To think that Xmas food shopping isn't a sodding family day out?

I’m going to shops in the morning and taking 2/3 DC with me along with OH. I actually got my big shop delivered this morning so it’s literally to pick up turkey and ham and a few other bits and pieces. They could stay at home with their older sibling but want to come along so not two shits do I give if that bothers other people. They like to pick some treats themselves and we’ll get breakfast while we’re out. I’m not in the UK so maybe we (Irish) are just more chilled about stuff like that but the place will be full of children and it’s all very festive and fun on the morning. Even the days when I shopped alone I was never bothered seeing other children out for the Christmas food shop.

Don’t be so wet OP 🙄 I bet you got in the way of other people too.

Who cares if the children want to come or not? What kind of brat are you raising that you leave them slobbing on the sofa while you are doing all the shop in a hellish supermarket full of other people?

Just back from my annual Waitrose trip.

The performative parenting was off the charts today

Oh and to little Jack who broke 3 tree ornaments in Dobbies, no your not a good boy, and to the adults fawning over him, you are not doing him any favours.

Shout out to all the retail staff this time of year, especially the young man cleaning up Jacks destruction!

You’re completely right. The Christmas shop (as in the big one before the day, not so much the picky bits shop) is a military precision operation. In and out and efficient as possible, my kids would just slow me down.

I assume you weren't a child once OP?

Aldi was nice this morning!

99% of the city forget Aldi has the browsing time on a Sunday so I went at 9.30am as usual
Lots of happy chatty customers and staff, got to the till at 9.50am and was home by 10.15am
By the time the tills opened it looked like complete and utter chaos

YABU. Yes it sucks that the world is overpopulated but I'd love to tell people not to travel.on.planes.so I can disembark faster and to walk to school so the school drop off was easier but it's just part of living with all these other buggers isn't it? Unless you fancy living on a desert island or being a survivalist in the woods.

Poor them. Hardly any time together.
As to rules, Thatcher reformed the Shops Act to allow 24 hour opening and Sunday opening, calling it 'choice'. It's no choice at all for people who work in retail - and someone has to.
I have just checked locally and all the Asda superstores are shut and will not open till tomorrow morning, so not 24 hours on a Sunday round here.

If you read the full thread you will see that many supermarkets in Scotland are open till 11pm.

We used to shop as a family till the teenager decided she wants to have the TV and dog on the sofa for her own while we are struggling to find a parking place.
But it was nice to be somewhere full of Christmas lights, go through the items we wanted to get together, get something extra, sit down for coffee or milkshake, especially as the weather can be miserable outside.

I did what I always do get to the shop at 7.30ish by myself for the fresh stuff. DH does a lot of the booze, cheese, chocolate stuff, earlier in the week, the shelf stable stuff basically.

Where is open after 4 on a Sunday in the UK unless it's a garage shop or a corner shop or a Tesco/Sainsburys convenience store, which are also much more expensive? Aldi, five minutes from me, is shut afaik.

I don't take the whole family but DD loves to come Christmas food shopping with me.
She gets really excited to pick out the foods she likes. Its become a bit of a tradition for her to come with me.

What about feckless Dads that won't look after their own kids so Mum has no choice but to take them all so they actually get fed.

I agree, though there's a high chance of me taking my DS tomorrow if our online delivery is missing anything important! It's probably the last option for many, I don't think the kids enjoy it either, and if they're like mine they'll let their parents know about it

No, she doesn't.

She's clarified this is specifically not about children too young to be home alone.

So that leaves teenagers basically.

Oh OK! I thought Sunday Trading law still applied though! (Can only trade for 6 hours on a Sunday.) I'm in Wales, so things may be different here.

Ha! I’ve just done Sainsbury’s and Asda and thought exactly the same. Passed one of the school mums having a full scale row with her husband and shuffled away quietly before she saw me 😂

Probably someone's already mentioned it, but while it's one thing bringing kids, what's this insanity of providing kiddie trolleys for them to ram into the ankles of the crowds??

I can just about see the appeal at quieter times, but surely they could put the blasted things away when the places are likely to be stuffed with people?

I don’t think the op means 15 year olds. More bratty 6 year olds.

I don’t know because I don’t make the rules.
Some people are happy to do the night shifts as it saves on childcare if their partner is home nights. My sister did night fill in Tesco for 8 years when her DC were young. Her DH was home 6pm - 8am and she got home about 730am, did school run then went to bed for a few hours.

😂

No - never. Most aren’t open 24 hours and some are only open 24 hours because it’s Christmas. But most big stores are open til at least 10pm every day.

Why so late? And why should shop assistants have to work till after ten, anyway?