Getting multiple small children in and out of the car

[Nosy]

What's your strategy? I think about this often when I'm out at the grocery. I have a toddler and an infant. Usually the toddler rides in the shopping cart and the baby rides in the sling. Usually I try to park next to a space with shopping carts, get the shopping cart, put the toddler in, then go around to the other side and put the baby in the sling. Then when I get back to the car, I put the baby in the car, then put toddler in the car. Sometimes I put the toddler in on his side and let him work on climbing in while I strap the baby in.

Am I the only one who thinks about the best way to do this stuff? I used to religiously put up the shopping carts, but now I leave them stranded so I don't have to leave my DC in the car while I put the carts up. I can't leave DS1 in the parking lot behind me while strapping DS2 in because DS1 won't stay still. I don't like to wrestle DS1 into the shopping cart when I've already got DS2 in the sling. I'm just wondering if there's an easier way. Modern life and car seats just don't seem conducive to the care of small children sometimes.

[Red Sonja]

I put DD in the MT or sling then get DS out and walk into the store. After I unload the bags into the car I return the cart and then let DS climb up into the car, shut his door and strap DD into her carseat while DS climbs up into his seat, then strap him in and go.

A "good" parking place used to be one near the door, now it's one near the cart return!

[~member~]

I get the baby out first and then the toddler. We have car carts at our store, so both girls can sit together in the car and 'drive' while I shop.

When it's time to leave, I put the children in the car and lock the doors. I figure I'd rather someone stole my groceries than my child.

[LittleYellow]

I can't go shopping without a strategy.....

This is what I do:

1. Park next to cart return - even if it's far away.
2. Look for cart with a seatbelt that isn't broken.
3. Put one dd on my back in the ergo. The ergo is key, because I can't imagine managing getting one out of a carseat without the other one on my back. I suppose this might work with a back carry on the sling, but I am seriously sling impaired.
4. Get other dd out of car and put in cart. If no cart was available then carry her on my hip to the store.
5. Shop and when I return to the car since we are by the cart return, I don't have to worry about leaving dds. If happen to not be near a cart return then I will abandon it in whatever way seems safe. I'm not leaving dd's in the car where I can't get to them immediately.

The coat on/off thing is makeing this whole plan a little stickier now. I'm thinking of fashioning some kind of big shawl to go over me and dd on my back and one to go over my cart rider so we don't have to take off coats when we get in the store then attempt to put them on again.

I know some moms of twins say they pull a stroller and push a cart, but that sound so seriously difficult. Also, what if you don't have room on either side of your car for a stroller? That means one child is going to sit in the stroller behind the car while you put the other in the car. That terrifies me. So glad I have an ergo.

My favorite strategy: Go shopping when dh is home. So rare though.

[famousmockngbrd]

My kids are a little older, but this has worked for a while - DD rides in the seat part of the cart while DS rides in the basket. If the basket starts to fill up he gets out and rides on the front.

Usually I open DS's door then put DD in her carseat while DS gets in his. Then I go back around and buckle him in. This works for us because his carseat is on the driver's side of the car.

[AmyG]

My boys are 2 and 3, but they're 19 months apart, so there was a time when grocery shopping was pretty challenging.

I have a thing about always returning my cart. To me, not doing so is dangerous. I was driving through a parking lot once when I was in college and saw a run-away cart almost run over a family consisting of a grandmother, mom, and young toddler, and it convinced me to never leave my cart out. If I felt like I just could not handle it, I would shop somewhere that they carry your groceries out.

When mine were really little and I carried the baby in a sling, I left them both where they were as I unloaded the groceries in my trunk, and then we all went to the cart return. I lifted my older son out of the basket while the baby was still in the sling. It wasn't easy, but it's just a second. When my little one got to be about 6 months old, he didn't want to shop in the sling any more, so I started getting those carts with the trucks attached. I put my older DS in the truck, and my baby went in the basket part of the cart. When I returned the cart to the cart return, I'd get the older one out of the truck and then tell him to touch something green. (Our store had green trucks on the shopping carts.) He'd stand still and touch the cart, while I'd get the baby out of the basket.

[wednesday]

I push the cart to the car, unload my groceries, then push the cart back to the store or return, THEN take DS out and carry him back to the car. It took me a while to figure out that was the best way to get the cart back but not leave DS alone in the car (which I didn't like to do).

I only have one child so it's easier, but can you carry the littler one and hold the hand of the older one? Another thing I do with DS (age 3) if my hands are full carrying something is I ask him to hold on to me. Like hang on to my shirt tail or my belt loop or whatever. But he has always been the kind of kid to stick close and not run off, so it really depends on your kid.

[Mama Poot]

: I havent mustered up the guts to go anywhere with my 14mo and my 3mo without my husband....... Logistics are scary......

[Terabith]

My kids are 18 months and almost 3 now, so it's a lot easier (in some ways), but when they were younger, I always got the baby out first, put her in the sling, and then got the toddler out and either carried or held her hand till we got to the cart. I tried to park by cart return, too.