Mother-of-two sparks backlash after revealing why she NEVER returns her shopping cart

A mother-of-two has faced a storm of criticism after revealing she refuses to return her shopping trolley.

Leslie Dobson, a Los Angeles-based psychologist and social media creator with more than 300,000 followers across platforms, posted the divisive post on TikTok on Thursday.

“I’m not returning my cart and you can judge me all you want,” she claimed in a clip that has been viewed nearly 11 million times.

“I don’t get my groceries in the car, I don’t get my kids in the car and leave them in the car to return the cart. So if you give me a dirty look…fuck off.”

As the backlash mounts, Dobson – the mother of a two-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter – has made another video to hit back at her critics.

Leslie Dobson, a Los Angeles-based psychologist and social media creator, took the internet by storm after sharing that she refuses to return shopping carts

The mother of two, pictured with her son, daughter and husband, claimed she feared her children would be kidnapped if she left them alone while she returned her cart.

“It’s May 31 and about six million people are freaking out because I didn’t return my shopping cart because my kids were in the car,” she said in a clip on Instagram.

“So I want to give you some statistics. Last year, 265 children were abducted from parking lots in America. Half of them have been sexually abused.’

Although Dobson does not cite her source, the statistic appears to come from a report by a nonprofit called Kids and Car Safety.

The group claimed they determined the number by “reviewing news stories” and acknowledged that law enforcement does not keep statistics on children abducted in this way, indicating the figure was unreliable.

“As a single mother returning your shopping cart, you are a first for a predator to look at you and grab you,” Dobson continued.

She shares two children with her husband Wesley Cook, a clinical psychologist.

Dobson then gave another excuse: Returning a shopping cart means leaving a car running and empty, which is illegal in some states.

“Many responses said they would turn on the car, let the kids breathe and return the shopping cart,” she said. “Well, in Los Angeles it’s at least a twelve-minute walk to any given parking lot. You could go to jail.”

Dobson, who is married, claimed that single mothers who returned their shopping carts were “the ideal predator to look at you and grab you.”

To bolster her claims of child abduction, she cited unverified statistics from a nonprofit that drew their conclusion by “reviewing news stories.”

California vehicle code does not allow a car to be parked on a highway or public street, largely as a measure to prevent motor vehicle theft.

In SacramentoInstead of Los Angeles, it is a crime to leave the ignition key in an unattended vehicle in a public place, including parking lots.

“There are reports from the Bureau of Justice that say 10 percent of crimes occur in parking lots,” Dobson continued, citing another unverified figure often reused in advertisements for security companies.

‘When you come into a parking lot, you have to look at the lighting. You should be looking at guards. You have to look at how the parking lot is laid out. If it feels safe, return your cart,” she said.

‘If it doesn’t feel safe, trust your gut, trust your intuition and make sure you and your family are safe. It’s not worth the judgment you’ll get.

“There are real lawyers who specialize in parking crimes and they’re suing the grocery stores, and guess what? I’ve been part of those things. So if you want to be ignorant, go ahead.”

Dobson was triggered to give her response after commenters on the original video criticized her apparent laziness and righteousness.

Several users referred to the “shopping cart theory,” which states that the decision to return or abandon a shopping cart is indicative of moral character.

Dobson was lambasted by Internet users who referred to the “shopping cart theory,” which claims that returning a shopping cart is a litmus test of one’s character

“Little things like this show character in a person,” one TikTok user commented. ‘I’m not a parent, but even if it rains or snows I return my cart.’

“There’s a secret third option: you unload the groceries and, together with the kids, you return the cart – and teach them that as a by-product,” another user joked.

One woman wrote that she was a single, disabled mother who relied on the shopping cart to walk, “and still walked with the cart to the corral and hobbled back to my car.”

Yet another user wrote that she always returned her shopping cart, despite balance problems caused by chemotherapy.

Dobson responded to this user and several others with the same comment.

“I want women to feel empowered to trust their intuition when they feel unsafe and ignore judgments,” she wrote.

“Risk isn’t worth it and our lives are precious. I have seen lives destroyed. I hope you never do that.’