A mum and her children have been banned from a branch of Tesco because one of her children was eating a sweet in the shop that they had bought from there on an earlier shopping trip.
The mother has refused to set foot in the Tesco again as she was left ‘humiliated.’
In defence of the security guard who asked her to leave though – how is he supposed to automatically know whether the chew bar is one you have or haven’t bought yet?!
Is he supposed to keep track of when and where each and every parent bought that chew bar that their toddler is happily chewing away in the trolley on?
Why do they need to be munching their way round the shop anyway? Surely they’re not that starving hungry that they’re going to waste away before the shopping trip is over?
Where does it end? I get peckish sometimes while doing the weekly supermarket shop. I might just take a blanket and a picnic basket with me next time and pitch up in the middle of one of the aisles and have a little impromptu picnic.
Or grab one of those rotisserie chicken things and scoff it round the shop.
How is that any different to swiping stuff off the shelves and giving it to your children before you’ve paid – it’s exactly the same thing, isn’t it?!
You see it all the time. I’ve seen a parent take a multi pack of crisps off the shelves while shopping, and open it for their child in the middle of the shop and let them munch their way through it in the pushchair.
Maybe it’d be better to occupy the children by letting them help with the shopping via a shopping list and getting them to read it and get the food from the shelves for you.
Either that or the future will be full of adults sat in the middle of Aisle 4 with their fold out chairs….. 
What do you think?!
A box of raisins has saved me many times in the supermarket! (I should clarify that I mean a plastic box filled at home, I would never give my child anything from the shelves before paying for it). Up until the age of about three I relied on some kind of snack. It’s not about the child being hungry, it’s about giving them something to occupy themselves with. Now I do what you suggest with my son and he helps me with the list and collecting food, but it’s only recently that he’s had that level of understanding.
I do agree that an older child like the one in the article doesn’t need a snack to keep going through a supermarket trip though. I think that there has to be more to this story, it does say in the article that she had been talked to before.
Great subject for discussion!
I live in Germany and here your children get fed by the supermarket. A slice of meat at the Deli, bread roll at the bakery, fruit in the produce section – all given willingly and with a smile. Normal service here and makes for a much happier shopping trip all round – that’s of course if they’re not too busy ‘doing’ the shopping using the mini-trollies!
I’ve not heard of that, that’s definitely not normal practice here in the UK! That actually sounds like a really good idea, where it’s the shops initiating it and handing out bits and pieces. Maybe England should adopt that stance too, and that might appease everybody…
The only way I could cope with taking my 3- and 1-year old round a full-on supermarket trip (which always takes an hour, however much I try and rush it) would involve gagging them with snacks! In the past I’ve let them munch on fruit and rice cakes, and paid for it with the rest of my shopping – I thought everyone did that? Didn’t know you could get busted by the security guard for it – nobody has ever complained in my local Tesco! Thank god I do all my shopping online these days – SO much less traumatic!
Online shopping – a surefire sanity saver for parents everywhere!
Oops I always give the twins food going round the shops and sometimes if I run out of things to distract them it is from the shopping. Never thought I would do it but shopping with twin toddlers is hell. I’ve done Internet shopping but I find it harder and more expensive and I still end up running out of things and needing to do a normal shop too.
Even if it’s an older child it’s hard to judge the situation unless you were there. Some older children have challenging behaviour, perhaps it was a strategy to stop them having a tantrum when they didn’t get treats. I don’t have a huge problem with it as long as the goods are paid for.
How do you know what’s been going on before the supermarket shop? We often go to the supermarket at the end of a Saturday morning having been out and about for a while beforehand. 5-y-o hates it, is tired and running out of energy. If a snack will get us through without a meltdown, then I’ll give him a snack. If I’ve forgotten to bring a snack with me, I’ll open a packet of rice cakes or breadsticks. All gets paid for in the end. We do also occasionally get a free sample of something from the deli too – they’ll happily let you taste something if you ask. Or they put broken cakes out on the bakery counter sometimes.
Thanks for your comment, it just goes to show how every individual is different so thanks for your input!
I go to the supermarket with my small ones sometimes on a Saturday morning. I wouldn’t ever think of ripping into something we hadn’t paid for though -it’s not mine, I haven’t paid for it. That’s the way I personally see it, and appreciate others might not feel the same.
Why do they constantly need feeding to be kept quiet though? Are there not other ways to keep them occupied?
Me personally, I don’t rip into bags that I haven’t yet bought. I’d feel weird. With no kids in tow and them safely at home, would you do it as an adult shopping alone as you were hungry? How is it any different? Genuinely interested.
With the 5-y-o it’s not feeding him to keep him quiet, as such. It’s giving him a snack so he has sufficient energy levels to get through the shop without causing mayhem. Seriously, you wouldn’t want to be in an enclosed space with the resulting meltdown. Every child is different and mine needs a mid-morning snack!
Well, feeding my 21mo dd is the only way to stop her throwing herself out of the trolley. Getting her to her? Yes, that would involve chasing after her and replacing all the things she pulled off the shelves and would triple our shopping time. I usually take food with me but if I don’t I have been known to rip into a packet of cheese strings. Would you you rather listen to my child scream around the shop? Have always mentioned it to the cashier and they have always been fine with it.
This is why I shop online. With 3 under 5 it saves my sanity! I have been guilty of giving my boy food just to keep he quiet while i pick up a few bits. I think until they are older internet shopping is for me.
Internet shopping is definitely the way to go – don’t know how people coped before the internet!
I shop online, takes out all the hassle. However, I wish the UK was more like certain other parts of europe where children are treasured and at markets, shops and restaurants they are frequently offered ad hoc food amd drinks. When I took my eldest to Greece when he was 2 i never paid for milk for him when eating out and it was taken as normal that he would share my meal…no rip off kids meal. He was given fresh strawberries for pudding at one place just because the waiter wanted to give them to him. At my local corner shop at home the polish owners nearly always want to give my kids a lolly. Their view of children is different. We can be so uptight at times.