To not go into the supermarket with tantrumming DS

[Jemimapuddlemuck]

Help please I'm having one of those I'm a crap mum moments...DS (4) fell asleep in the car on the way to the supermarket - he's been at nursery in the morning and playing at grandmas in the afternoon. He very rarely sleeps in the day. When we got here he said he didn't want to get out of the car, I tried being upbeat and distracting him but he got worse and worse and by the time we got to the door of the supermarket he starting screaming. It was cold and I have a baby so standing there waiting for him to calm down wasn't an option. So I threw the towel in and got back in the car. He screamed all the way home. We now have nothing in for dinner unless I can cobble something out of the freezer. DH is working away, otherwise I wouldn't have brought him with me when I know he's tired.

I feel like I've done the wrong thing by 'giving in' but I couldn't have dragged him round the shops screaming could I? So WWYD? WIBU to give in?

YANBU

Home is the best place for a tantrumming child. Let him have some down time just playing quietly in his room alone or vegging in front of a DVD.
Forage in the freezer for tonights meal and just accept he is having an off day -just expressing it more loudly than adults do.

You could try again early tomorrow morning and beat the rush .

Sometimes you have to do things to save your own sanity....you feel shit now but also if you had taken him in there whilst he was having a paddy people would have stared, tutted and made you feel shit anyway!

We all have days like that. DS once had a monumental tantrum in Tesco a few years ago that I still have nightmares about.

Raid the freezer or get a take away and maybe a bottle of wine :)

Can you get a takeaway delivered? Sounds like you deserve it!

Well, you could have told him to pull it together otherwise X consequence would result. And then followed through.

But sometimes it's really not worth the fight. End of day, everyone's tired, you probably felt like screaming, too... just get something out of the freezer and try again tomorrow! You are not being a crap mum. :)

Sounds like the right decision to me

Shopping is bad enough without a little one kicking off!

This is why pizza shops and Chinese were invented

He's very young, sometimes nothing works and what's the point of trying to shop with a screaming 4yo and a baby? You wouldn't have gotten anything done anyway and you would have been very stressed.

Live to fight another day and have take away tonight.

Yanbu. Give him breakfast cereal or bread and Jan for his dinner. If he moans then tell him why. At 4 he should have some understanding

Ah thanks for your kind words everyone, takeaway it is! He's being very sweet and cuddly now, I think he knows mummy is on her knees!

4 year old DS2 had a tantrum this morning outside the supermarket because he dropped his tissue and I said it would have to go in the bin. Apparently it was shaped like a cat, and was his favourite tissue in the whole world, and he will never forgive me for throwing it away. I should just have got back in the car as well- would have been much less painful for all concerned. Have some toast, and when he has gone to bed, eat the emergency chocolate supply. 4 year olds seem to have no understanding of any logic. Well done on surviving another day with him and a baby.

Filmbuffmum that made me laugh, sorry!

Well that's good- sometimes you just have to laugh about it. Funny how cuddly they can be after behaving like little tyrants! Better luck with restocking the cupboards tomorrow.