Eating in the supermarket

whymummy sorry not me
Kids call me a old witch but not dragon.
anyway been shopping all day
very conscious of all the grapes.

Edgarcat. Actually, I feel a bit mean poking fun at my sis now. She's a sweetie and just so old-fashioned that it wouldn't occur to her not to have a peg pinnie. BTW, do you really have a cat called Edgar?

I would like to point out that we are often talking about feeding small children who don't understand what waiting for you to pay for food entails. I think that it is more important when they are small to feed them as long as you intend to pay.

I mean it wasn't much more that 100 years ago when children where criminally punnished for stealing food when they were starving.

On a personal note, my great grandmother was a prominent land owner in Thailand when it was still classed as a third world country. She would take the majority of the crops and often leave her farmers to starve. If they were caught theiving they had their hands cut off.

Obviously if your child if old enough to understand what theft is and how to control their hunger than learning to wait is a valuable lesson.

On another note, if you kill someone accidentally without intent it is usually regarded as manslaughter, if there is intent then it is murder. Either way someone kills someone else. But we offer understanding in the first instance because of the intent. Perhaps it is equally important to teach children of a certain age that intent is an important thing, and that there are many grey areas in questions of morality and law. As long as you always pay at the end, so the child understands that there is always a price to pay I think that they can still understand the lesson that some people here think is paramount.

OK ENOUGH SANCTIMONY, here's the definition:

steal (TAKE AWAY) verb [I][T] stole, stolen

-to take something without the permission or knowledge of the owner and keep it:

Does that clear it up?????possibly not!

I shop at Safeway, where you used to be able to weigh (and bar code) your fruit yourself, as well as at the check out. Whenever I tried doing that, the check out girl would still insist on weighing the grapes again - despite the fact that the reason I had done it myself was so to ensure that the grapes that ds had had on the way around were taken into account. At that time he was grape mad!

They've now taken away that facility of pre-weighing, but fortunately he has gone off grapes -now into raisins, which I can, if necessary, give him from a bar coded back.

I've also had to learn to get TWO bags of crisps - one for him to eat and the other for the girl to scan (reduces tantrums while he try to tak ethe bag off him to be scanned!)

He's also that wee bit older that I can explain to him that he can't have if we've not paid - I'm not sure how much a one year old would understand of that!

But the real thing I've learnt is to leave him at home with dh while I go and do the shopping on my own!

I think I saw something on TV once about this, and it is actually OK to eat in a supermarket from a legal point of view, as long as you intend to pay. It was someone making a point by going round eating as much as he could in a supermarket, and they cant stop you until you leave the shop, because until you take the products out of the store you've not 'stolen' them. SO as long as you intend to pay it is OK. I think.

That is actually a good way of looking at it, Bobbins.
Still won't do it though!!!

I don't see it as stealing. It's more of a loan and the supermarkets get paid back with interest, beacause parents can manage to stay longer in there, therefore spending more money.

pie

But surely eating something you haven't yet paid for is stealing. The question is whether or not you think it is a big deal.

In my opinion it ins't that much of a big deal - I am in no way bothered by people who do it. However, although my personal choice is not to give my DD anything that hasn't been paid for.

I can't BELIEEEEEEEEEEVE people think that it's stealing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to stop now before I say something that'll really offend all you people out there that would have me arrested for letting my son have grape whilst walking around the supermarket that my dp works in where I spent £160 yesterday. Hmmm.

Get a grip.

ROFL

I would like to point out that with the tit in the mouth method payment may not reach you until you are 70 an incontinent, but alas some children will run off without paying.

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Re peg bags. Don't any of you possess a flowery pinafore with a pocket for pegs on the front??? My sister does!!

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pie - lol

Wouldn't dream of letting my ds snack on his grapes without paying for them. It doesn't matter that Sainsbury's or whoever is a big firm; other customers end up subsidising those who steal and it's not a very good message to give your child - that it's OK to steal.
(ducks under brick bats etc. )

Just come back from the shoe shop....ds tried on shoes and wore them to the till!!!! Before I'd paid for them!!! (Don't mean to be facetious, just I'd been reading the thread and it just occurred to me in the shop).

Obviously if your child is too young to understand the concept of stealing they are probably the right age for a tit in the mouth. Those trolleys are just about the right height and you'll find that most of the male staff are only too happy to help you pack the shopping.

I've really enjoyed this thread too, thanks Tallulah for starting it. We have another snacker but go to a supermarket where there is always something interesting to try on offer at the entrance, and where you are offered a taste of anything from the deli if you are not sure of your choice. We do stick to pre-packed, because I'm a fruit-washer too, and because I don't want people to think we are taking anything it's problematic to pay for, and in two and a half years of weekly shopping I have never forgotten to stump up our 24p for our individual triangle of Camembert. It's ds' little treat for being pretty good and helpful round the supermarket, helping us choose salads, veg and deli items. Considering we spend in excess of 400 times that amount weekly, I don't feel at all uneasy about this and clearly neither do the shop management.

Sed, you are not alone in your opinion. I'm not sure I share your passion in the subject - I think it is between the individual and their conscience. However, I don't give my DD food I haven't paid for as I believe it is stealing and therefore setting a bad example.

This thread is hilarious, it's funny what people can get worked up about...
For the record, I'm with the "rather a snack than a tantrum" brigade here. Always something that's got a barcode, mind, and I always pay for it.
Also agree with slug re: baskets (I don't drive either and I know what you mean...)
I've tried internet shopping but got fed up with the stupid substitutions (especially when I specified NO substitutions)
Finally, clothe pegs: I use a little rattan basket, is that posh or not?

I have just come from shoppung trip with Ds 16 months.He snacked on Cheese String while we were there. I did consider that giving him this might teach him that he can eat anything in the supermarket he likes but i think by the time he is old enough to understand the concept of stealing he will also understand the concept of paying for things.
By the way , i am from Australia, it is considered perfectly natural to try fruit such as grapes or cherries before you buy them.

This thread is too funny. DS (15 months) gets a snack going round the supermarket if he's creating, but is usually too busy trying to nick things from passing shelves. He does invariably kick off when we get to the till though, so then those nice people have to help us pack & have even offered to help us down to the carpark. His favourite is cherry tomatoes - the pre-priced packs of course

Sed - I think you are WAAAAAY overreacting here. As I said - my dp works in one of these Supermarkets and the staff DONT MIND!!!! And if they don't mind then who are we talking about here??? Am I to assume that we don't do it just in case it offends another mother who has very different 'morals' regarding this???

Just exactly who are we trying not to upset?

sed do you pay for your meals in a restaurant BEFORE eating them??????

that's not theft