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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Should families with kids get priority in supermarket queue?

141 replies

GreyGardens88 · 12/04/2020 09:05

So I was going to Lidl yesterday afternoon for some essentials, there was a massive queue stretching nearly out of the shopping centre. I took my place at the back and immediately a woman with family and kids in tow came walking down shouting about how selfish everyone in the queue is for not letting in at the front due to them having kids. Would not stop shouting about it and I think her DH was embarrassed. Whole family was there, the grandparents, the parents and the kids.

Everyone else in the queue stayed silent but in the end an older gentleman let them in towards the front and he went to the back.

IABU in not letting them in myself? Would you expect to have priority if you have kids?

OP posts:
okiedokieme · 12/04/2020 12:08

Here older kids are being left outside, this has its own issues because they are getting in the way of people using the pedestrian/cycle entrance and are talking to friends they have bumped into. It's been exceptionally busy this week. I don't have an issue with couples shopping together but 4+ individuals is ridiculous

SusieSusieSoo · 12/04/2020 12:14

Completely agree re the op but for those judging parents with dcs in shops remember they may be single parents who have no choice but to take the dc with them - currently there is no school, no after school club, no childminder, no babysitter, no grandparents, no play date, no beavers/gym club etc. The only possible break is when dc are asleep.

Perhaps give them a tiny bit of sympathy - being a single parent in lockdown is pretty hard going - and knowing that you have to take dc out near other people when your instincts are always to keep that dc safe - and you are doing the exact opposite of that is also pretty tough.

BubblesBuddy · 12/04/2020 12:16

I’m not keen on couples where it can be avoided. We have congested spaces at the end of the check out tills and couples fill them up so others cannot exit the till area. It’s not right for anyone to bring teenage DC. They can be left at home or go for their walk with parent(s) at a different time.

morecoffeerequired · 12/04/2020 12:17

Having shopped at several different supermarkets over the last few weeks, my experience has been that Lidl was far and away the worst for promoting or enforcing any kind of social distancing, either in the queue or inside the shop. I'm not going back in my local one again until this is all over.

BubblesBuddy · 12/04/2020 12:17

Single stents with younger DC do have to go together. Or ask a neighbour for help of course.

BubblesBuddy · 12/04/2020 12:18

Help with shopping. Not babysitting.

EveryDayIsADuvetDay · 12/04/2020 12:19

Shame the security guard didn't step in

would have been lovely if they'd got to the front of the queue and the security guard had told them only one adult to go in, the others to wait outside.

Plus - the old guy volunteered his place and went to the back of the queue - but this woman has taken up at least six places in the supermarket.

breakingbetter · 12/04/2020 12:21

What happened to 1 trolley = 1 person. I get that a singular parent might have to take a child/children but it's not a family outing! My local supermarkets won't let more than 1 family member in.

opticaldelusion · 12/04/2020 12:41

Can we stop saying 'government guidelines' about everything? The government isn't banning more than one person per household shopping. Its guidelines are pretty high level (annoyingly so because of all the different interpretations). It's supermarkets which are (understandably) imposing these restrictions, not the government.

It might seem a moot point but it's an important one. I see so much hysteria on here about breaking the law when 'the law' is simply whatever someone's dreamt up.

TheGirlWithAPrince · 12/04/2020 13:05

It would be nice but shouldnt expect it, i went woth my 10 month old in her stroller the other day and was a bit worried about the blazing sun because there was no shade and que was massive, i had walked to the shop though so couldnt go somewhere else but i patiently waited in the que like everyone else

Alsohuman · 12/04/2020 13:07

It should be one person going to the supermarket. The situation should never arise.

Midsommar · 12/04/2020 13:19

Nope, families with children should not get treated as a priority when it comes to who goes first in the supermarket queue. The amount of families I am still seeing treating Asda and Morrisons as a day out is terrible. Surely one parent should do the shopping and one stays home?

TheArchSorcererofContwaraburg · 12/04/2020 13:20

No

Midsommar · 12/04/2020 13:21

@SusieSusieSoo I agree with you, about the single parents. It must be so hard to cope, and I do feel for them. Must be bloody stressful, I can't imagine it Sad

Ginfordinner · 12/04/2020 14:00

Susie no-one on this thread is judging single parents. They are judging entire families who treat shopping as a day trip out.

MagnoliaJustice · 12/04/2020 14:11

It wouldn't happen where I shop. One person, one basket or trolley, one customer in, one customer out. I'm very surprised the security guard didn't intervene.

SusieSusieSoo · 13/04/2020 00:16

Thanks @midsommar we've had a few tricky moments in the last few days. It's good to be off work for the bank holiday!

CharityDingle · 13/04/2020 01:02

Having shopped at several different supermarkets over the last few weeks, my experience has been that Lidl was far and away the worst for promoting or enforcing any kind of social distancing, either in the queue or inside the shop. I'm not going back in my local one again until this is all over.

Same here. I was in Lidl in the early stages of the restrictions and felt sorry for the staff. Next to nothing was in place to protect them, or customers. I haven't been back since.

SpokeTooSoon · 13/04/2020 01:07

Every queue I’ve been in so far I’ve had a couple either in front or behind me. Why are adults shopping in pairs?

MrsSnitchnose · 13/04/2020 01:17

If O see a parent with a pushchair I let them in front of me -why wouldn't you?

Because having a pram doesn't make you more important than anyone else

It's annoying when whole families are being allowed to shop together when single parents like me with child with ASD won't allow me to take him in (as happened at my closest supermarket last week)

ilovesooty · 13/04/2020 01:19

I don't see why couples without children need to shop together. I've heard the most ridiculous statements lately.

My wife doesn't drive - drive her and stay in the car then or do the shopping yourself.
She can't remember her PIN so she needs me to pay - WTAF?
If they stop us going in together we'll just get a trolley each - selfish.

It's much easier to understand that a single parent or one without any childcare has to take children but it shouldn't be a family outing or confer priority in queues.

MrsSnitchnose · 13/04/2020 01:19

*apologies for the pigeon English in my PP 🤦

Likefootball · 13/04/2020 01:34

YANBU Who the hell do they think they are ?

Pixxie7 · 13/04/2020 01:35

Absolutely not.

BritWifeinUSA · 13/04/2020 04:00

If everyone with children was treated as a priority case, there would ge very few of us left after they had all been lived to the front of the queue,

Our usual supermarket here is still allowing couples to go in together but the whole store is now a one-way system. We have to wear masks and gloves in public here. The employees are also in masks, spit guards, gloves and aprons like they are about to perform dental surgery. Husband and I still go together for completely selfish reasons. We are both still working (me at home, him out of the home) and I need to get out of the house and also spend time with him. I’ve been struggling with this greatly being so far from home and apart from our fortnightly shopping trip and a weekend drive along the coast I never leave the house. I need our shopping trip for my mental health. We go at 6 am on alternate Saturdays.