AIBU to wonder why a whole family of four have to do the supermarket shop together

[marriedinwhite]

Now I may be unreasonable but why is that mum, dad, and two small children have to go to the supermarket together. None of them seem to enjoy it; the children get in the way and bicker, the adults just seem to bicker and be irritated. This especially seems to be the case on Saturdays and Sundays. Why do people do this? Wouldn't it make more sense for one parent to do the shopping and the other to take the children to the park, for a walk or just chill out at home with them round the tv. It just doesn't seem to be a very effective way to use family time.

[thestringcheeseincident]

god I agree, it's awful enough without the added enjoyment of children bickering and running around mad.

[TheOriginalFAB]

Maybe because they all want to chose what they are going to eat. Maybe that is the only time they have together all week.

YABU.

[hocuspontas]

The cook doesn't drive.

[Rocky12]

I agree 100%, it seems to be seen as an afternoon out, have to say it is rife in Asda, Waitrose dont seem to have this issue so much!

[Dogsby]

OH MY GOD I AM WITH YOU
and when i retire i wont fucking take h to push the trolley around waitrose

either HE goes or I go

[Hulababy]

Not something I would chose to do personally, although I have been to the supermarket with both DH and DD in tow on a weekend. Not for a big shop though, just for a few bits for that day/weekend. TBH though they drive me potty when I am trying to whizz round so I send them to the wine department or to sit in the cafe whilst I sort it, much quicker, by myself!

[Alikersh]

YANBU. This is exactly why we don't do the family shop together - in fact I do it online as much as possible! The one & only time we took our eldest to the supermarket he was a nightmare, we ended up having an almighty row in the shop & had to carry out a wailing child kicking & screaming under Dh's arm...
lesson learnt there & then. 10 years and another child on & family shopping trips are still a no-no in this house!

[bruxeur]

Some people have sad, boring lives, and this may be the highlight. Try to feel sorrow, not anger.

ommmmmmmm

[baguettecut]

The amount of bickering couples I hear in Waitrose isn't even funny, all over 50s. That said though, people can do whatever the feck they like, they can take the whole extended family for all I care.

[worldgonecrazy]

We love going shopping as a family. DD pushes the trolley, DH wonders off to look at beer and CDs and we plan the family meals for the week. I think my DH is one of the few men who actually enjoys going to the supermarket. Our weekends together are precious so we do everything we can together as a family.

[Esta3GG]

Erm ... because they want to go to the supermarket together?
Why does 'family time' have to be "effectively" utilised?
Sounds like a bloody military manouevre.

YABU

[5GoMadOnAZ650]

Yabu, perhaps because the mum doesn't drive, perhaps because they want to spend time together, perhaps because they were on the way home from somewhere, Either way does it really matter when and how other people choose to shop?

[LilyBolero]

Maybe both parents need to buy some shoes/clothes, which they have to try on, and to save on petrol they combine it with a food shop.

[tabulahrasa]

DP enjoys it, odd man that he is, if I need to go shopping he gets all upset if I won't let him go too, which of course means taking the kids.

[LilyBolero]

Or perhaps they need to do passport photos for the whole family.

[marriedinwhite]

I can understand the driving thing - but our big sainsburys is a five minute walk from a huge park one way and a shopping centre the other. I do not understand why the driver can't take the dc to the park or to Waterstones/WHS, etc., while the shopper shops.

[MrsCampbellBlack]

YANBU

It is my idea of hell.

[mumblechum1]

It is annoying when they block up the aisles, esp in Asda where they tend to be twice the national average size

The only time we go together is when we're on holiday and even then after half an hour of DH umming and ahing about which brand of ketchup to buy I tend to go and sit in the cafe.

[thisfantasticvoyage]

YANBU. The fuckers clog the supermarkets up. Asda us is worst on a weekend - it's full of pointless, miserable looking couples and their ugly sprogs.

[TattyDevine]

I'm with you, sort of, in that it seems ridiculous when one adult could just go and leave the other with the children, etc etc.

That said we occasionally do it - not a full weekly shop, we do that online, but for instance last weekend we decided to have a barbecue and therefore needed to pick up a few bits.

We'd been somewhere else beforehand (some other errand - looking at TV's I think, which we both needed to be there for) and dropped in on the way home. We could have gone home and then one of us gone back out, but that would be doubling back on ourselves, and if nothing else it extended the "outing" on what was otherwise a pretty quiet day for them.

So that's how it comes about for us when once in a while we happen to do it.

But generally YANBU, when they all seem miserable you do wonder why they don't just do it separately...

[TabithaTwitchet]

Maybe neither of them drive and they need 2 adults to carry everything. That is why we do it.