To give my toddler a bit of bread?

[ChequeredPasta]

I imagine this has already been done to death, and would get the answer if I could be arsed to scroll...
At Waitrose the other day. Put a french bread stick in the trolley, which my toddler (2) saw, and started reaching for it. Told her no, to wait, but she is an untameable beast became upset. So..... I tore off the end and gave it to her BEFORE paying One of the staff saw, and gave me a stinker of a look.

Now, my Mum used to do this with us. But, my Mum's understanding of social convention is.... interesting.
WIBU?!

[BeatriceBeaudelaire]

My mum used to feed me a scotch egg and then just scan the wrapper

[Wonderflonium]

In Denmark, a lot of the supermarket bakeries offer one free bread roll for children to avoid this very problem. My local supermarket (with no bakery), has a table in the produce section with some pieces of fruit and the sign "take one for your child to eat while you shop". It just makes sense to give a little freebie to avoid tantrums & tantrum related grazing.

[LucieLucie]

Typical Waitrose, no one would have batted an eyelid in Asda

YANBU common sense and discretion- it’s not like you let her chomp on it then put it down on a shelf before reaching the til. That would be wrong obviously.

[NanooCov]

If you’re intending to pay for it, it’s fine. If I discovered I had forgotten my purse or my card was declined (neither of which have happened to me in all my 40 years) and I couldn’t pay by other means (Apple Pay is always useful) I would get them to keep trolley aside and dash back with another means of payment.
I opened a bag of apples to give my (overtired) toddler one the other day. No big deal.

[Treysanatomy]

It doesn't matter that she hadn't paid for it yet if she's clearly going to pay before she leaves.

Isn't that how it works in most restaurants? Except the value of the food eaten would be much higher than a bit of bread. You could just as easily have forgotten your purse!

[MikeUniformMike]

Why not take all your family and you could all snack as you go round.

[purplemunkey]

Blimey. What outrage!

It's fine. We do it all the time - open multipacks of fruit or whatever and just put the opened pack on the belt to scan. The cashiers have never minded, asked questions, tutted or whatever. Pretty normal I think.

[tinypop4]

I think it's fine, I see people do it all the time, I've done it a couple of times when I've had to take a toddler to the supermarket.
You can still pay for it, it still has the barcode on the packet.

Of course a toddler can understand no but that doesn't mean they're going to stop screaming and losing their shit over it in a supermarket. If a bit of bread gives you the chance to get round the shop without major tantrums then I think it's fine.

[Littlecaf]

Go to Tescos. Free fruit for children while you shop.

(I'd do the same if in Waitrose).

[Joeywhitter]

I do this all the time - in fact staff in my local supermarket have commented 'ooh looks like you are enjoying that!' in a friendly way so I assume don't have a problem with it. Though the free piece of fruit for kids in Tescos also proves handy

[deepestdarkestperu]

Eh, if your child is that hungry, buy them something before you start your main shop instead of letting them pick at things you've not paid for yet.

[DiegoMadonna]

The tantrum-avoidance thing is a red herring anyway. You're gonna pay for the bread so who gives a shit? I wouldn't even care if a grown woman wanted to eat a bit of her bread while shopping. Why would I?

[Sirzy]

I love that more supermarkets are starting to have the free fruit for shoppers!

Ds used to have a tub of mango as we went around the shop. It was either that or he screamed the way round and I know which makes for a more pleasurable shopping experience for everyone!

As others have said unless it’s somethinh like loose grapes then I can’t see an issue.

[QuestionableMouse]

How the fuck is it dishonest and lazy? Seriously, some people need to get a fucking grip!

[gamerchick]

Never done it. It’s bloody ill mannered. Take stuff in with you if your kids need to constantly eat something.

[Iusedtobeawerewolf]

As long as you pay for it and don't leave a mess all over the floor or in the trolley for the staff to clean up then I don't see a problem

[Jellycatspyjamas]

Oh dear, I took my 4 year old to buy a French stick, he saw one in the supermarket and before I could physically stop him had landed mouth down on the end of the bread and taken a bite "I was just testing it mum". Probably should have had him arrested going by some of the responses here. Instead I took it to the til, paid for it and left like a normal person.

YANBU OP.

[QueenBeex]

It's fine.

[MrTurtleLikesKisses]

I used to work on a checkout and I hated being passed wrappers/empty packets to scan. They were usually greasy and if I wasn’t careful with how I picked it up I’d end up touching any leftover wet stuff which used to turn my stomach. I remember getting egg mayo on my finger from picking up a sandwich box that someone had already eaten 🤢. I promised myself I’d never, ever let my children eat their way around the supermarket after that.
People always used to fold over the big baguettes too and it always seemed to be those people whose card was declined and then we’d throw away a perfectly good (but folded) baguette.
I hated that job!

[TheHungryDonkey]

It’s dishonest because they are goods you haven’t paid for and supermarkets do not operate the same way as restaurants.

Furthermore, it’s lazy because you should find a way of parenting your child which doesn’t mean taking the easy thieving way out.

[whenwillthesleepcomeback]

Ok so I had a projectile vomiting baby and needed more wipes than I had with me in a supermarket once.
I used part of a packet from the shelf and paid for them later. Clearly there's no "teaching children bad habits" argument here, but to those who think it's stealing, what should I have done?

[Mummyoflittledragon]

Dh is French. Standard practice over there so he’s brought his ill mannered ways over here.

[MrTurtleLikesKisses]

However, OP, I don’t think you should give it a second thought. It’s no big deal and the woman who gave you a dirty look was just being a cow.
I used to hate dealing with it, but I was probably being precious (and it was PRE kids!)