I mentioned recently that we don't have access to the iPhone in Montana. In Livingston, we've been denied On Demand cable even though seemingly everywhere else in the whole United States gets it. But I’ve come to accept that we’re a small market, and small markets don’t get to be early-adopters with a lot of new technology. Sometimes I curse it, and other times—as happened when I started reading about new, “kid-friendly” shopping carts with televisions inside—I am thrilled to death to be out of the loop.
TV Karts™ —designed by a New Zealand firm—are described on the manufacturer’s site thusly:
Everyone knows parents of pre-school children have limited time and energy, let alone face what many have come to regard as a necessary evil—grocery shopping. Here is where Cabco comes to the rescue with TV Kart™, which helps parents and caregivers to have a relaxed shopping experience while their children enjoy the magic and fun of 'driving' their TV Kart™ and watching their favorite TV programs—without leaving their parents' side.
Even ignoring the truly awkward construction in that first sentence, there are already more things wrong with this idea than I care to count. And I haven’t even told you the most irritating part. The TV Kart™? It costs a dollar each time you want to use it. That means, in addition to dropping a hundred bucks at the checkout counter with the stuff in the basket, you also get to pay for the basket! But hey, it comes with free Child Zombification Unit, so maybe it’s worth it!
And about that TV… I’m not going to rail against parents who let their kids watch TV, since I am one. Granted, we're strict about it, but Connery is no stranger to “Johnny and the Sprites” and the “Backyardigans”. He likes to watch the occasional half hour, and I like to keep up on such luxurious forms of hygiene as showering. I don’t think it hurts him, but I also don’t delude myself that he’s “learning” anything beyond how to sit still for more than five minutes at a time. Besides, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time at all for kids under two, and these carts are being marketed straight to that demographic.
Is there nowhere we can now escape television? It’s not that I relish going to the grocery store with a bored preschooler—it can be very stressful, in fact—but I wouldn’t want to have him zoned out and unwilling to interact with other kids, with adults, and most of all with me. How else is he going to learn about the proper way to behave in public, not to mention how to read labels to make good food choices, avoid slickly marketed junk food and make sure I don’t forget his favorite jam?
I can hear people out there sniffing that if I don’t like them, I shouldn’t use them. True enough. But have you ever tried to explain logically to a child in the grocery store that he just can’t get into that perfectly beautiful cart with its steering wheel, truck-like appearance and magical blue screen? Even without the lure of the tube, my son has to be convinced that grocery shopping is indeed possible without the assistance of one of those “kiddy” carts shaped like cars that are available locally.
According to A Little Pregnant, the shopping baskets are being test-marketed in discount retailers in major cities across the nation. It’s just another reason I’m not always sad that Old Montany is not yet one of those “major cities.” I’ll trade the iPhone for that.