AIBU to be fed up with screaming children in the supermarket?

[Njuy]

I went to the supermarket about half an hour ago and OMFG! Every child was screaming. There were at least 15 children aged (guessing) 18 months - 9 years old. Not one parent was bothered.

I was in the store for 5 mins

I was planning to have an alcohol free evening. Not anymore.

Might work with an older child but not with a 2.5 year old who’s mid-tantrum and couldn’t give two shits about consequences

A kid having a tantrum is one thing mum or dad don't like it either.
Kids being allowed to run about etc is not on lots of hazards for customers and kids alike.

Shop in Waitrose. The children don't scream in there.

I have to pop into an Asda sometimes and it's a completely different experience there. Some of the adults are as bad as the children!

(Asdas in other parts of the country might be different perhaps, but my local one, next to a Waitrose is hideous)

I took my toddler into a little Waitrose earlier and she was wreaking havoc up and down the aisles, laughing and playing around. I hope it ruined some miserable witches day x

I think this is a bit unfair. My son (now 15 months) used to shriek when in the trolley. Sometimes excitement sometimes through overstimulation. I would always try to entertain him but if I let him I’d get dirty looks and if I picked him up and cuddled him I’d sometimes get a comment about giving into him or similar. Parents can’t win.

Anyway, he started walking confidently at 9 months so I started doing a click and collect

I agree it does depend where you shop, i do the main weekly shop in Aldi, ive had to start wearing headphones, the screeching kids were making me really stressed. I'm not talking about tantrums, I mesn screeching just for the sake of it.
I do a top up shop in Waitrose - what a difference! No screeching and no headphones needed. Same in M&S, in fact i rarely see kids in our M&S foodhall 🤔

My child loves nothing better than to hurtle around the supermarket screeching. He saves if up for the supermarket. He’s perfectly well behaved, then he lets rip.

I’ve tried online shopping and our only shop nearby is Tesco and their site is so hard to use. Whenever I go onto the home page you have to hunt high and low to find where to book a delivery. Then you get the food and it all goes off pretty much immediately, you’ve got endless carrots because you said 3 carrots and they sent you 3 bags of carrots, and they gave you coffee beans instead of ground coffee, thinking that was a fair substitute and that ham that looked a lot is actually only 2 slices and you haven’t got enough for packed lunches. It’s just waaayyy to stressful.

So we have a screeching child in a supermarket. Not my idea of fun either if that’s any consolation but food has to be bought.

We go shopping near my parents at the weekend - in their Waitrose. They screech there too. I didn’t know if wasn’t allowed. Sorry.

There's a reel of a man who takes his daughter out if she's screaming and waits until she's calm, can't remember his name now, but he seems great.
That's what I try to do, but sometimes if you're in a rush/have kids with additional needs, it's not always easy. Quite a few friends with little ones get deliveries instead, because we know screaming kids can give people headaches.

well I can’t remember the last time I went to a supermarket as my shop gets delivered to me, so single parents do have a choice.

This, It's just how it is sometimes. Yes, in an ideal world, you'd remove them straight away and go home, but sometimes that just isn't possible.

I'll always remember the older lady who chased after me in the supermarket car park after my two year old had been an absolute nightmare in the checkout queue. She handed me a bottle of wine and said 'I think you need this more than I do'. That little bit of empathy and humour will stay with me for life!

Haha. My excuse for drinking too. Seriously I just get so fed up with it. Screeching running around pushing trollies it's like the parents can't hear it or be bothered. I take solace from the fact that I don't have to live with the feral little darlings

Whilst screaming children in a supermarket doubt particularly bother me (I mean others peoples kids- not mine as they’re older), what does baffle me are people who shop as a family when clearly with both parents.

Surely one stays home with the kids and the other shops?
Why would you take kids shopping unless you need to??

I find Aldi to be mainly ok for screaming kids, mainly because it seems to be favoured by the get in and out as fast as possible crew (which includes me). Our big Tesco is a fucking nightmare and I only go there if it is there or starve to death. The nearest Waitrose has no screaming kids as only rich retirees appear to be able to shop there, same with M&S.

So can people who can't deal with a bit of noise for 5 minutes!

I had my first child in 1990, my last child is now 15.....I have NEVER understood this! I only ever took all the kids if I absolutely had to because there was literally nothing in the house. It baffles me that some people treat it as a day out! As for the "I can't drive and he is useless at shopping" a) learn to drive and b) pick a less useless husband. Also, it is no excuse now with online shopping.

Someone elses poor parenting is not for the rest of the world to deal with. You want to indulge tantrums, do it in your own home.

Sure.

I bought 3 items.

If I bought the items via Just Eat, it would be double!

I don’t shop online for groceries as get rubbish dates

It’s the shouting for the sake of it that annoys me. Not a tantrum, just shouting randomly. What really upsets me is the children who run about , tripping up shoppers and getting under your feet, particularly if the parents ignore them.

This 😭

You wouldn’t last five mins in my house OP.

I have one child who is usually pretty good but quite unadjusted from starting back at school.

And an 18 month old who has two settings. Screaming to express dissatisfaction and screaming to express joy.

I have taken 2 ibruprofen today

If you find other humans intolerable, stay home, get a delivery

You saw that many children having screaming tantrums on one visit to the supermarket? Maybe it’s you?

Seriously, given the time of day you went they were probably all tired, their parents were all also knackered and neither children or their adults wanted to be there and it was a necessity. Just be thankful you didn’t have to go home with any of them.

And whats the parent expected to do about that?? It is annoying. I have a friend whose child is a screamer and we all hate it including her parents but there is absolutely nothing they could do. She just screamed like she is being slaughtered because she couldn’t speak and say what she wants. And i mean screamed and screamed for hours non stop. The more you try to make her stop the more she would scream. She will play with toys and sit there and just screams. Her older sister who is also under 10 used to lose her mind over it 😂 Walks perfectly ok and then she will just start screaming. It stopped when she started talking 🤷