Families shopping together

I've literally never seen that happen (opening packs and not paying for the multipack). I used to let my toddler eat a pack of raisins or apple etc from a multipack whilst shopping and would always pay for the pack.

You're right, that's stealing and completely different to the OPs question.

My 2 year old loves supermarket shopping so yes we often go as a family. It's a really good experience for her and teaches lots of skills. Sometimes she is in the trolley and sometimes she walks- unless she is misbehaving she is allowed to choose, if she walks then she does veer around a bit or suddenly stop but she is learning, if she doesn't do it then she won't learn. She helps me get things and put them in the trolley, yes it takes longer but again she is learning.

Sorry, did someone above actually say that supermarket shopping is a "life skill"? And that they are showing children "where food comes from"?

21st century Britain. Don't it make you proud.

Agree.
They seem to think it's a kind of park bringing their bikes and scooters and riding up and down the aisles and letting their kids just stand in the middle of the aisle so no one can get past with a trolley.

People are so self absorbed and show no consideration for others and the space around them.

I’m ok with families shopping together.

its those parents who don’t control their kids’ running around, ride on microscooters, play with the toys with zero intention of purchasing that get on everyone’s nerves.

Then another peeve are parents who open a multipack of crisps etc, give a pack to their child(ren) then leave the rest on the shelf (or dumped somewhere else) and not paying for the pack. That is theft.

We shop together because

1. we want to and there's no limit.
2. were often on our way back from somewhere so make shopping a side task rather than a main event.
3. our kids enjoy helping to pick and choose.

What's funny, is in my experience, it's the dim-witted individuals who often leave their trolley in the middle of an aisle while browsing, rarely stray kids.

When our children were younger we used to do our supermarket shopping as a family. Supermarkets are a great learning experiences, from money to weights of food, to quantities, to number and letters on signs, to healthy eating etc.

Go late evening or early morning then.

I do code check at work. Lidl do theirs when the store opens. All of the supermarkets have different policies about this. Plus various factors including:
. How much stock we have coming up to date.
. Weather/time of year
. Size of store
. Who is in staff wise

We can only reduce in store bakery bread, cakes and rolls from 3pm and 1pm on Sunday. Had customers shout at us on why we can’t reduce earlier. I showed a customer what happens if try to reduce a pack of rolls before times mentioned. Says something on the lines of “reducing isn’t available for this product yet”. Only head office can change the times. For example when it was thick snow- we could reduce from 1pm in the week

Twice a week we advance lines such as yoghurts, cooked meats, juices, butters, cakes, eggs up to 3 days in advance. Then we reduce stuff the day before to the price advised on handset. But if we have got loads of something and/or not on offer and weather isn’t suitable for the product (bags of salad when it rains, leeks in the hot weather) we reduce them more.

I have been to other stores of my employer and they have different policies

Not every week, but kids SHOULD be in a supermarket. Otherwise how are kids supposed to learn what uncooked meat looks like so they understand farm to plate? My toddler comes to choose sometimes (we usually end up with lots more strawberries and pears than I'd buy normally!) but it's good for her to have some autonomy and choose her food given how little control kids sometimes have. Agree with those saying they teach behaviour and when kids are older than mine, they should be taught to comparison shop and choose affordable meals and appreciate the price of food.

My teens often come with us.

It means I don't have a massive list to remember as they can pick what they want as they are there.

Mine have always come with us even when they were little and love it.

Funnily enough the one who drives now often ends up in Tesco with his mates having a look round

Not all families have 2 parents.

Some people are lone parents and have to take their children. I did. I can leave him at home now he's 16 but not back in the day.

I don’t understand it myself but each to their own. I can do a full shop in 15 mins, stick to the list and budget. And no way I could do that with the family there! I’d rather get it done than do something fun.

Parents shopping with young children in pyjamas late in the evening. Everyone's ratty. Why do this? One parent should put the kids to bed and the other does the shopping. I switched to online shopping to avoid these people.

We always go as a family, I think it is important my dd is involved in picking food out and helping fill the trolley. So many life skills are deteriorating today with young people and I think this helps her with so many of them.
Sure she asks for stuff from the middle aisle but we normally come out unscathed.
I really don't think we are causing any issue to fellow shoppers. If I wanted to shop without large crowds early/late in the day is best, but as you said you love a yellow sticker then that is always going to be peak time. (Kids also good for grabbing a yellow sticker bargain by scooting to the front!)

Sure, the supermarket is not a playground, but it is a public space. Children are people too and they have as much right accessing a supermarket with their families as you do.

I personally like seeing families shopping together.

Op, you are just one person. Just because you are annoyed by families shopping together doesn’t mean everybody else feels the same way.

If it annoys you so much, then do something about it. Find a time that is not usually frequented by families such as night time. Or you could discipline yourself into being able to ignore or shut out anyone or anything that you find annoying.

You don’t have a right to dictate how others choose to shop and with whom they choose to shop with.

We had got into the habit of making chores like this invisible to our children to maximise time with them and do more fun stuff.
Now we take them along occasionally as it's a learning experience from many different perspectives. Is it fun? Not really. But they gain a lot from the experience!

Don’t be daft. You think good well socialised children don’t go in supermarkets? Or do you think the poorly behaved ones are just more noticeable to you? The most chaotic and feral ones leave their kids playing on the streets or home alone to go shopping

Grocery shopping is a life lesson... if children aren't exposed to how we shop and where our food comes from, how will they learn... not something a school can teach.
DS 6 comes along, not every week, but he is great at helping choose, and he knows to check for the best dates on everything!

Maybe you're noticing less less well behaved ones more?
My son was taught how to behave in a supermarket from an early age and was always kind and polite. That said, it's normal for a perfectly decent child to occasionally get upset/sad/frustrated/tired/excited and surely we accept that could potentially happen anywhere.

Totally agree OP. Crazy to take a whole gsng -and as for ‘childten learning to behave whilst in a shop’ no -it’s the most feral and chaotic families that take their kids to run amok.

Another post moaning about how others shop. We're all different. We all prefer to do things in a way that works for us. There's no 'correct' way. Nobody has more right to be there than anyone else.

@Mokel I felt like this in the past, and it's a symptom of being overly stressed. It may be worth taking stock and checking you have your work/life balance right.

The appropriate reaction to finding the supermarket is too busy is to note the time and avoid that time in future, not to be angry with other shoppers.

There's honestly 100s of reasons why families might be shopping together. Live and let live, don't be so miserable it's none of your business