AIBU to think that if shopkeepers put pester-power plastic tat mags on the lowest shelf

[Ninkynork]

then they should not make cat's-bum mouths at toddlers who want them?

DS aged two was in our local corner shop with me and shrieked loudly at being prised away from all the tempting items on display. Cue horrified looks from the very people who profit from this strategy.

i refuse to feel guilty about that - its the shops own fault - in fact sometimes if i'm in a supermarket i work on the theory that if its in reach of children they can play with it until they get bored and then i leave the item on the nearest shelf!

I like your style

YANBU Ninkynork.

Totally agree with you. YANBU.

My children are very good at accepting the word 'no' if they can see something they want but I don't want them to have it, but if it's within grabbing reach and they can actually get their hands on it it's a different story. So many places (including some supermarkes who insist on putting these stupid special offer bins in the middle of the aisles) just have aisles that are too narrow. Even if you place yourself and toddler on reins/toddler in buggy dead centre, they can STILL touch things on shelves. I have to do a sweep just before we get to the till in every shop to check that my twins haven't shoplifted something. I can't possibly watch them like a hawk while simultaneously scanning for the products I want. Obviously, if it's large/noisy you spot it far quicker, but then you've got to wrestle it away. If it's a tin of beans, not usually a problem. If it's a colourful magazine with bright and shiny 'special tat gifts' included, cue screaming tantrum for rest of shopping trip.

And it's hypocritical - it's the same marketing philosophy as placing chocolate stands by the checkouts - unavoidable temptation. If enough adults sucuumb to chocolate to make it a worthwhile strategy, how on earth do they expect toddlers to withstand it.

Despite the length of this post, this sort of thing doesn't particularly annoy me as I do 99% of my shopping online but you are definitely not being unreasonable.

There is a little shop on the way to and from nursery I sometimes pop into for bread and milk. Once I had to drag ds screaming and kicking away from a creme egg. Because of their strategy of leaving tempting morsels within toddlers' eyelines, I go in there a lot less than I would to minimise tantrums.