to wonder why the whole family go supermarket shopping?

[turnipfarmers]

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?

Sometimes it may be that we're on our way back from somewhere or maybe we haven't got plans and a bit of cabin fever so pop out the 4 of us.

I'd go on my own every time if I could but I don't drive so my OH drops me off and seems silly for him to go back to come back for me an hour later.

I remember going to Bejam on a Thursday night with my Mum and Dad. Is that the making memories bit? Memories of not wanting to go?

This!!!!

Def not a control thing.i don't drive dh does its as simple as that 😁

Anyone who doesn't use the Self Scan/Scan as you Shop is making shopping way more complicated than it needs to be.

Plus it's very educational as it keeps a running total and you can get those DC to check on the budget.

heres is still loads of them in my local tesco that dont use the scan as you shop wtf

Every time I use the scan as you shop option in my local supermarket I'm the random shopping check and all my stuff has to be rescanned!

So no bloody use doing that! And I hate the beep it makes. It's so fucking loud.

We used to go every Thursday night - late night shopping - and it was the highlight of my Mum's week. The rest of us despised it. We always had to go The The Big Sainsbury's an hour away too, not The Big Tesco that was nearer - Tesco was common. I do all my food shopping on line apart from the occasional browse in M&S for treats and for that I go ALONE.

I take my DC...they like coming with me and are pretty well behaved. I never go to the supermarket with mrformerbabe...he hates shopping which ruins the whole experience for me!

@billysboy If you regularly buy any age-restricted item (eg alcohol) or anything which has security tags (eg clothing, expensive medicine) then you have to wait for someone to come over and root through your shopping to remove the tags/confirm you're over 18/spot check your bags in case you're a thief which can actually make the whole process longer.

I've also experienced a total fail of the scanner so I've then been directed to go to the normal tills and have to unpack the shopping, load it up, scan it through then pack it again, so it's kinda put me off.

Nostalgia? I used to like going to the shops with my family when I was a teen, a chance to wander round on my own and my mum would let me keep the £1 from the trolley.

We NEVER got to the shops as a family now, not for a big shop. Most of it I click and collect, I do sometimes wish we would do it though. My husband is pretty far removed from life and I'd rather he was doing more humdrum stuff as much as I like a day out.

I haven't had a random check for months. I think if you faff about removing stuff it makes a difference. But Tesco don't re scan all of your shopping anyway, just a few items and it takes a few minutes tops.

My kids go mental if I ask them to go shopping with me. And that is because I have always bloody spoiled them by leaving them at home with their dad to do what they want. I have pampered them instead of teaching them that sometimes you just have to do shit you don't feel like doing.

Bejam!!! OMG I haven't even thought about Bejam for 30 years

Neither myself nor my husband can be trusted to shop by ourselves so we go together.

DD and I shop all the time without DH we love it and she is great - 12, but still helpful so dashes off to get things and knows what we have and knows when to go for the bargain rather than the usual etc

A control thing!! seriously?
wow, only on MN can a couple shopping together be seen as something dark, its laughable.

Bejam in Solihull High St it was. The most soulless place ever. Massive catering packs of ketchup and salad cream. Mum was very exotic with her Croquette potatoes and mixed frozen veg.

We do it together a lot of the time. Tend to mix it in with shopping if we need to and pick up anything we need.
Ds is 2.5 and enjoys going and sitting in the trolley, ogling the fish counter and being grown up by ‘helping’ me put things in the trolley. He’s generally pretty good.
Yesterday he waved at a police car and they waved back which made his whole day (life is simple when you’re two.)

Kids do need to learn how to behave in public - we live quite rurally so for us it’s a good chance to get DS (and us!) to civilisation and get stuff done. We don’t have to do it together but we both work long hours and it’s a daft, dull but quite nice thing to do together.

Any top up trips or stuff we tend to do alone.

but then there are threads about people who can’t cook or budget - hence I am teaching my children the skills they will need

But there’s a huge difference in experiencing supermarkets with your children and doing the weekly shop with them week in week out.... As I’ve said I dislike supermarket shopping and have it delivered.... that doesn’t mean I never go into one with my children, and they don’t know how grocery shopping works!

Anyone who doesn't use the Self Scan/Scan as you Shop is making shopping way more complicated than it needs to be.

I only use the self-scan when I have children with me. On my own I'm terrified I'll forget to scan something and end up mortified by a random check.

The children (my own or otherwise) are much better at remembering than I am.

I am fine on my own with the scanner as there's no distractions. If I have a teen yapping in my ear I am more likely to forget to scan something.

Because the cook can't drive.

We really like going shopping together, as a family and when out as a couple. We like spending time together pretty much any place. We like looking at the food, talking about what we buy. It's just how we are.

The truth is though that lots of the time you have to find things to occupy your children. I do with mine at least - so you can either get them involved in hum drum stuff like folding the laundry and going supermarket shopping, or you can do it alone and come up with something else to entertain them. I'm not sure the latter is necessarily easier though. Maybe it depends on your kids though. Mine are hard work in the house and instantly become more civilised when you take them out. It's been the same since they were babies. I couldn't understand friends who said "we've had a tough couple of days so are going to stay in today" I couldn't imagine anything more stressful.

In my family it's always been the mum doesn't drive but wants to do the shop, and also it's inbetween activities for the kids- so all go.

I had to take my two last night .... NEVER.THE.FUCK.AGAIN.
Uggghhhhhhhh.
I tend to go shopping when the terrible two are at school/nursery but work commitments had taken over. Failing that I’m partial to online shopping but with it being Easter weekend I’d missed the boat and the cupboards were bare.

I often look at families with mum, dad and 2.4 kids and think WTF?! I’d rather go shopping with my children running around like demented ferrets than have to tolerate DH.