wondering what all these families do in town centres all the time?

[LadyMilfordHaven]

( well not ALL the time but more often than not)

yup - occasionally you all need to go in for something or you are on your way back from somewhere/on holiday mooching.

but IME the best shopping ( for say school stuff) is one parent BOLTS in ninja style and is in and out.

TOday there are endless family groups with tired hot whingey kids ( understandably).... is this fun?

what a snooty thread!

shopping is a leisure activity surely, it's done during leisure time isn't it.

what do you all do that's more rewarding then, because john lewis on a saturday and ikea seem to be heaving with people who maybe should be out canoeing or something more suited to their middle classness

I dont take my ds to the supermarket weekly to teach him weekly about a supermarket the wickedbitch.I dont think you need to tick a box i wasnt claiming you were depriving your child of an educational outing,touch sensitive about a post that is basically about nothing.
Also can i ask,these families with glum faces.Could they not be popping in just as a one off?you dont know they are doing it for fun.
So are you a better parent as you dont go shopping?are you more exciting?Why do you care so much what other people are doing unless you think you are better than them by what you do?

I used to quite enjoy taking dd shopping around town when she was in a pushchair and would fall asleep for an hour. Now it's smash and grab or online.

SirChenjin - it is a leisure activity in a lot of areas. My sister would no more ride a bike, go walking, go to a museum etc than she would climb mount Everest. But she goes to debenhams every single day.

But there are also times when i needed to pick up something in town (MK hideous shopping mall not naice bookshops) regardless of how nice the day is outside, and wandered round tkmaxx while there.

I think it is the norm for lots of people. Every friday we had a team meeting and had to go round saying what our weekend plans were (morale boosting dontchaknow) and apart from me, everyone would say going shopping. There would be ripples of excitement if someone said a different centre, like Luton . I once said i was going to see an exhibition at the british museum and was openly mocked by my boss to much laughing by colleagues -yep my morale was really boosted that day i can tell you.

I dont class shopping as leisure time but i dont look at people who do like theyre odd.

LOL at the ripple of excitement for Luton

I wouldn't call wandering round an indoor shopping mall a 'leisure activity', no. There are a million and one more interesting things that a family could do than wander about a shopping mall with young kids in tow every Saturday.

perhaps they do that on sundays sir

walking around mk shopping centre surely is a workout in itself, it's huge!

i can do luton in half an hour though and not leave the arndale cente (or whatever it's called now)

Perhaps they do Slender!

I agree that walking around a shopping centre is good exercise, but not when you've got bored children in tow who refuse to walk faster than 1 mile a fortnight!

i once lapped MK over 4 times in 30 mins 'speed shopping' with 6 week old ds who screamed blue murder when i dropped below a certain mph. It was like the home counties version of 'Speed', complete with returning an unsuitable garment to Next in 2 exciting installments.

Horrible thread

and a cup of right back at you

What is the matter with everyone?

What? I just gave the lady a biscuit and a cup of tea

mrs koala

It's like a big defensiveness competition.

Sirchenjin,youre clearly better than all these people.Shopping with kids.Its just disgusting isnt it.They wont be as highly intelligent and charming as you as adults.

Or as irritating or fuckin smug.

No Dancergirl, I don't take the dc's shopping for "the sake of making a point"

I take them because they're in the habit of eating, and as such, food shopping needs to be done. End of.

It just never would've occured to me before reading some of the tripe some of you on here spout to make special childcare arrangements merely because they might not find buying potatoes the most exciting thing they'll do all week.

Still don't buy it saucyjack Just because food shopping and countless other chores need to be done doesn't mean the entire family has to be involved!

And unless you are a single parent, one parent doing a chore whilst the other stays with the dc hardly counts as 'special childcare arrangements'.

I nearly always take dd with me when I go shopping. She is 8. I wouldn't call it a leisure activity but I don't dislike it. We both enjoy a change of scenery, we often nip to a nice cafe or the library, and we generally enjoy each other's company. DH sometimes joins us, on the understanding that we will go in separate directions if either he or I need clothes. I quite like it when we all go together, but it's not the be all and end all. We do other stuff as well. I don't really get why people find it strange.