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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder why the whole family go supermarket shopping?

506 replies

turnipfarmers · 01/04/2018 17:00

I tend to shop without my children as it's easier; I get that lone parents have to take their children with them but what I can't make sense of is why you see two adults with several children in tow at the supermarket?

Shopping with children for the weekly shop doesn't seem to be much of a pleasurable experience to me and it's probably not that fun for the children so why do people do it?

OP posts:
Bettyfood · 02/04/2018 07:09

I agree. Loads of people standing around, cluttering up the aisles. I'm not even talking about a family of two adults and a couple of kids, locally some people seem to bring several teens/adults/grown up children like it's a theme park.

Also see minor injuries. A group of people taking up all the chairs as the teenage daughter has hurt her foot. Now I know why they have signs saying patients must go in unaccompanied unless they are a child or require assistance and then ONE person may go with them. Some families move as a horde.

Schnauzermum2 · 02/04/2018 07:14

We sometimes go together for various reason 1. On the way to and from somewhere or 2. We both want to look for something (supermarkets sell more than food),

oblada · 02/04/2018 07:15

I don't get why people go to the supermarket at all tbh. Since I have kids I do online shopping, saves a lot of time and I'm pretty sure it saves money too. I just wouldn't want to take time away from the family to go to the supermarket nor would i see it as more enjoyable family time than the other activities we can do in the same time instead. we go to Costco every 2-3 months tho as a family and because its not too often we do all enjoy it.

mindutopia · 02/04/2018 07:15

Because we spend our Saturdays together and going alone would mean we’d never get to do anything on a Saturday. It’s nearly 30 minutes drive to the nearest store, 45 minutes ish to shop and then 30 minutes home. That’s over 2 hours out of the day. But if we want to do anything but sit at home we still need to do that 60 minutes round trip to get anywhere we’re going. So to do that again after shopping means we’d waste 2 hours every Saturday just in the car. So we do shopping while we’re out and after we did whatever we’d planned as a family. Admittedly if the store was just next door, yes, I’d just run and do it. Midweek shopping though is either ordered for delivery or I only take the youngest (who’s a baby).

Bettyfood · 02/04/2018 07:16

Because Lidl don't deliver and all the other supermarkets are not as good and vastly more expensive.

PasstheStarmix · 02/04/2018 07:17

‘I don't get why people go to the supermarket at all tbh. ’

Maybe because people like to choose their own meat and dates etc. That’s the reason I always hear.

oblada · 02/04/2018 07:20

Passthesarmix - hmm good point! Ocado is pretty good with dates never had an issue with that. And we don't buy meat so maybe it makes a difference...

Bettyfood · 02/04/2018 07:37

It's massively more expensive per item to get groceries delivered. I can spend £100-£120 for 4 adults and two children in Lidl. It's at least £50 more for the same items from Waitrose.com (or shopping in store in Sainsbury's for that matter).

Runningshorts · 02/04/2018 07:45

Everyone wants children to behave in a socially acceptable way, but to do that they need to be exposed to these public situations.

Someone mentioned the budgeting aspect, that's a really good point. I remember being given some money to do a shop for a weeks worth of food, all my choice and we added it up roughly along the way. It is a good way of learning and giving children responsibility.

MashLover · 02/04/2018 07:48

This thread is so funny. DOes it really matter if the whole family go food shopping?

Here are my reasons.

We live rurally so the supermarket is a 40 min drive. If one of us when by ourselves, that's a big chunk of the day gone. DH works over 60 hours a week and I work evenings so we only actually have one day a week spent together. If we went shopping separately, we'd literally never see each other.

I've taught my children how to behave in a supermarket so they aren't running in front of your trolley (or any of the other things pp have moaned about) plus they actually like going shopping.

Bluesheep8 · 02/04/2018 07:51

This isn't something I've ever noticed or cared about so can't comment...just came on to say that I like grocery shopping..DP and I go together as we shop a month at a time so needs both of us to pack/load car. Used to I as a family when I was a child and I liked it then too.

Eryri1981 · 02/04/2018 07:53

This week and next week EVERY delivery slot from my local Tesco is booked up and when I picked up on Thursday (as I didn't manage to get a delivery slot) the guy at the click and collect said it was the busiest day he'd worked, and he felt utterly defeated.

So, that is presumably a whole lot of parents with kids who would otherwise be clogging up the supermarket. So, things can always be worse.

