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Original poster

What’s the deal with whole families going shopping together?

259 replies

Enfys1982 · 05/08/2023 17:12

Is it just me who find this really odd and slightly codependent? My mum hated us coming shopping with her as I think she partly enjoyed the peace quiet and we’d get under her feet. As would my Dad! Even now she won’t take him shopping with her. Yesterday in Sainsburys I was struck by how many families there were doing their shopping together. Both parents and kids. I saw one family with a mum dad and three kids plus a baby in a buggy, and another with parents kids and even grandparents. A few weeks ago I was in Primark and there was a family of four shopping together, mum wanted to buy something and instead of the dad and kids waiting they all went through the tills together. I mean surely they didn’t all need to do that?

Is this a new thing?

OP posts:
Tracker1234 · 05/08/2023 18:13

Having been to A and E recently it’s not only the supermarket where it’s ’bring the whole family’. I did complain to the nurse because some people were sitting on the floor. She said it’s cultural and they need to tread carefully and wasn’t going to be able to mention it!

I have never been shopping with my husband. He goes or I go. I often hear women don’t trust men even with a list. Just why??

Noicant · 05/08/2023 18:13

Very rarely DH and I do the school run together, it’s usually a day off, we barely get a chance to speak to each other so having ten minutes in the car without a small kid screaming at us enables us to actually have a chat.

HappiDaze · 05/08/2023 18:14

It's an actual day out for these families though

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Families
GalileoHumpkins · 05/08/2023 18:14

Honestly, supermarkets should put up signs that only people on their own will be allowed in, anyone trying to enter as an 'extra' should be put in a pen and picked up on the way out.

bellac11 · 05/08/2023 18:14

I cant bear it, I find it really odd. Clogging up the aisle and standing there dithering over products all huddled over an area all together blocking my access.

Bloody nuisance.

Gatehouse77 · 05/08/2023 18:14

Frankly, at any point I have found someone from one or other demographic a pain in the arse in the supermarket.

HaddawayAndShite · 05/08/2023 18:15

JoeLovesGina · 05/08/2023 18:07

It's a bit sad when you have to take your children shopping to keep them entertained!

It’s a bit sad for an adult to judge what children find entertaining tbh but here you are.

I don’t drive. DP does. We both hate the food shop. Our toddler fucking loves it so we go together so we don’t have to do it alone, kid gets to have fun doing the scan and shop, everyone’s a winner. Except the soup faced gimps who have a problem with families spending time together.

Arniesleftleg · 05/08/2023 18:18

Wintercomesoon · 05/08/2023 17:41

Some families (like my own ) love planning a meal together while in the supermarket and then cooking together. I’m confused that you’re so confused 😄

@Wintercomesoon Same here. Today for instance, we all (4) went shopping for suitcases. We then went for a KFC so I don't need to cook tonight. Sometimes I'll drag the kids supermarket shopping so they can pick up some bits they like and sometimes I drag my hubby. He always feels in the way but sometimes it's the only time we get alone 🤣.

Covidiokilledtheradiostar · 05/08/2023 18:18

I prefer shopping alone but sometimes we go as a family because

  1. DH drives and I don’t so if we have a massive shop I need him
  2. my DS is 11 and is learning to cook like I did so he’s taken an interest in the shopping / budgeting
  3. my DD bloody loved it. She does the scanning gun
  4. my autistic DS loves the sensory stimulation he gets from the lights and sounds and it helps him understand routines
HaddawayAndShite · 05/08/2023 18:19

SoRad · 05/08/2023 17:20

My mum works in asda as a home ahop picker and finds it very annoying when the whole family shop. Blocking aisles and kids being annoying

Funny the last shop we did the staff doing the picking for home deliveries were the ones blocking the aisles, ramming into peoples trollies and displaying appalling manners and customer service.

N4ish · 05/08/2023 18:19

Feel very sorry for toddlers strapped into buggies while their parents slowly mooch around a shopping centre. Surely makes much more sense for one parent to bring the child to the park, library, soft play or somewhere else kid focused.

