# That little red thing children pull **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 19, 2024, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457 "2024-07-19T11:04:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e495f1/32.png) [@Jemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jemma)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/1 "2024-07-19T11:04:18Z")
I can’t remember the name of that thing with the handle that children pull behind them. Like, one child can sit in the red thing and be pulled by another child. Or when a girl scout is selling cookies and they pile all the cookie boxes into the red thing. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/2 "2024-07-19T11:05:51Z")
A wagon (Radio Flyer appears to be the classic brand that provides the little red version) ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/3 "2024-07-19T11:11:28Z")
When I was a wee sprat last millennium, my cousin got a Radio Flyer for his birthday. When I got to see his new wagon, I was quite disappointed in the complete lack of a sound system or wings… ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/4 "2024-07-19T11:17:51Z")
Truck? Trolley? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/5 "2024-07-19T11:19:15Z")
Unfortunately, you can’t ride my little red wagon. I brought it into the shop and he says the front wheel’s broken and the axle’s draggin. Once it’s fixed, we can go a-Chugga, a-Chugga, a-Chugga Chugga Chugga! ---
**Author:** ![Jemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e495f1/32.png) [@Jemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jemma)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/6 "2024-07-19T11:22:51Z")
Thanks guys ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/7 "2024-07-19T11:56:41Z")
> [@Jemma](#): > > Like, one child can sit in the red thing and be pulled by another child. Or when a girl scout is selling cookies and they pile all the cookie boxes into the red thing. well, yeah, I s’pose you could use your wagon to pull a friend or a bunch of cookie boxes … But the real purpose of the wagon was for filling up with sand from your sandbox in the back yard. You were supposed to use a beach-pail and (dustpan-sized) shovel to fill up buckets of sand from the sandbox, then dump it into the wagon. Then you pulled the wagon to the far end of the back yard, and then filled up the pail again to empty the sand out between the bushes. What, you didn’t know that? You should be ashamed of yourself! 🙂 Cite: I know this is the true reason wagons exist and I know I was using it correctly, because my parents let me live till age 8. (when we moved and the wagon disappeared from my life.) ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/8 "2024-07-19T12:09:08Z")
Upon reading the title my first thought was [“My Ding-A Ling”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiCSSIEUukk). But then I read the desription and see that its something else. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/9 "2024-07-19T12:13:29Z")
My dad had one of these wagons as his main toy / play vehicle when we was a kid in the 1930s, he would ride it as a scooter, with one knee in and the other foot running on the ground, steering awkwardly. So he was really happy to give me one in the 1970s, and then was disappointed that I didn’t use it much. I had all these other toys and a pedal car and a tricycle and a bicycle with training wheels, I just didn’t see the interest. Eventually the main use of the wagon was to move stuff, especially to move the dog house twice a year between its “summer” location and its 'winter" location. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/10 "2024-07-19T12:22:20Z")
Those things should have had a warning label: “Does not enable radio to fly.” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/11 "2024-07-19T14:01:40Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > A wagon > > (Radio Flyer appears to be the classic brand that provides the little red version) Indeed. Here’s a picture: [![](https://www.radioflyer.com/cdn/shop/products/classic-red-wagon-lifestyle-model-18_1_2.jpg) ](https://www.radioflyer.com/cdn/shop/products/classic-red-wagon-lifestyle-model-18_1_2.jpg) The phrase “little red wagon” is common enough that (as I found with a Google search) it is the name of a [song](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Red_Wagon_(song)) and of a [film](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1614430/) and of at least one daycare. [![](https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/AIAjtv43KJANVn-2RmcQbQ/o.jpg) ](https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/AIAjtv43KJANVn-2RmcQbQ/o.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/12 "2024-07-19T14:20:49Z")
I use the one my great-grandfather got for doing …something, I forgot the story…that I use as a table. It is wooden, and I had a piece of glass made that sits on the rails. Under the glass I display antique tools. Planers and things like that. On the glass sit my oil lamps and trinkets from family history. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/13 "2024-07-19T14:21:36Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > But the real purpose of the wagon was for filling up with sand from your sandbox in the back yard. I thought the purpose was to all pile into the thing at the top of a huge hill and careen perilously down into the side of the building at the bottom of the hill at bone-shattering speed. And then for the survivors to haul the (apparently indestructible) wagon back to the top of the hill to do it all again. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/14 "2024-07-19T14:25:08Z")
Anyone else think this was a thread about puberty? ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/15 "2024-07-19T14:25:23Z")
Ah, yes - the joys of a feral childhood. Careening down a hill in a vehicle with no brakes and limited steering. It’s a wonder any of us survived until adulthood. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/16 "2024-07-19T14:27:45Z")
I shied away from that thought as quickly as I could. Reflexive self-censoring can be handy sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/17 "2024-07-19T14:28:44Z")
Lot of kids had these. Major use during Cub Scout newspaper collecting. Not sure how this managed to raise money. The old rich guy up the street left several years of the Wall St. Journal stacked up on his porch that I had to take home on my Little Red Wagon. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/18 "2024-07-19T14:35:01Z")
I restored a Lil’ Red Wagon back in the early 80’s. It was a mid 1950’s model. The only difference was I painted it with red lacquer paint. I gave it to my niece for her daughters to use around 2000. She still has the wagon and it still looks good. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/19 "2024-07-19T14:56:38Z")
“Prepatory”? _\*eyebleed\*_ ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457/20 "2024-07-19T15:10:48Z")
Little Red Wagon by Georgia White, recorded 1936: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Upl7bnsL3Tk/hqdefault.jpg "GEORGIA WHITE sings LITTLE RED WAGON on DECCA 7287 in 1936") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Upl7bnsL3Tk) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-little-red-thing-children-pull/1004457.md?page=2)