Jaxtellerswife · 02/04/2018 07:55

Because we like it
My kids like it
We enjoy each other's company and have fun. A concept I've noticed quite a few people on here don't get Wink

Downtheroadfirstonleft · 02/04/2018 08:01

We often go together, on our way back from somewhere. It's perfectly pleasant and our kids help. For many people, family life isn't a permanent battle.

longestlurkerever · 02/04/2018 08:04

It is actually quicker to do it together too. Not twice as quick, granted, but one person goes off to get bread while the other gets milk etc. Dh likes choosing the wine which I hate doing. He does go alone and will carry a lot in a rucksack/buggy but can't drive so we tend to call in on our way back from somewhere. I do online shop but we often need to pop back for stuff between big shops (you have to spend £100 to get free delivery Mon-Thurs at Sainsbury's)

LagunaBubbles · 02/04/2018 08:12

see families trialing round the supermarket on a Saturday.. surely there are more fun things to do as a family?! And there’s the internet for online shopping FGS

Of course there is, shopping us just an essential for us, usually on the way back from something infinitely more fun. Shopping together is normal, mundane and routine. I have never questioned why there are children in a supermarket - it's a supermarket not a crack den.

I dislike online shopping for food. Nothing wrong with actually wanting to choose your food yourself, plus you don't get the reductions online.

Onecutefox · 02/04/2018 08:27

The children need to get used to shopping food not just toys. It's good for them even though I would rather shop by myself. My DH also sometimes comes with us. Don't see a problem.

longestlurkerever · 02/04/2018 08:35

I buy most of my top up shopping in the yellow label section too, which is not an option online. I get that some people despise supermarket shopping with kids and would do anything to avoid it, but I also boggle at the idea that there is always something more exciting to do. Does this apply to all other mundane activities? Do other people's children never step foot inside a post office, or Homebase to pick up some paint, or a chemist to pick up a prescription? Is it constant enriching activity from dawn till dusk? I live in London and do a lot of activities and outings but there are a lot of hours in the day and I don't think 30 mins in a supermarket as a massive opportunity cost. Saturday, for example, we went to an art gallery and did drawings and had an indoor picnic, played jigsaws till I was sick of the sight of them, made a birthday cake for my niece, went on a massive Pokemon quest and watched a fair bit of telly, but there was still time left to go shopping on the way home. I can't really imagine many days in which there wouldn't be.

coladog · 02/04/2018 08:38

I don't get why people go to the supermarket at all tbh. Since I have kids I do online shopping, saves a lot of time and I'm pretty sure it saves money

We do an online shop for weekday meals but prefer to see how we feel at the weekend. Mad innit.

Idontdowindows · 02/04/2018 08:42

I don't get why people go to the supermarket at all tbh.

I want to pick my own vegetables, fruit and meat to say the least.

Sprinklesinmyelbow · 02/04/2018 08:47

Maybe they’re just on their way back from somewhere else and stop at the supermarket because they need stuff. We’ve been getting online deliveries for years but still occasionally pop in on the way back.

IAmMatty · 02/04/2018 08:53

Because the kids like to help, and play a role in choosing what we eat.

Because they have to learn how to behave in the world, and going into shops, and maybe being a bit bored is part of that sometimes.

Because we often go when we're out doing other things so it makes sense.

Because they learn about nutrition, money, weight, etc by coming along.

Because it's the weekend and we'd all rather be together than some of us sat at home waiting for one person to get home from Tesco.

Hypermice · 02/04/2018 08:54

I don't get why people go to the supermarket at all tbh.
very few delivery services where I live, costs about twenty quid for delivery and the veg and meat will all be the latest date they can get away with. No point unless it’s a big bulk shop for non perishables

Ginandplatonic · 02/04/2018 08:55

Another of these increasingly common threads where people express amazement, even outrage, at others having different opinions and preferences to them.

I frequently took my 4 kids shopping, if DH was home he'd often come too. Kids need to learn that life's not just a constant whirl of activities centred around them. They need to learn to behave well even if they're occasionally bored cos that's life. But my kids weren't bored anyway, they loved the supermarket - and were perfectly well behaved. They may have occasionally, accidentally, momentarily got in someone's way - but thankfully most of the people we encountered were tolerant and friendly.

Not MNers I guess! Grin

phoenix1973 · 02/04/2018 08:58

We do it to expose our daughter to pricing, comparing bargains, getting the best deals and choice of food for dinner, packed lunch etc.
When she was tiny and noisy and tantrummy, i swapped to online shopping. Then realised that if I never exposed her to shops or showed her how to behave, she'd never behave properly.
Usually it's me, or me and dd. Rarely all 3 of us.