aibu to share this genius idea?

[Minisoksmakehardwork]

I was in Tesco today queuing up at customer services with two of our DC. The lady who served me asked if the DC had got their piece of fruit?

She explained that there was a box of fruit on the customer service desk and they encouraged parents to take a piece for their child to eat while they were doing their shopping. She said it was to help stop the badgering from kids so if the box was ever there, then to feel free to let them help themselves. There were bananas, oranges, grapes, apples and pears today so a good variety.

Now I'm not fool enough to think Tesco don't benefit from this - it's fruit they are clearly going to be getting rid of cheap or binning by the end of the day. But still perfectly edible. And would stop people giving their DC fruit or snacks which have to be weighed at the till, so effectively they are stealing produce as you can't weigh what you've already eaten.

But equally, what a lovely idea.

[Madeyemoodysmum]

Nice to see this good idea indeed

[ImperialBlether]

That's a great idea.

[Dollymixtureyumyum]

Agreed but no doubt someone on here will be along in a few minutes and tell us why tesco giving free fruit is the work of the devil

[WilLiAmHerschel]

I think that's a really nice idea.

[EnglishGirlApproximately]

Wait for the anti sugar brigade to show up I think it's great though

[partialderivative]

Oh dear, is it going to be me that gets all miserable and points out that they do not want their kids eating fruit that might have been sucked and dribbled upon by other children with nasty germs

[OhShutUpThomas]

Ours have been doing it for ages, it's great. Just apples and little oranges, occasionally bananas. DC love it and happily walk next to me eating!

[Groovee]

It's been in our store for a while. Good idea.

[Lj8893]

What a good idea, I often have to go and buy a snack for dd before we do the actual shop as she always wants to eat when we go shopping.

I don't shop in Tesco very often but may start more often now!

[ChristmasZombie]

Yep, the big Tesco by me do this. I think it's fab!

[WeAllHaveWings]

Nice idea, but how do you peel and eat an orange or slurp a lovely ripe pear without sticky fingers all over the place. Hope they give out wet wipes and peel and cores aren't left in trolleys. Some fruit is a bit messy for dcs to eat while shopping.

[ample]

It's a great idea, although I would want to wash the fruit before giving it to DD I can't help it, it's just me and my OCD .

[bumbleymummy]

Great idea. :) you could stick to bananas or oranges ample.

[CosyNook]

WeAllHaveWings When mine were younger I always carried wet wipes and tissues anyway, as did most of my mum-friends, so its wouldn't have been a problem.

partialderivative I bet theres more germs on a supermarket trolley handle than the fruit box!

[Minisoksmakehardwork]

They do seem to have gone for minimal mess. Just yellow bananas, raisins in boxes today, apples, pear and orange. I guess it's how you eat them. I can't see that just ripe fruit would be that messy. The overripe, soft stuff, well yes.

Re cleaning up, I always have tissues and wipes and often keep nappy sacks in my handbag (even though youngest are out of nappies). So is wipe up and wrap waste in a tissue then pop to toilet for proper wash if needed on the way out. Either bin waste in there or in bin outside. Although I'm fairly sure since they're offering the service, if I asked they'd bin it for me.

[CallMeExhausted]

My DD has hypoglycaemia (but not diabetes) and I usually carry something for her in case her sugar drops dangerously low.

We were having a difficult day once (had dropped repeatedly) and stopped at the grocery store as we had to buy a few bits for home. She started to drop again, so I grabbed her an orange juice, a packet of cheese and crackers and a banana and headed to the cashier. There were lines at every register, so I went over to customer service to see if I could pay there before I gave the items to my DD (I am admittedly rule driven, and thinking back, I could have presented an empty juice bottle after the fact).

The general manager happened to be at the desk at the time. He gently chided me for being silly about the situation, and assured me no one would haul me off to jail for giving my daughter a banana in what could have become a medical emergency. We have shopped there exclusively since we moved to this city 5 years ago, so he knows us as regulars

I think I will share this idea about free fruit for children with him. They will currently offer a cookie to under 12s from the bakery, but the number of parents I see allowing their children to feast from the produce section... I am sure this might be a way to control that, and help with customer loyalty.

They could even place a donation box beside the fruit basket in case parents want to drop in a couple of coins towards the chain's children's charity