A mother has shared her experience of encountering a “new fear” while shopping at Target with her toddler.
During her visit to the store, Emily McMaugh’s two-year-old daughter accidentally trapped her fingers in the holes of a shopping cart.
Accompanied by her two daughters, one of whom is nearly three years old, Emily had gone to the grocery store for some shopping.
The trip had passed without incident until it was time to leave.
Suddenly, Emily’s daughter told her mom that she was stuck.
Emily tried everything to free the hand, including Vaseline, even asking Target employees to help.
But when it became clear they couldn’t help, she was forced to call the fire department.
Emily, who shared her experience on TikTok, described how it took around 25 minutes to free her daughter’s hand.
She posted a series of pictures of Target employees and fire workers gathered around the cart.
Emily described how her daughter had stayed calm throughout until the very end.
“The only part where she started freaking out is when the paramedics had to actually cut the cart,” she told People.
“At that point she started screaming and the fire department showed up, everyone was looking.”
Emily ended up having to call her husband to meet her at Target as she couldn’t deal with the “stress” on her own.
The mom-of-two had to keep both children calm while the crisis unfolded.
“She doesn’t speak in full sentences yet, so I’m sure it hurt but she couldn’t really tell me what she was feeling,” Emily said.
Emily also praised the Target employees who did their best to help, even giving her daughter a “cake pop” to calm her down.
Their accident team also followed up with her later to make sure her daughter was alright.
But she still wants Target to change the formatting of their carts so this doesn’t happen to other children.
“It’s a new fear unlocked,” she admitted.
She said she had shared her experience on TikTok to raise awareness.
Normally she goes to Target with her husband so they both can keep an eye on the children.
Target did not respond to requests from The U.S. Sun for comment.
