Pediatricians Want Shopping Carts Redesigned

Doctors seek better shopping cart design - The Associated Press/Seattle Post-Intelligencer.


In my own opinion, aside from the fact that I believe the current popular design of shopping carts is dumb at best. See the IDEO cart as example of what could be better. The question is how safe can we make “things”? I think most people would agree that any object taken out of normal context could be dangerous by one manifest or another. However as is often is case objects have a hidden danger associated with them due to their visual semantics. IE the shopping cart; to a child these wiry chrome baskets on wheels can be easily interpreted as a jungle gym, and no matter what rules they abide by this temptation will always lurk with in these objects as we currently know them. Just look at them hundreds of pint size hand holds, shiny easy to grip tubes erected skyward, and all on WHEELS!!! Carts by there very design a perfect ergonomic fit for eager little climbers.
On the flip side, I ask when do we make “things” to safe? How do we teach our youngsters a critical value of risk and danger, when they are not active participants? I am not suggesting we let our children play as they would on carts. I am only curious as to what sort of generation we are raising when all danger is being removed from their lives. When do we reach the point when all danger is stripped from our children’s lives and they live in indestructible bunkers with soft rubber walls, where they are only allowed to sit and look at the walls for short intervals (because you don’t want any dangerous eye strain)?