Navigating a car through a packed parking lot is only half the battle for parents going to shop at Target, according to one TikToker—the following challenge: Dealing with the Target shopping cart.
In a TikTok with over 2.4 million views, Daniela (@coldcoffeemombrain) rants about the size of the shopping carts with a kids’ stroller attachment. Daniela is a content creator with over 30,000 followers. She often shares content related to motherhood. She says that trying to maneuver the cart through the store’s aisles rivals the precariousness of the parking lot.
In the clip, Daniela explains that her 1-year-old twins are too big to fit into the standard built-in shopping cart seats, so she decided to try one of Target’s stroller carts for the first time. These special carts have a two-seater stroller attachment in front of a regular-sized shopping cart, which the parent can push.
“I hate this contraption. It’s so big. It’s a literal boat,” she says. “I can’t fit down half the aisles. It takes me 20 minutes to actually pull out of an aisle.”
Daniela says her twins also protested the shopping cart, as it didn’t have a footrest and the seatbelts didn’t work well.
“It’s 2024. Can we get rid of that?” she asks. “Why does Target not have the little carts with the steering wheels?”
Is there a better solution for kids’ carts?
In the comments, viewers rank kids’ shopping carts from other retailers, such as Aldi, Costco, and Sam’s Club, noting that some regular carts come with two built-in seats instead of just one. That way, parents of twins don’t have to drag around a bulky attachment or two regular shopping carts.
“I don’t understand why most stores don’t have double-seat carts,” one said.
“I love the Sam’s double seat carts !!!” another wrote.
“We need Aldi carts everywhere! The double seat is great,” a third added.
Others agreed with Daniela’s nostalgic suggestion to bring back the shopping carts where kids could sit in a faux car at the front of the cart and pretend to drive with steering wheels.
“Remember the old carts they had when we were kids?” a commenter reminisced.
“Why don’t ALL stores have the carts with the steering wheels,” another viewer suggested.
Who needs the stroller attachment?
While many viewers commiserate with Daniela’s experience with the clunky cart, one viewer claimed the stroller attachment may be for parents of kids with disabilities, who must be strapped into the cart to stay safe.
“It’s not for your kids. It’s for kids with developmental disabilities,” the viewer wrote. “You don’t like it because it’s not meant for your normal kids. Do disabled kids not deserve a target cart ride to make life easy?”
In a follow-up video with over 260,000 views, Daniela responded.
“All I was saying is this is a horrible design. The straps are [expletive],” she says. “I don’t know where you were going with this, but that’s not where I was going with it.”
However, others pointed out that the disgruntled commenter is likely referring to a Caroline cart. Caroline carts have larger seats with safety straps for kids with disabilities. The stroller cart that Daniela used is likely for toddlers only.
“Hey I worked at a target and that comment is incorrect. like another comment said they must be thinking about the Caroline cart. the one you showed is for any child,” one claimed.
“I work at a grocery store and we have 3 different kinds of carts like this, the disability one, and two for infants or car seats. they face differently tho,” another chimed in.
Navigating shopping trips with twins
Moms of twins chimed in, offering advice on making it through shopping trips with two toddlers.
“I have put one in the front and one in the buggy back since mine were one! They learn to sit—teach them. Mine are now four, and we still do it every shopping trip,” one mom suggested.
“I was a single mom with two younger kids. I had a travel highchair (the nuby one) that I attached to the inside of the cart and buckled one in the back,” another offered.
“Take your stroller in instead! I do that with both kids because it’s clean, I can buckle them properly, and they are comfortable,” a third said. “If I need a large grocery haul, I just order pickup/delivery.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Daniela via email and Instagram direct message. We also contacted Target for further comment.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
