Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder why parents give their children food in supermarkets when it is not yet paid for?

535 replies

purplepeony · 21/12/2009 18:50

Do you?

is your child so hungry that you have to grab a frnech stick, break bits off and feed it to them then present the empty packet at the checkout?

Are mums so disorganised that they cannot feed teir child before they shop?

Are they keen to feed (ha!) the "I want it now" mentality?

It really annoys me when I see this going on, asit means kids grow up not being able to wait one second from asking to being given.

OP posts:
shonaspurtle · 23/12/2009 10:35

Bingo! OP has said "rod for your own back". I can therefore ignore everything she has to say about parenting with complete safety.

BellasSparklyBaubles · 23/12/2009 10:36

How not to make a rod for your own back:

here

MattBellamysMuse · 23/12/2009 10:38

This thread is making me laugh

catastrojb · 23/12/2009 10:38

BSB lol for first link (loving Little Britain!), for second.

BellasSparklyBaubles · 23/12/2009 10:39

I know, castro

Bitty was a flash of genius, btw.

sunangel88 · 23/12/2009 10:40

Ooer - no children yet, but I have been guilty of eating/drinking unpaid for goods in supermarkets and presenting the empty package to the cashier to pay for it! Sometimes you're just too hungry/thirsty!

Original poster
purplepeony · 23/12/2009 10:44

FLight-
It's funny how much you have managed to upset numerous nice, good parents on this thread despite according to you, not being 'offensive or personal'.

I haven't upset anyone - you have all chosen to be upset. You either read and ignore, or read and get all upitty- your choice.

and as for those who say have I nothing better to do, well- haven't you- or why are you posting?

Bye ladies- have fun carrying on with your debates.

OP posts:
catastrojb · 23/12/2009 10:48

PP - and as for those who say have I nothing better to do, well- haven't you- or why are you posting?

actually at this moment i have packed off dd to sainsbury's to get her breakfast while i kick back with a glass of wine and a fag.

ok, ok, not really. i'm bf her as i type. she wanted milk so i gave it to her. no delayed gratification here.

BellasSparklyBaubles · 23/12/2009 10:49

Purple - I just find it quite depressing that someone can spout so much completely offensive and unfounded tosh with such conviction as you do. That's it really.

MattBellamysMuse · 23/12/2009 10:50

I don't understand why you started this thread OP.
Did you want a debate or did you just want to inform the whole of MN of your superior opinion?
If the latter, then starting a thread in AIBU was unwise.
Perhaps MNHQ could start an 'announcements' topic for you.

BellasSparklyBaubles · 23/12/2009 10:51

rofl - MattBellamy.

Goblinchild · 23/12/2009 10:53

"oh yes, the routine idea. i had forgotten that i was breeding a clingy, sleepless, routine-free mummy's girl who will still be calling for "bitty" when home from university - i am clearly now going to have to add thieving obese delinquent to that too."

Hasn't happened with my DD, but I didn't combine supermarket feeding with EBF so that might be why.
Boy eats his own bodyweight daily, but that's teenagers for you.

gorionine · 23/12/2009 10:54

By purplepeony Wed 23-Dec-09 10:44:09
""I haven't upset anyone - you have all chosen to be upset.""

Wrong, usually people get upset when their parenting skills are "attacked" in the way you have.

You put everyone in the same shopping basket with no consideration for the actual situation at the time the food is offered.

I think the "have you nothing better to do?" rerered to you spying on parents doing their shopping (I might have got it wrong though).

BellasSparklyBaubles · 23/12/2009 11:09

That was certainly what I meant by having nothing better to do - judging other parents in the supermarket.

Mothers (and fathers) have a hard enough time of it without - for example - busybodies giving us disapproving looks if we give junior a bit of baguette before the checkout.

