Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Troll_Bait]

Whenever I go shopping at E-Mart/Carrefour/etc. I always see kids standing up in shopping carts or climbing in or out of them. I'm always horrified, thinking that someone's going to have an ugly fall. Back in Canada, it's always been emphasized that children should remain seated in the carts at all times.

Children's heads are, proportional to the rest of their bodies, much larger and heavier. If they fall out, hitting the ground head-first is a virtual certainty. And given that their heads are softer, and that the distance from the top of a shopping cart to the ground is quite a tumble for a child, I figure that if a kid were to fall out of a shopping cart, that it would be at least severe brain damage, and outright death is highly probable.

But then I've started thinking: Realistically, what are the chances that a kid could fall out of a shopping cart?

Are we in North America too paranoid?
Or ...
Are Koreans too careless?
Or something in the middle?

[laogaiguk]

[tzechuk]

It is a realistic concern that both my husband and I have. We don't let Letty stand in the cart... she has to stay seated or she is out. She knows this and is pretty good at keeping herself seated - or she comes out and walks.

Do you think that Korean parents are really that aware of danger? My feeling is that they aren't. If they were, more parents would have carseats and not drive with their kids on their laps!

[Corporal]

If you stay right beside or behind the cart, it's no problem. Lots of parents tend to park their kid somewhere and then wander off to go feel the apples, though. Just today I saw a young toddler who had slid out of his stroller while his mom had wandered off. His head was caught between the seat of the stroller and the bar. If he'd had the belt around his waist, it wouldn't have happened. Then again, maybe he managed to get the buckle undone by himself.

For older toddlers, those car-shaped carts are actually safer/more practical because they have the kid sitting right near the ground. Funny thing is, those have belts in them (like strollers) while the traditional, more dangerous carts don't.

[Jeonnam Jinx]

Have you ever seen mothers use baby seats to place them in the shopping carts here?

I am still surprised when I see the mothers carrying children on their backs. You think it'd be common-place by now, but I just seem to think the kids are going to fall out every time I see it, and I cringe inside.

One day, I watched a woman bend over, place the baby on her back and slowly and methodically take her time wrapping the material (shawl? blanket? baby carrying thing? What is it called?) around her back while the baby just stayed fix on her back. To me, it looked like the child could fall at any second, but within a minute, the kid was happily wrapped up.

It doesn't look like the babies have much neck or back support while they're being carried around like that, but I guess the women have been doing it that way here (and for all I know, in many other countries, for centuries), so who am I to question it?

Still looks dangerous and uncomfortable to me, though. If I was carrying my baby, I'd want him or her safely in my arms... but that may be just me. But, I have no babies, so what do I know? Has anyone with children here done that?

[rednblack]

I saw it happen last Sunday at Wal-Mart. Older sister pushing the trolley, younger brother decides to stand up and the trolley, groceries, and boy went over. Quite a classic.

[Homer]

Actually carrying the baby on the back is pretty safe. Have you actually looked how the baby is secured to the mothers back?

Personally I pefered a stroller but my wife often prefered to have our son on her back when we went for walks or to the store. He never fell out or was in any danger of falling out either.

As for the cart issue...our son sits in the cart and he does not stand up (he is not allowed).

[JongnoGuru]

Jin-hwan didn't mind attending Contortionist Hagwon too much.



It was getting there that was a b*tch.



You'll need the Jaws of Life� to extract him, but at least he won't fall out.

[Swiss James]

It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye eh?

[riverboy]

That's Hilarious!!!!!!!!!

I just take the time to tell my son to sit down. No spills yet, but with his energy and enthuisasim, I'm sure he will takew a tumbel in the future. If he gets overly rambunctious, I just put him in the cart itself. That seems to solve everything.

[Juregen]

[Troll_Bait]

[ilovebdt]

[periwinkle]

He looks like a rag doll! That's hilarious. You should enter that in the Korea photo contest, guru~ ^^

[Barking Mad Lord Snapcase]