What is it with kids and shops that turns the cutest of angels into little horrors?! I’ll be there doing the weekly shop in Tesco or Asda or wherever, when the 8 year old decides he wants to skid down the entire length of the aisle on his knees and generally be a pain in the bum the entire way round, while the 4 year old in the trolley is gleefully swinging his legs and kicking you where it hurts.
“Can we have this? Can we have that?!” “Yuk, don’t like that!” is all you seem to hear from them. Then when you finally get to the checkout, there’s all the sweets at pushchair and trolley level so it’s the first thing they see, and are also within grabbing hold of reach!
Yes, it’s a great marketing ploy, but it’s also a bloody annoying one as it taps right into pester power. (I’m not one for giving in though, I’m hard and tell them no, you’re not having them. 
) Still, it’s a cheek.
So, to keep my sanity, they need occupying.
The 8 year old gets duties -
- he’s Chief weigher of fruit and vegetables as he likes sticking things on the scales and seeing how much they weigh.
- They’re also both armed with a shopping list and have to read off an item in turn and then we go and find it.
If they’re kept occupied, they don’t do your head in as much.
You know the best way to shop though? Get them in bed, fast asleep, crack open a bottle of wine and do all your Christmas shopping/ grocery shopping online from the comfort of your own wine bottle, lit fire, and living room. God bless the internet.
Argh, your telling me it doesn’t get better as they get older?! Mine are 16 months and 3 and the only way I get through it is by feeding them constantly! But I assumed by the time my youngest was about 3/4 it would become a fun family trip out……hmmmm.
sorry Kelly, but no, it doesn’t. But, strategically managed it can be achieved. I remain in the same ‘god bless the internet’ camp – kids asleep, order online – and then get the groceries delivered when no other ‘helpers’ are around to assess (eat) the purchases
Um, hate to break it to you, but no, they get WORSE lol!
Sorry, but mine are 7 and 9, and I *still* can’t bear the thought of taking them shopping. To add insult to injury, they are worse now than when they were toddlers and could be fobbed off with “fun” jobs like putting apples in bags. Now I just get one of those ‘raised eyebrow’ looks if I suggest such diversions. Then they start banging their bottoms into one another instead.
Lol, they sound like mine, but instead of bottom bashing, it’s usually bashing each other about the head with the shopping!