DarkSpark · 05/08/2023 18:22

My granny had mobility issues, she couldn't manage her shopping alone but she also preferred not to have someone do it for her because it was an excuse for her to get out and about. She also liked to push a pram as it gave her enjoyment to spend time with her great grandchildren. Thus, multi generational shopping trips occured. And being elderly she was even a bit slow getting round.
If people find this weird,

BeautifulWar · 05/08/2023 18:22

This irritates the hell out of me in supermarkets, but not other types of shops. Supermarkets are busy enough places without excess people hanging around, blocking aisles, kids pestering and running about.

I'm sure there are well behaved families but the eye is drawn to the nuisances.

MrsMarzetti · 05/08/2023 18:23

I made all of the children and my husband do the big shop. Why the hell should it have been left to just one person after all we all ate the food. It is a chore that has to be done and the children need to learn that.

OprahWinfery · 05/08/2023 18:23

We tend to go shopping when we’ve been out somewhere and on our way back home, so I wouldn’t leave the kids and dh in a car in the supermarket car park 💩

Berlinlover · 05/08/2023 18:24

I work on a supermarket checkout, it only annoys me if the children are badly behaved.

PonkyPonky · 05/08/2023 18:24

It’s annoying as shit! I was trying to do my food shop yesterday while a family of 4 were relentlessly in the way of everything I needed whilst very very slowly taking the time to bargain with their children over every single choice! So and so got to pick the cereal so that means so and so can pick the ice cream…. Cue pointing out each and every ice cream option in the freezer and explaining what each one was whilst simultaneously explaining to the other child over and over again why it wasn’t their turn to choose. Just fuck off and let one adult do the shop!!

Prinnny · 05/08/2023 18:25

Yep it’s weird. I was bra shopping the other week and there was a woman with her toddler screaming in a buggy being assisted by her mum, dad, and grandad all browsing and suggesting which lingerie she should buy 🤮🤮

TheBitterBoy · 05/08/2023 18:26

My mum didn't drive, so when we were small we all went together. As soon as we were old enough to be left, mum and dad would go without us. Personally I'm much happier shopping on my own.

BeautifulWar · 05/08/2023 18:27

Except the soup faced gimps who have a problem with families spending time together.

I have no idea what a 'soup faced gimp' is but I don't think it sounds like the sort of shop children should be in, anyhow.

DarkSpark · 05/08/2023 18:28

Posted too soon.
If people find this weird, baffling, annoying, sad, abusive (?!) or any of the other descriptions listed on this thread they need to give their head a wobble.
I don't believe for a second people are so unfamiliar with the concept of shopping as a leisure activity. What a stupid thing to have such strong feelings about.
As for it irritating staff, you work in retail you deal with customers, sometimes my clients bring a family member with them for support or transport. Sometimes it's because they're on the way to or from somewhere else around their appointment, maybe they just want company, it's their choice and unless the accompanying person is rude or abusive to me I don't care.

Gladtoblasto · 05/08/2023 18:29

Sometimes with little time in modern life it's something to do that means we are actually spending time together. It's can be fun for kids too.

AgathaSpencerGregson · 05/08/2023 18:29

Blimey. I thought I was an intolerant bag until I read this thread. It’s perfectly harmless for families to shop together - at worst a mild inconvenience.
My DD used to love coming to the supermarket- I have happy memories of her charming the staff behind the deli counter into giving her free samples

ichundich · 05/08/2023 18:31

And how do you know they're not on the way back from somewhere / day out as a whole family? The shops are there for everyone to use, and I don't see a difference to two or three friends shopping together tbh.

OprahWinfery · 05/08/2023 18:32

I agree. We do it all together and the kids choose a lot of the items which helps in meal planning anyway and ds and dh love cooking too so decide what they want when they see it, puts it in the basket. Why can’t they learn this life skill or do they have to wait until they get a wife who goes and does the shopping alone?
Sounds like OP wants to bring back the 1950s