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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:
skidoodle · 21/12/2009 19:02

It's certainly not a generational thing. My mother used to give my brother a banana in the trolley when he was a baby and he's 30 now.

If the shops don't consider it to be shoplifting (and they don't), then what "moral code" exactly is making you decide that it is?

What is the moral basis for your nasty, judgmental, busybodiness and how on earth do you think it puts you in the morally superior position to people who are going about their business doing no harm to anybody at all, including you?

TisTheSeasonToBeHully · 21/12/2009 19:02

Neve mind the dc, by the time I get to the checkout I have usually had a sandwich, a drink and possibly a cake. Lunch while you shop, multitasking, what's not to like? What do they care as long as you pay?

FabIsGettingReadyForXmas · 21/12/2009 19:02

No but I did once eat a packet of crisps before paying for them. So shoot me. I was pregnant, feeling extremely sick and needed them to settle my stomach. I took my own snacks for the kids to have when I needed to food shop.

Awassailinglookingforanswers · 21/12/2009 19:03

purplepeony - I can assure you that I never developed a "want it now" attitude because of it.

And if that's the case - does that mean that even snacks brought from home must not be fed to said child until once out of the shop?

hellsbelles · 21/12/2009 19:03

YABU - as long as it's paid for I really can't see the problem

skidoodle · 21/12/2009 19:03

No fair - you can't use working in education as an excuse for being an asshole.

I know a lot of very decent, fair people who work in education.

Tortington · 21/12/2009 19:05

dude this is so MN circa 2002

why the hell not IMO

in fact i would go so far as to steal grapes

FolornHope · 21/12/2009 19:05

haha
agree with custy
we DID this once and it was dull then

piscesmoon · 21/12/2009 19:05

I never did it-if it isn't paid for you don't have it-however I think you need a hard hat to start this thread!

TisTheSeasonToBeHully · 21/12/2009 19:05

I hope they'd be organic grapes.

mulledfruitshootandcheese · 21/12/2009 19:06

'giving them food that is charged for by weight is IMO theft.How can tehy charge you when they don't know how much the brat has eaten'

they can weigh one of the other apples and then charge me for that. Why would that be a problem? No different to if you went in and bought a single apple for your lunch.

lockets · 21/12/2009 19:06

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choufleur · 21/12/2009 19:06

Oh go on shoot me know. There are so many worse things that you can do as a parent than give your child the end of a french stick or a few grapes (weighed or pre packaged by weight)in a supermarket.

It's nothing to do with the 'i want it now' mentality. Food shopping is boring: eating helps to distract them and alleviate some boredom. I give DS food while shopping, it's easier than having a whining child the whole way round a shop. I don't let him have whatever he wants to the whole time though, when he wants it.

Seriously do you really think that problems with behaviour in schools etc is really linked to eating a bit of bread/fruit/crisps in a supermarket?

MumNWLondon · 21/12/2009 19:07

YABU

Also why do you care? No one is asking you to do this, the supermarkets don't mind, so whats it to you?

I wouldn't have a problem giving a toddler something as long as it had a bar code and could be paid at the end.

I probably wouldn't do it with an older child as they could wait. But if they were really hungry well why not.

re: the comment about working in education well toddlers not good at waiting, they learn in school and then don't go to supermarket as much.

TisTheSeasonToBeHully · 21/12/2009 19:07

I have seen it in the classroom though. Children snatching and grabbing at worksheets, "Gimme it NOW!" and pencils.

Original poster
purplepeony · 21/12/2009 19:07

Oh skidoodle- you want the prize for nastiness? i think you and your posts have just won it! Talk about being enraged and being personal, eh? Nasty, nasty, nasty.

OP posts:
TisTheSeasonToBeHully · 21/12/2009 19:08

I want the prize! And I want it NOW!!!!

lockets · 21/12/2009 19:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

choufleur · 21/12/2009 19:10

If my DS snatch and said Gimme it NOW! tistheseason he certainly wouldn't get anything. Asking if he may have a bagel please (yes he is polite) is fine by me.

FolornHope · 21/12/2009 19:10

ban santa
begging bastards

MamaVoo · 21/12/2009 19:10

YANBU. Surely if you do it once then they expect something every time? What is wrong with teaching your child the concept that something isn't yours until it's paid for?

TisTheSeasonToBeHully · 21/12/2009 19:10

A smarmy kid, eh?

Awassailinglookingforanswers · 21/12/2009 19:11

TisTheSeason - and you think they're like that because once a week they are given something to eat before getting to the checkout

lockets · 21/12/2009 19:11

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JeMeSouviens · 21/12/2009 19:11

I'd rather DS eat something from the supermarket and present the empty packet or bar code to the cashier, than take something from home, and worry that someone would accuse me of shoplifting if I then didn't pay for it at the end.