Hoo-Hah: Honor of the month

I thought I had seen everything, but when I went to a local supermarket, I saw this:

Out in the parking lot, a young couple was apparently pushing their two young children’s toy car with their shopping cart.

I thought to myself, “Man, they had better be careful with those kids; if they stop suddenly, the kids’ car will keep rolling out into traffic.”

I just shook my head and went inside the supermarket to shop with the few meager dollars I have left of my last paycheck.

I told someone inside the store what I had seen, and they said, “Oh, yeah, I saw them, too. They’re right around the corner in the next aisle.”

Sure enough, there was a lady with a kid inside the car, and she was pushing the kid’s car along as she did her shopping, but …

This wasn’t the same lady. And this wasn’t the same couple. And there was only one kid. It was somebody else pushing what I thought was the same car.

Immediately, I grasped the gravity of the situation: Either this lady had stolen the couple’s kids, or the couple had abandoned them, or something strange was going on.

Something strange WAS going on. I looked at the back of the kid’s car and saw it was screwed into the shopping cart itself, and the wheels in the front of the car were exactly like the grocery cart’s. In fact the wheels, when viewed from the side, weren’t rolling at all because they were fake.

Then it struck me: The supermarkets have finally figured out how to keep kids entertained while mommy and daddy shop.

As the beer commercial says, “BRILLIANT,” I thought.

When I got home, I surfed the Web, and found out that a kids’ cart of a different kind is all the rage in New Zealand (see photo below), and is finding its way to the United States.

I didn’t see anything other than plastic inside the supermarket “car,” but I found out that the New Zealand model is equipped with a small LCD television that can play Barney, Bob the Builder or The Wiggles for the kiddos while the parents shop.

I don’t know about you, but I think this qualifies for the Hoo-Hah of the Month honors for its ingenuity, and is a visual demonstration of the supermarkets’ concern for the safety of our children — and last, but not least, there’s finally a way of keeping the kids away from the shelves while parents make their way to the check-out counter.

What I didn’t notice, however — in either the local or the New Zealand car — is if there were any seat belts or air bags installed.

Next: A Jarring Solution