to think I might be able to pop into the supermarket for a couple of things on the way home from school without....

[hatwoman]

..world war fecking 3 breaking out?

It drives me mad. always the same. pestering. arguing. mucking about. getting in other people's way. not listening to me. me loosing my patience. I can think of lots of text book ways out of this situation and I've tried most of them and, to be honest, they don;t seem to work. what is it about supermarkets? it's like a law of physics. It is simply not possible for a 6 year old and an 8 year old to spend more than 5 minutes in one without pestering, mucking about, arguing.

let me give you all a hint. telling me that it's only mine that this law applies to isn't helpful . I know my skills as a parent are deeply lacking and many of you can no doubt whizz round the market with your smiley children counting apples, choosing cat food, and being polite to old ladies, but have some heart. It's empathy I'm after...

hence the reason I always go before picking the DS's up as they're too tired/fed up to go shopping after school

was in similar situation - therefore I shop online now.

I Bribe. Ok, ds only 5 and deeply susceptible to said bribes but that is my method and I'm sticking to it. If 70p on a little toy car at the end of the shop keeps him quiet the whole way round (apart from occasionally asking, 'Mummy, am I being good?') then I'm there in the car aisle, happy to stump up the cash!

oooh I never do a proper shop with them (shudders at the very idea). we're talking bread, milk and something for tea. I work from home so really don;t have the time to call in before picking them up. well, I think I don't but perhaps in reality it would be better all round.

No YANBU. It's easy, next time they kick off when in supermarket leave, and when they winge at home about 'Mum, there's no xyz here', point out why and that they have to live with it.

I did smack ds in a supermarket one day when he was particularly horrendous, and now he's no trouble (mind you he is now 6 years older). He's very good at making me stick to lists and not letting me buy anything that isn't on the list, which is dull, so I have the tantrum and he sighs and rolls his eyes at me!

They have to learn that food doesn't automatically reproduce in the fridge, and that just cos food shopping is dull, doesn't mean that it's your job. They have to learn to deal with being bored - a supermarket is a wonderful place to master those skills.

Never ever ever pop in anywhere at all with DCs expecting to be out painlessly and quickly. If you must do it, prepare yourself days in advance - gird your loins, gird the DC's loins in you must but don't just pop in

And when you do have a very bad experience, be sure to 'pop' back sans DCs a bit later to enjoy the reassuring spectacle of other parents having a horrible time too. It helps.

No way would I take both of mine anywhere near a suoermarket. It's hell on wheels. Lock them in the boot next time.

Scaryteacher yes
it's like the rats in a sack thing in the car
when they start I pull over and wait telling them we'll go when they want, and I'll know when that is because they'll stop fighting and bickering
sadly doesn't work with dh driving as you know men just hate to pull over pointlessly

I hate the bickering and they always chose the "best" time to start ..grr

I came the closest I've ever come to whacking DD one this morning in Asda (and that was before she ran away and literally vanished on me - the very kind lady who was helping me find her saw her go too and neither of us could believe how quickly she went/we lost sight of her - a very scary 2 minutes that went on forever!) with her constant whining, asking the same question over and over and fecking over again without ever listening to the answer, wanting to walk, wanting to ride, wanting to walk again, insisting on touching every f-ing object she passes bringing them crashing down, meltdown in every other aisle for whatever random reason... aaaargh! Horrible child!

I spent the afternoon investigating online shopping....

You have my sympathies. My two are a total nightmare at the supermarket, and i am talking a "we ran out of milk" type shop. In fact when my husband says to me "we ran out of X can you just pop over to the supermarket and buy it ?" i swear i give him the evils !!!

bribing only works on dd1. dd2 runs away as i pay, shrieking so loud that people down 5 aisles comment. argh ...

could you do the bulk of it internet shopping?less aggrom for you (and them)

LOL aggrom! god it sounds hard - no helpful comments i dunno

Hat woman...are you me?

I have left Sainsburys almost physically shaking after an after shcool shop with my 3. And I usually end up spending a million pounds when all I went in for was bread and milk. (OK, maybe that's a slight exageration)

Mine love pudding.
Behave or no pudding!
Usually works for me if I stick to it!

Find something they like and threaten to take it away and stick to it if they misbehave.

Might take a few time to work but it will hit home in the end.

I leave mine in the car (they are older though!) and just take DD. I do take them if it's going to be longer, but I resign myself to the fact that I'll be irritated within ..oh......30 seconds of getting in there?

Wait until they are older and insist on helping by pushing the trolley. Cue attempts to go the furthest on the trolley without your feet touching the ground. Can one get the trolley off the one who has it, hopefully taking out a number of old biddies' ankles at the same time? Easy peasy. And older children are much more adept at sneaking stuff they want in the trolley without you noticing. Hence why I do online shopping and do extra bits before collecting anyone from school.

Bad time to do it, just after school when they're bound to be tired and fractious anyway.

I am thankful that mine are now old enought to stay at home so I can pop down at my leisure- bliss!

Your time will come, Hatrick, when you can strew sympathetic smiles around in the direction of mums with younger children.

Sorry, Hatwoman, my apologies.