to not understand why some families treat a trip to the supermarket as a - miserable - family outing?

[IvaNighSpare]

How many of you take the whole family with you when you do the weekly shop?
To me, that would be the seventh level of hell.
I don't quite get why everyone has to tag along, DH and kids, when the shopping needs doing. Whenever I hit the supermarket, it's always populated by huddles of family groups - bored hubbies, fidgety kids and irritable mums.
All of whom would obviously much rather be somewhere else.
I definitely prefer to fly solo, leaving DH to look after the DCs while I zip in and zip out, unfettered by sulky requests for sweets and toys and futile attempts to fill my trolley with crap (and that's just DH).
Alternately, DH can mooch down the aisles whilst I mumsnet lookn after the children.
Thoughts please....

Fudge because apparently it's the norm. The whole 'kids should be seen and not heard' thing from the 1920s I believe. To be fair I don't think OP meant it in that way. I want to know where the fuck people keep finding these old threads?!

Oops didn't mean to resurrect a dead thread. It was in the 'Active' list, it really was!!

Williaminajetfighter it's okay. It's made me smile. :)

Misspixie, I live in Scotland and in the the store near where we are (asda) they have a creche which is fab. Costs me three pound for the hour whereas if I took ds round with me it would cost triple that with the crap he would want and be an hour of stress

So DP wants his veg and fruit and likes to paw them before he chooses. I want the nice washing capsules, not the green ones, unless they're on offer, or the lavender blossomy ones if they don't have the other sort.

We take our beautiful babies because we like to show them off and the toddler loves the lady on till 4, she's so nice.

He also likes to name (loudly) all the items on the shelves, i believe its really good for his vocabulary. And eat the cheese samples on the deli counter.

Supermarkets are public places, like buses and shopping malls and aeroplanes. People are the public. Really doesn't go further than that.

We nearly always go as a family. We all need to eat and so I think it is important that the children participate. We try to make it interesting by involving them in choosing some things, but bottom line is that they are members of the family and not exempt from the dull bits of family life! On the plus side, they are now really good at identifying what we need to buy to make certain family favourites and have a reasonable understanding of the cost of feeding a family.

I agree - I'd rather trust DH to do a shop or him trust me to do it, even if we make slightly different choices. I've rarely done a supermarket shop with the DC - though DH doesn't mind taking them along so they've had some shopping experience.

good point ohclutter! ,. I'm sure we used to have something similar Many moons ago but May be mistaken. I know there's no such thing here now though. UriGellar hits the nail on the head. It's a public place. Now if they were in Fortnum & Masons you might have had only a teeny bit of a valid point but I don't think the local Sainsburys customers would get all worked up and refuse to come back because their perusal of veg was spoiled by a chatty toddler and his mum and dad being indecisive over the avocado.

For those taking offence because they don't have anyone to leave their children with - when I was in that position myself I still couldn't understand why families chose to go to the supermarket en masse. In fact you have all the more reason to be by it if you don't have the choice.

Williaminajetfighter it looks like someone has had their posts deleted, which seems to reactivate the threads they posted on - hence yes, it probably did appear in Active Convos.

We go together because I've not passed my test yet.

I always go on my own

We go en familie sometimes when we fancy a splurge. Dh is much better than I at filling the trolley with treats, nice things. If I'm doing a boring shop/normal shop, I do it online or go by myself .

I really don't understand why you'd want to go as a family if you don't have to and I have read the posts explaining why and still don't get it.

I don't usually care, but the mother who decided it was a good idea to let their child play a harmonica to keep them occupied in Sainsburys ...argh!

I agree with everyone who said they should go occasionally. Like I said, I nannied for the family who never took the DC anywhere, except kid friendly restaurants or the park, etc, and when I had to take them to run errands they were a nightmare because they had no concept of public behavior.

Kids will not die from being bored every now and then.

Halfspam. A child playing a harmonica? Relax

Halfspam . Cheerfulyank I've often made that point too.

Don't care why it got resurrected - the Pyrex family made me smile!

I couldn't agree more yanbu!!

I bumped into a friend once on a Saturday in the middle of the supermarket. Normally I never go on a sat but it was a one off I Hate the Supermarket! I was on my own and my friend had brought her entire family and after saying hello to them I asked what they were ALL doing there and friend replied that they always go on a sat together, then her dh and kids all chimed in that they hated it so I said so would my dh/kids...

Turns out he (her dh) controls the money/bank account and friend has no access to, he has to go to pay and I get the impression he also makes sure she does not overspend/watches what she buys etc.

Ok, I'll bite.

My housemate/best friend takes me shopping when he's doing his shopping too. I can only go with someone who knows how to deal with my illnesses. I don't have anyone to leave my children with, so they come too.

Have had bad experiences with online shopping so while I have an alternative I'll take it.

Not sure why I'd need to justify any of that to anyone, though.

williaminajetfighter, it was a question, not having a go, I was genuinely curious as to why you had ressurected it (you hadn't) and how you had found it (active list).

Oooo I love these ones, we are every mumsnetters worst nightmare in the supermarket!

We rarely go as I online shop but now and again we fancy a trip to the shop, so we go, all 5 of us. We let the dc ride in one trolley, we race up and down empty isles, we eat as we go and save packaging to pay at end, we smile at each other - this seems to annoy other people most of all. We don't care. We aren't hurting anyone else so we carry on.

I don't eat grapes though.

when my kids were small there was no online shopping so they had to come with us, my husband was never grumpy he is not a kid we needed food so we went for food ,

DP only comes with me if we shop when en route to or from another activity. Which is a good thing as he will add crap to the trolley.

DS is nearly 10, but there is no way I'd leave him at home to be looked after by his older sister, who at 13.6 I can leave at home on her own for a while under strict rules.

But generally, I shop on the way home from work, it is on my route so no hassle. I can't see why I need to fork out for delivery charges when it doesn't cost me anything to make a stop on my homeward journey.

When the kids are off school we all end up going to the supermarket. I can't drive, DH can. Kids too young to be left alone. I could give DH a list but, he always decides to substitute the brands we normally get for shit different ones. He's done it that many times it really is easier to all go rather then him go alone. Usually do in school time when the kids are at school.

As for online shopping, I used online shopping for years with no complaints. Until they decided to take 2 payments from my account for the shopping on numerous occasions. Leaving me with no money whatsoever. It's easier to do a big shop with kids in tow than have to pay £200 for a £100 shop and then wait 2 weeks to get the £100 back! I will never use online supermarket shopping again after having it happen to more than 5 times in the last 6 months, from Asda, Tesco and Sainsburys.