, Indiana.
“Every business decision we make is based on the question, ‘Will it bring the customer back?’” Festival Foods President & CEO Mark Skogen told WKBT News8000. “We believe that providing these carts for our guests who need them was the right thing to do.”