@CakeCakeCake21
You really have no idea about anyone personal circumstances
I can't see why anyone would have to go into a shop with both parents and a child, and I am usually one to bend over backwards thinking of reasons to excuse people's behaviour. And maybe it doesn't add that much time but when there are 12 people in a queue and it is raining - and it is not that small a shop - I reserve the right to get a tad irate.
How about the fact that we don't drive a car and the kids help carry the shopping home? We tried really hard to time it for when it wouldn't be busy, but to be honest I am tired of feeling like I have to apologise for my kids being anywhere.
We are a family of 5, and there are no good options. My husband works in the NHS, I have chronic health issues including seizures and my teenager and middle son have additional needs. The kids are 8, 10 and 17. We have also moved house during lockdown which means a lot of our usual options are now more difficult.
I can choose to rely on my husband to do the shopping on his bike after work so it's multiple trips to the supermarket a week. He isn't very good at following shopping lists or even reading text messages.
I can beg/bribe the teenager to watch the youngest in the house if I leave her a snack and her tablet (he cannot manage both of them) while I take the middle one on public transport to go to the shops. This isn't great for anyone since he really struggles to follow instructions and I really struggle to cope with the health issues. He also has anxiety issues that are made worse by people staring or being nasty in the shops even when he is wearing a mask and I am stopping him touching anything by holding his hand constantly.
I can trust the teenager to follow simple instructions regarding shopping and transfer the money onto his debit card, he can manage about 5 items correctly if they are essentials like bread and milk and he knows the packaging well, anything complicated that comes in multiple sizes/brands/flavours causes him to panic.
We have literally nobody we can ask for help, but we cope and we always have done. We are experts at fitting the shopping into the double pushchair, shopping trolley and backpacks.
Before lockdown, shopping as a family was part of the routine. Not only out of necessity but because it was a safe way for them to practise important skills like making choices and using money. Them being in the shop never had any effect on any other customers.
This sometimes involved us meeting my husband at the local Lidl after he finished work, we lived close enough that a shopping trip after Cubs had no effect on our kids, or a trip to Aldi with my middle son while my daughter was at Brownies or a visit to the shops during the school run because one bus stop was as close as another.