Whole families going food shopping

[Shiningstarr]

Just came back from food shopping, there were a couple of young families in there, one in particular, the mum was pushing the trolley, her two young children walking near her and the dad was following with a pram and carrying another toddler.

Surely it would be easier for just mum to go and do the food shop, or just dad? Why bring all those children plus pram? I can't think of anything worse. Both mum and dad looked stressed.

Doesn't matter who's hogging the aisle. There's no need for swearing :(

Our 2 nearest Tescos have narrow aisles compared to Sainsburys. It's quite suffocating.

I've seen this too. Both Grandparents, Mum ,Dad and 2 or 3 children 😂

Last time I checked, supermarkets weren't an adults only space
Why not shop online if you hate the other customers so much?

I used to love helping with the shopping, helping to pick which biscuits etc and especially a little treat.
My children enjoy it too.

They will have their reasons. Do you understand not everyone is like you OP?

It's our business if it routinely blocks aisles, creates unnecessary noise and fuss in busy places, and makes shopping for necessities a regular problem.

Yet there my husband is getting sworn at in Asda for daring to push his trolley where a family of 6 wanted to be! I think these families haven't got much else going on in their lives. Surely one parent could take the kids to the park?

To be fair to the family of six, the class of people I find irritating in supermarkets is men out on their own. There seems to be no idea on the part of many of them that parking the trolley abreast of a big section of the breakfast cereal aisle while you go off to browse through the shrimp and shellfish offerings is not on, and that you need to look a little harder to find the end of the checkout queue.

Also, random women out shopping don't know what aisle the toothpaste is in. Ask the male teenager with the nametag on his supermarket uniform shirt. He's putting stuff on a shelf four feet away.

God don't you just hate judgemental people? There could be a Huge list of reasons.

Do your shopping online if it's such a issue.

My favourite are the parents who let their kids take in and use scooters in a busy supermarket!

Life skills for the children.

There are many small annoyances in my life, but I can’t even imagine being annoyed by someone’s grocery shopping habits. Especially people I don’t know, and never will. I have enough troubles in my life and don’t need to judge other people. I am always grateful for the kindness of strangers and try to pass that on.

It's our business if it routinely blocks aisles, creates unnecessary noise and fuss in busy places, and makes shopping for necessities a regular problem.

If all of that gets on your tits, shop online.

A supermarket is a place that is open to the public. It's not a spa.

Ugh!!! The number of times a little child on a scooter has wheeled out in front of me (in an indoor shop!) and nearly sent me and my bags flying...

Parents, please, please cut this shit out.

We did this when we had young DC. For anyone baffled, our reasons were:
We had no car and it meant between us we could carry more stuff.
We had very little money and very few places to go. Not even a nice safe park. It was something to do that got us out of the house. We all, DC included, enjoyed choosing the food, as, again with very few options, cooking and eating was a pleasure.
If just one of us went, the other would be stuck in the flat alone with DC, and we would have argued over who got the comparative 'treat' of doing the shop.
When you're feeling frustrated (and I get its annoying) be glad you have no understanding of how a trip to ASDA could be a high spot in a families week.

Unnecessary noise.... 🤣🤣🤣 Thou shalt not speak in your supermarket! God forbid! 😂😂😂

Totally agree with this.

Also, maybe I was an easily amused child but I remember being sooo excited to go to the Big Supermarkets with my mum when I was little!

I used the word “doesn’t” rather than can’t deliberately. Obviously some people can’t drive for medical reasons. This hypothetical family clearly have a car as dad has driven to the shop so it isn’t a case of environmental objections, financial objections or that they live in a city centre and don’t need a car. So yes- in a family with a car and two healthy adults then is no reason for them both not to be drivers.

Tribe 😂 How many of us do you think there are 😂 Even if I had six kids it wouldn’t be an issue.

My children are well behaved, kind and helpful. So they help with the shopping and don’t get in the way.

If other people can’t or won’t take their kids shopping because they don’t know how to behave that’s their problem 🤷‍♀️

But we have successfully integrated our children on how to behave in society, and kinds certainly don’t learn how to behave if they are never given the opportunity.

I was once in Asda at 4am in the morning, my break on night shift, and there was a family there,mum dad 2 kids about 5 and 7 years old, doing their shopping.

It's why when I have to go into a supermarket I wear earphones.

Me: a person shopping alone. Them: a family of four or five, most of whom don't 100% need to be there but are anyway. The impetus is not on ME to run home and hide.

I never mentioned a spa - I'm not expecting a scented scalp massage, just a civilised experience in a shop. After all, "it's not a crèche".

My parents used to just plop be in front of the toy section, then go off and do the shopping. Sometimes they forgot to come back for me until they were halfway around the roundabout at the end of the road.

Stores need to bring back play/crèche areas.

And they’re shopping for necessities too.

Drives me bonkers too so you are not alone, also the couples shopping together, what is that all about?

Cute that you think "speaking" and "the screaming of bored children who don't need to be there" are the same thing. Maybe you should go shopping alone more and learn the difference?

Probably had read a mumsnet thread and wanted to avoid judgement!