As we all know, from time to time we all have parent fails. Sometimes they happen in the privacy of our own home but sometimes they happen in public.
A few weeks ago I experienced this in Sainsbury’s.
It was a Monday and I had just dropped Grace off at Gymnastics. We needed dog food, so with the three boys in tow, I decided to make a trip to Sainsbury’s. I was also thinking of buying a little treat for desert.
I take the children shopping all the time. I do full supermarket food shops or walk around a shopping centre and they are normally always very well behaved (of course they get bored sometimes). They don’t moan and generally stay close to the trolley so I never for a second foresaw a problem.
So out the car we jumped, up the escalator we walked (I walked, they ran) and to the trolleys we went. Well for some unknown reason to me, double trolleys are like gold dust and you just can never find them ever. You have the baby seat and normal seat but never the two big boy seats together anymore.
As Elijah was a little tired I put Seth in the proper chair and put Elijah in the shopping part of the trolley. I don’t really ever do this as I normally need the room for the shopping, but with it just being a quick shop, I never saw a problem with this.
Reuben was walking along holding the trolley so we went to the chilled isle to get a yummy pudding (Trifle). While I was looking in the chiller for some reason that I’m guessing we will never ever know, Reuben decided to climb up on to the side of the trolley. Elijah that was sat inside decided to stand up and try to prise Reuben’s hands off the side of the trolley and lent over and pushed him.
Well as you can guess, all the weight on the one side of the trolley it toppled over.
Have you ever had one of those moments when it feels like you are stood there in shock for minutes when in actual fact its seconds but you have a million thoughts fly through your head?
Well this was one of them. My initial thought was what the hell was that almighty crash. When I turned and saw all three boys on the floor, the trolley on top of Reuben and Elijah still in it. Seth had slid out from the chair and was on the floor. I wanted to shout “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” but the screams from them stopped me in my tracks, and sheer panic set in. I thought Reuben’s legs were going to be broke or Seth’s shoulder dislocated.
I really didn’t know who to grab first, so I picked Seth up then tried to pull the trolley off Reuben but as Elijah was still in there, it was too heavy. Thankfully a member of staff ran over and helped me lift the trolley off Reuben and thankfully he was fine. He was really scared and embarrassed but nothing was broken. All three boys were screaming, and it felt like every person in Sainsbury’s had stopped and were staring at us.
The member of staff asked if I needed a cold compress, but I had no idea. I still hadn’t got Elijah out of the trolley. I placed Seth down as he seemed fine thankfully and then lifted Elijah (still screaming) out. He was fine as well. No marks or broken bones. We all just felt sick to the stomach and shaky.
I thanked the member of staff and she went on her way. Reuben was devastated as he realised it was his fault and how bad it could have been. He also realised that I wasn’t shouting at him so he just crumpled and cried in my arms with the other two boys.
About 3 minutes had probably past but it had felt like so much longer. Looking back I really shouldn’t of put Elijah in the trolley and maybe explaining the laws of gravity to Reuben might of helped.
These things can and do happen and I’m sure I am not the first person to have a trolley incident in a supermarket, but I did feel like I had failed a little as a parent on this day.
All was fine after a few minutes and you will be pleased to know we bought Trifles and dog food so we got done what was needed. Reuben has never climbed on a trolley since and I’m pretty sure, he will never climb on one ever again.