To think that Xmas food shopping isn't a sodding family day out?

[loveawineloveacrisp]

Just been to M&S for final food shop and the bloody place was over run with entire families shopping together. Just why? If the kids are old enough to be left then they shouldn't be traipsing around and getting in the way when the place is crowded as it is at this time of year.

And as for people who can't drive the right way round a one way car park: kindly fuck off and don't drive if you can't follow road signs.

That's all. Now can someone please pass the 🍷

This! Most adults in supermarkets in the lead up to Christmas absolutely suck. Would rather be in a shop full of kids any day tbh 🤷‍♀️

Madness

Can't imagine the hell of taking two tots to a supermarket a few days before Xmas.

That might have been us - just not inside shops. We’re away for Christmas and arrived before our cottage was available so we let our dogs stretch their legs after three hours traveling and picked up some odds and ends at the same time. So sorry we inconvenienced you.

Ah, now it's definitely Christmas on Mumsnet. Gives you the feelz

Sorry this is absolutely ridiculous. Everybody can shop and they don't have to leave their children at home if they don't want to. It's different if the child is actually disturbing you or being disrespectful but if they're just there in the shop, then let them be!

You mentioned if kids are old enough, let them stay at home. My teens love shopping with me and doing the Xmas food shop so yes they can come along if they want considering all they're doing is walking around and having fun as they deserve to. The world doesn't revolve around you

SOP XMAS FOOD SHOP

1. PPE
2. If you're playing Whamageddon, ear defenders
3. possibly a cheeky sedative half an hour prior
4. Plan your aisle order
5. Ruthlessly ignore distractions: No foil wrapped chocolate sprouts, glittery bathgel, comedy tat, or other such bastardry
6. No children, flappy partners or other assorted hangers-on
7. Get in, get out, get home, get drunk.

YANBU OP, it's there in rule six.

I have a 5yo and a baby under 1. Food shopping is hell, to put it nicely. I absolutely will not drag my children round a supermarket anything from the 18th-27th December and wait until their dad is home from work. It is an absolute horror in shops over Christmas and no one needs to hear me snapping or my (eldest) winging! Although the car park one I agree with, but I must admit there has been a time or two where I’ve took the wrong turn in a one way car park by mistake.

She says they enjoy shopping like that so why would she change?

You have to time it. Went just before midday and it was empty. Not one ankle biter in sight.

Have big order being delivered tomorrow but needed a few extra bits. Was dreading it!

Don’t get me started on all the dogs too. Dogs still have their ancestors’ instincts and it must be hell for them to be dragged around a sweaty shopping centre with loads of people banging into them with their Christmas bags. Especially the poor creatures whose owners don’t realise they have coats of their own and insist on dressing them up in jumpers. Cheshire Oaks is bad enough at Christmas without all the toddlers and dogs.

Because we like going! We don’t see it as a chore, it’s something we enjoy doing. I don’t like shopping online at all.

We have a rough idea of what we need, but we enjoy looking at the Christmas offerings, and LO likes to choose a book.

I don’t understand people who enjoy running / cold water swimming / football but each to their own.

some people like clothes shopping, I do not - I like food shopping!

100% agree. Its hugely irritating when there are swarms of families in the aisles, just leave the children at home.
Im doing my final M&S shop tomorrow at 5am so hopefully no family outings at that time.

What a miserable thread ….
im a single parent and have no choice. I get that might be within one of the accepted carve outs but of course those in the shop won’t know my situation and now I feel like everyone’s going to be tutting at me.
People have many reasons for not going alone. No one needs permission.
merry Christmas OP- hope your mood picks up!

I think it’s different in the run up to Christmas, & dc are entitled to be there anyway.

Surely it’s each to their own! And I agree with some of the PPs that have said often the little kids are better behaved than the grown ups.

We’re a family of 4. It is very rare we all go to the supermarket together, and when we do it’s usually when the DH is off work, so at a more quiet time. Taking my two year old without a second adult is not worth the hassle but my four year old absolutely loves coming to the supermarket (M&S and Lidl are his favourites). He sits nicely in the seat or pushes his own mini trolley and loves being able to choose his own veg and snacks etc. On the way around, we chat about what we’re going to make with the ingredients we’ve brought etc and where they come from. I think it’s part of learning about how the world works etc. I’m not going to leave him behind just because it’s a bit busier. If it was super busy, I’d get him to sit in the trolley rather than push a little one and at that point, we really aren’t causing anyone any harm!

YABU. If you can't cope with other people doing their stuff as families or poor driving in a car park, order your bits and bobs online

I like to do it in my own but dd wants to come (adult lives at home) so I have to ask my other dd if she wants to come (also adult lives at home) sometimes she comes too. For some bizarre reason they love doing the Xmas food shop.
Luckily ds has zero interest in food shopping.
Dh usually drives us as I can't be bothered with all the traffic and parking nightmares he sits in the car and waits.

Hell freezes over before I take my sen kids into a supermarket. They would flip out within 10 mins

I agree, supermarket was rammed today & you have whole families in there with babies screaming and toddlers running around. Why don’t the adults take it in turns to do some food shopping? It’s not a fun day out for anyone.

I've been and took DD(11) yesterday. She was my runner so I just walked down the middle aisle and told her what to get in each in. It was very efficient.

There should be a holding pen for partners who don't typically do the shop though. The amount of clueless people stood looking at shelves, getting in the way saying "I can't see it Sheila!" makes the whole shop infuriating.

It's fine when they got older, there would have been no way on this earth I would have taken them when they were little I went on my own.
I don't care if people take their children shopping, I only care that I didn't cause myself untold amounts of stress by taking my own with me.

Just got back from shopping and my irrational vent includes:

1. people who walk several abreast
2. people who walk very slowly
3. people who do 1 & 2
4. people who stop for chats in entrances and at either end of stairs/escalators
5. people who don’t use all the doors and cause bottle necks
6. people who shop in whole families with clearly miserable children

I went to Tesco yesterday with 10yo DD. She helps pack as I load or vice versa. It was rammed and it was stressful but I did not come across a single child/teenager that was in my way.

I did encounter.....

-Two adults blocking the entire cheese section. One on the phone. One checking prices with the scan and shop even though they were labelled.

-One adult blocking the aisle whilst taking photos of 73 different stuffing mixes.

-One adult actively push another instead of saying excuse me.

-Couple. One half that thought it ok to stand in the queue with one trolley full. Made a frantic phonecall just as they were loading and suddenly the other half arrived with another full trolley.

-Couple. Swearing at each other about how fucking busy it is whilst blocking an aisle with their horizontal trolley.

Oh...... but I agree with you on the car park situation (yet more adults)!

No, I really don’t get those parents that think Xmas food shopping is a family treat. If you’ve got an option - leave the kids at home. 🙄