Eating in the supermarket

[tallulah]

As an aside from my other thread about children misbehaving in shops- the other thing that wound me up yesterday is this trend for letting children eat in the supermarket. The child in the trolley at the next till had a bag of grapes she'd been eating. She must have had 1/2 lb, so that's about 50p? Would her mother have thought it OK to give her, say, a twix, or a Begian Bun without paying for it?

I don't agree with this on 3 counts

1. people shouldn't be eating in any shop & teaching a child that they can is not a good idea
2. this is theft & if everyone did it then the supermarkets losses would be passed on to everyone
3. children also should be taught that you can't have something until it's paid for.

Before you all jump on me and say it's better than having them screaming, I have got 4 myself & I have been through this. Mine quickly learned that no screaming inside meant they could get to eat a treat outside when we'd finished.

For goodness sake, a grape! for , totally unreapeatable these bloody supermarkets extract enough cash from us in a week a grape will NOT BANKRUPT THEM!!!!!!!. I give my vote as a , and for those who seem to be on a Higher Moralistic Plain than the majority of us here, get a bloody grip.

Call me old-fashioned, but if it's a grape or one of the wide-screen tellies in my local S'bys - it's still theft. Similarly, my 3 yr old is taught not to litter, to say please and thankyou, to think of others' feelings and to help clean up after herself.

Couldn't bear the screaming in the early days though so we did do the 'presenting an open packet of bread at the checkout' bit.

oh god so now we`re being acussed of not teaching our kids manners

Very much agree with Tigerlilly's first statement. In fact some of this must have rubbed off on my DS1 (four) as a couple of weeks ago we were in ASDA and he found a 5p on the floor, he didn't know what to do, he didn't want to keep it, he wanted to give it back to whoever it belonged to, I said we would give it to the lady at the Customer Service desk and assumed that the lady would humour him and then put the 5p in the charity box. The lady at the desk was very impressed with DS1 and gave him a packet of sweeties (which I believe they are allowed to do as they have given DS1 sweets before when he hurt his finger in ASDA one day, they have some sort of system for putting it through the till). Very useful example for teaching DS1 that honesty does pay.

Yes but you know what they say, a grape today a wide screen tv the next.

I must admit I have checked my bill when I get home and they have occasionally charged me twice for something that I only purchased one off, it might only be a 15p loaf of bread, so with the grape eating it more that makes up for it.

Definately think we need more emotions, I vote for one that shows the "up yours"

PLEASE would someone explain why it is stealing if we pay for it - it's only stealing if we walk through the door without paying for it! AND why is it impolite to eat in a supermarket/in public? I need a straight answer.

Are those that give their children snacks to eat in a supermarket prior to paying for them being accused of not knowing, or being incapable of teaching their children, what's right from wrong?

I think the reason why this has got such a response is because there is an implied accusation of immoral and inadequate parenting.

well said nattie

Beetroot - read some of it (it's soooo long) but was reacting to Tigger2 really.

Actually, I'm not averse to nicking pens from work etc etc (daring, huh!) but I think what I mean is I'm an adult so it's my choice. I'm just trying to teach my kids to be 100 per cent now and then they can pick up their own bad habits as they get older.

Demented - you must have been so proud!

The trouble is, tigerlilly, you call it 'bad habits', I don't. I see no problem with 'eating in supermarkets'. But I'm still teaching my children what's stealing and what's not. I don't see anything wrong with eating in public and eating before you get to the checkout.

Re: stealing pens from work:

Let him/her without sin, cast the first stone!!!!

HI Nattie

Now, I don't call eating in the supermarket a bad habit at all. Nothing wrong with it. It's just the eating and then not paying bit that I have a problem with.

I loathe supermarkets and all they stand for. Don't shop in them very much. I can see why people think they're fair game. But I don't think my 3-year-old is political enough to differentiate between S'bys and small traders...!

Afraid I'm a

Demented's post summed up my position. When DS was younger I used to take him a snack from home in a plastic container (eg cheese cubes, raisins and cheerio's etc) and a drink. This was standard whereever I went. Since then I have started ordering from the net. This applies to me personally only. I did not want to end up with DS expecting food when shopping so didn't give him things for much the same reason I have never let him go on the little rides at the entrance. As in to be consistent and make my life easier.

Unfortunately I didn't do this at the swimming baths and woe betide me if there isn't a banana waiting in the changing room....

I do occasionally go to Asda with DS mainly to buy non-food items and agree with Slug. Although I go in the car there is generally no parent/child parking so until DS got to reasonably walking would get the push chair out.

Also my Asda has a hand basket aisle rather than a 10 items or less. And since DS insists on going in a trolley I may only have 1 or 2 items but have to queue for ages.

Teach them to eat "won't be paid for" grapes now and they'll have the hubcaps off your car before you know it. A boy at DSs nursery had an illicit grape once - he was caught trying to hotwire the Little Tikes car last week.

Well in that case I should've grown up a vandal as my dad used to poke holes in cakes in supermarkets for entertainment - anyone else's parents that odd?

Great thread

Yes eating is totally fine with the intention to pay.

TheOldDragon

V. funny!

Blimey, nothing to add about the topic but this the longest thread I have ever seen!

wow what an interesting thread.

my vote

Bozza, put the basket in your trolley - hey presto - basket only line.

I don't know about kids eating in the supermarket, what about us lot??!! My DH and I used to always have an onion bahjee from the deli and put the empty wrapper in the trolley and pay for it afterwards. We went through a real stage of doing it but haven't for ages, will have to start that one up again!!
If I'm organised I always take a snack / drink for DD but if i popped into supermarket, unplanned, and she got grouchy I'd find something to snack on and pay for it at the check out. If I was told off by staff then fine I'd realise they didn't approve and wouldn't do it again (well I'd wait a few weeks!) but no-one has ever said a word when i've given them the empty wrapper to run through the till so........

ROFL at all this!!! I can tell you why it's impolite to eat in public. It's because my mum SAYS SO! Okay?

Grapestealer, LOL at the Sainsburys notice. You obviously have very precocious children in your neck of the woods!!

In all seriousness, I've been thinking about why I didn't/don't feed mine in supermarkets and I think it comes down to not wanting any mess on me or them, be it grape juice or crumbs. It probably stems from my early motherhood experiences, which were in the pre-baby wipe and supermarket loos days, so if you got into a mess, you had to produce the wet flannel you carried around with you (or not, in my case!), or lick-and-spit or just put up with it until you got home. But I don't think it's a crime - it's just not for me!

Anyway, I'll pass on the bread stick fight, if you don't mind. I might get a crumb on my peg bag pinnie.