Flightattendant · 23/12/2009 11:47

Oh my Good Lord. We have all 'chosen to be upset', well, I suppose the OP 'chose' to be upset about my swearing, too, then...perhaps she should just have 'read and ignored' instead of getting, erm...uppity

I think the argument has been lost thus the withdrawal from 'debate' (if it could indeed be construed as such)

Never mind. I'm sure she'll be back to tell us how it should be done before long.

and MattBellamy you have really made me giggle

Missy8c · 23/12/2009 12:00

Haha!! Just came across this thread. I obviously have nothing better to do right now! Who gives a fuck???

MIFLAW · 23/12/2009 12:07

Have now seen where this thread is going.

It's not about the rights and wrongs of feeding at all, or even about the legal implications - it really is about my morals and the morals I am instilling in my child.

So, for the record, I do this. I give my child food when she wants it - because she is under 2 - and I will sometimes take food for myself - because I can. I always pay for it and have never been challenged on it by the people who I would say "matter" in this deabate - that is, the owners of the food prior to my purchase thereof, the supermarkets.

So, if you are not the owner of the supermarket or representative thereof, and you see me doing this (I mainly shop in Crystal Palace), please do come up to me and tell me all about what you think.

Then go away.

Don't worry if I seem to be ignoring you or appear to be bored by you - it's because I am.

TheCallerWithheldTheirNumber · 23/12/2009 12:28

PurplePeony, if you are still there... I am with you one hundred percent. I can't think of a single good reason why a child needs to be fed in a supermarket at all, never mind with food that hasn't been paid for. It just gives them the idea that a) they don't have to wait for what they want, and b) that food is the solution to any kind of negative feeling. Sorry, but the moral high ground (terribly unfashionable, I know, but there it is) is with people who pay first and eat later. The rest of you know that you really don't have a moral leg to stand on, hence all the 'witty' comments.

TheCallerWithheldTheirNumber · 23/12/2009 12:32

Ooh, I'm also against demand feeding. And I am in my 20s, so routine is not the preserve of old farts.

StayingSantasGirl · 23/12/2009 12:37

Are you even against demand feeding of newborns, TheCaller? Because that is something that I definitely do agree with. It was certainly considered to be best practise when my boys were babies, and I found that they naturally settled into a vague routine of feeds and sleeping anyway. And as they got older, and started to wean, I introduced regular mealtimes.

And I have to say that this hasn't produced children who want everything NOW and are incapable of waiting 'til the proper time - indeed ds3, in particular, is completely the opposite, and regards 12 midday as lunchtime, no questions asked, and will remark (albeit in a jokey fashion now) when he is 5 minutes late with his lunch. We laugh at this, and tell him that lunch will happen when it is ready.

gorionine · 23/12/2009 12:47

You mean against BF on demand, TheCallerWithheldTheirNum...?

4 DCs BF on demand here (and know tonnes more) not one of them absolutely unable to take no for an answer when grown up a bit!

The thing with BF, is that you can not know for sure your baby has had "enough" as we do not have gauges with amount of liquid drunk on the brest (well I haven't anyway) You are probably much better equiped than me!

RainRainGoAway · 23/12/2009 12:50

Wouldn't it be great if there was a voting system for perennial topics a bit like on Xfactor. Where your vote only counts once per email address.

Ear piercing - 74% against, 20% likes, 6%twiddling their arses

Grapes in supermarket - 60%for, 30%against, 10% not bothered

Etc. It would save on having repeat topics!

RainRainGoAway · 23/12/2009 12:52

Oh crap TheCaller.
That is chucking it into the lions den.
Reckon the percentage on the demand breastfeeding would be about 98% mind your own frickin business.

gorionine · 23/12/2009 12:55

It would not save much, as people like me who might have missed the pole would start threads like this " Sorry if it has already been done but ear piercing? what do you think?"

TheCallerWithheldTheirNumber · 23/12/2009 13:12

BF... well, maybe. I don't know, as I didn't BF any of mine (not because I didn't want to, before you slate me). But we're not talking about BFing in the supermarket trolley; we're talking about older children...