California mom almost sent her toddler up a Target cart escalator, and a shopper yelled ‘Don’t do that!’ as she pulled her out

A California mother says she received harsh reactions from both a bystander and a Target employee after she nearly sent her toddler up a cart escalator. She realized her mistake before the cart advanced and took her child out immediately, but the moment left her feeling heavily scrutinized.

Content creator Hayley Larue (@hayley_larue) shared the encounter in a TikTok video, including clips of the incident. While visiting a multi-story Target with her mother and young daughter, Livvy, Larue came across the entrance where shoppers send carts up a separate escalator alongside the passenger escalator.

Having never used one before, Larue says she pushed the cart onto the ramp with her daughter still seated in it. She says she stopped before the cart passed the entry gate, but a customer shouted at her not to proceed, and an arriving employee glared at her while her mother recorded the whole thing.

She rarely shops in-store, and it showed

Larue explained that she rarely visits stores, preferring home delivery or curbside pickup. “So, we get to Target, and at this specific location, you walk in, you can get your cart, and then you can let your cart go up this escalator while you are going up the regular escalator,” she recounted.

“I go to the thing and I put the cart like in the thing that takes the cart up, and Livvy’s still in it,” Larue said. Just as she let go, she realized what she’d done. “I stood there and I was like, ‘Wait, she can’t go in this.’ Like, so I’m about to take—I grab her to take her out, and some lady goes, ‘Don’t do that!’”

The bystander warned her she could face serious trouble, prompting Larue to explain that she was already pulling her daughter out. A store employee arrived in the middle of it, too. “I take Livvy out, and my mom is still filming. And not only that, then a Target employee is walking in as this is happening, and she’s also like, looking at me like I am the most incompetent mom.”

Cart escalators aren’t built for kids

Shopping cart conveyors, often made by the company Vermaport, are found in multi-story stores across the United States. They’re designed to carry carts between floors, not passengers, and the steep incline and enclosed mechanical track pose real crush and fall risks for a child.

Shopping carts are a known hazard for young kids even on flat ground. Injuries tied to shopping carts sent tens of thousands of children younger than five to emergency departments between 2008 and 2012, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Target carts have caused drama in other ways, too, like the shopper who knocked into a child with her cart and then went off on his mom.

The public reprimand Larue faced is a familiar experience for many parents. A national poll from C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital found that nearly two-thirds of mothers of children up to age five say they’ve been criticized for their parenting. Unsolicited advice can sting even when it’s well meant, which is why one Reddit mom’s response to entitled parenting advice struck a chord.

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]