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

[purplepeony]

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.

Our kiosk sells fags, fizzy pop, sandwiches, and lottery tickets, Blithe. Not sure I'd want the DCs to have any of those!

RainRain - sorry, not trying to guilt trip you!

Its ok...I feel alright about it still as I 'blip' things, so its a little bit like paying for it first.

These people whose kids can't survive a trip round the supermarket without food, what do you do when you go to the zoo, or the museum, or clothes shopping, or to the park? Do they start to eat the animals' food at the zoo, or the grass in the park? Or do you - wait for it - take snacks with you?!

studies have shown that if dc don't learn the principles of delayed gratification, their life chances are pretty poor.

I worked in Tesco for years, and I found plenty of empty wrappers, coke bottles, packets, you name it. It's great if you go on to pay for it, but not everyone does! Particularly amusing is when a cashier on the tills goes to scan a multipack of crisps, which were clearly opened so that someone's child could have a packet, then the parents claim it is damaged, and ask for a new multipack. The tales I could tell... Some people do come in for a free lunch. It is theft, and yes, you can get arrested for it.

You must be all horribly honest people. My mum taught me to pay for things first, and I think that's a good rule to live by. If I (or the children with me) are hungry when we go in the shop, we get a banana or two, pay for them at the quick till, and sit outside to eat them, then get a trolly and go in. Is that so hard? I agree that a big shop is pretty boring for young children, but I also don't like the "constant grazing" that some children and adults do as they go round the shops.

I bring good tidings of great joy!!

The time will come when your dcs are old enough to be left at home whilst you do the supermarket shopping on your own. And before that, they will be in school, giving you peaceful time in which to shop.

I have reached the happy stage of being able to leave the dses at home whilst I go to Tesco - and I promise I never make catsbum mouth face at mums or dads whose children are screaming/crying etc in the supermarket - I give them a look of pure sympathy and try to say something nice, if it seems appropriate.

And now you hopefully think I am a nice person, I will blight it all by saying that I never fed the dses on the way round the supremarket, and they usually behaved well. Mind you, they went in for plenty of bad behaviour at home and elsewhere, so I'm honestly not being smug. It is a number of years ago (though we did have supermarkets back then), but I think they did ask occasionally, but I said no. And I don't approve of people feeding their kids food in supermarkets if it has to be weighed. I don't desperately like it if it is going to be paid for, but at the end of the day, we all do what gets us through the day, I suppose.

Read every thread here and I still do not consider myself a shoplifter, morally reprehensible or the instigator of future heinous degenerates. So I shall continue to feed the dcs for whatever reason as we trundle around the aisles.

And just think if people like me didn't do this, then what on earth would so many of you have to talk about or feel superior to.

So long and farewell.

We have a ritual which the local coop staff are now used to - DS (aged 22 months, so not really up to grasping the concept of delayed gratification) picks an apple, I rush him to the checkout before he eats too much of it, he hands it over to be weighed, then solemnly hands his pound coin over, then we do the rest of the shopping while he munches contendedly. I never realised my local coop was being staked out by mumnetters tutting to themselves and waiting for an opportunity to comment on line!

zoos, museums etc are interesting. shops are not for young children.

I'm glad that people have mastered the art of copying and pasting on MN.

""shopping was different 20 years ago though wasn't it? we went to a bakery, and a greengrocers, and a butchers etc instead of one big supermarket. i used to get bought a cake at the bakery to eat when i got home or sweets in the newsagents."

errr. don't know what time warp you are in, but I used to go to a super large Sainsbury's 20 years back, and even a supermarket with my mum 50 years back!It was called Walter Wilsons nand they used to deliver your stuff after you had shopped.

StayingSantasGirl - sorry but life isn't all ha ha hee hee with your friends, even 3-year-olds need to learn this. Not every minute of the day revolves around them "fgs" as you so nicely put it.

To the original question, Yes I do your Smugness.
I try to shop without them, but sometimes it has to be done with both (yes two little boys - try and get them both in the trolley seats!).

I consider a single brownish banana will only get thrown out anyway so I am doing the environment a favour.

I always make sure we all fill up while walking round, I sometimes invite people to join us. Where else can you go for a free meal!

I disagree with hully

dh and i go on dates in the chilled food aisle. service is crap, but there's a great self-service menu. and it's child friendly, too. yum.

The 'I want it now' mentalitly is a much bigger issue than whether you jolly the kids around the supermarket using snacks or not. Personally I think adults are often more guiltly than kids of this attitude. In this case I think YABU. I would rather see a kid having a snack in the supermarket than a parent getting stressed and having a meltdown. I think as fellow parents or as educators we should try not to judge each other over the small, petty stuff. Live and let live. (Climbs off high horse and saunters off).

...

It's a bit difficult to explain to a one year old that they can't have any food when they're surrounded by it. Great if you want to make shopping an endurance test for them, but I'm just not really up for it.

Ah Purplep - Walter Wilsons, I remember it well. The garlic sausage at the meats counter. I remember it getting delivered too. How civilised.

PlanetEarth - how sad that you have to take the ha ha hee hee out of a 3 year old's life.

"StayingSantasGirl - sorry but life isn't all ha ha hee hee with your friends, even 3-year-olds need to learn this. Not every minute of the day revolves around them "fgs" as you so nicely put it."

Errm - PlanetEarth - where did I say any of that?

People do find some rather mindlessly irrelevant things to get worked up about, don't they?