Shopping with Twins

Hey, all you stores out there. I have a short list of demands. I know that we, parents of multiples, are in the minority, but there are plenty of parents out there who have two or more young children, and I'm sure they would benefit from this too. Even though I do take the girls to the grocery store or Wal-Mart or Target on a regular basis, it doesn't mean it's particularly a walk in the park to get any shopping done. A few tweaks would make my life a little easier.

1. Have hand-held shopping baskets available. Yeah, I'm talking to you Wal-Mart. The last time I was there alone with the girls, I had to use one of your reusable shopping bags to do my shopping because, in your gargantuan store, you didn't have one hand basket available. That's just plain bad service.

2. While we're at it, all hand baskets should have one handle. SuperTarget is the only store that has nice large hand baskets with one handle that goes across the long side of the basket. This one handle fits quite nicely over the handle on the girls' Snap n' Go stroller. At other stores, I had to carry the stupid basket on my arm (ow!). I finally purchased some handy dandy stroller hooks, but it would still be easier to have the one handle.

3. Have more double carts available. There are plenty of parents with multiple children. Why do most big box stores have carts with room for only one child? Costco and (again) SuperTarget are the only places I've seen an abundance of double-seat carts. Oh, and I promise that if I need a double cart, and I see you--parent of singleton--with it, I will politely ask you to hand it over.

4. Offer to help me. Publix is excellent about this. Not once have I had to request help to the car or help getting items into my cart or onto the counter at checkout. Wal-Mart and Target? Not so much. Oh, and at small stores that don't have automatic doors, if you see a woman pushing a double stroller struggling to get through your front door, how about you come and give her a hand? Thanks, woman working at Once Upon a Child.

5. Ring up my purchases while you're staring at my children. Other parents would know that getting in and getting out of a store as quickly as possible is ideal. Do not hold me up at the end of my shopping experience because you just "have to get a look at those little ones." I'm so happy that you think my girls are adorable and sweet and all that, but can you do it while you work? Don't come around the register when we're done either because you're not only holding me up, you're holding up the people in line behind me.