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.

Looking forward to Thursday's grape demo.

What do we want?
A grape to eat!
When do we want it?
NOOOOOOW!

Just one thing bothers me. All those who try cherries before buying - where do you spit the stones? Maybe you have a pinny with pockets and spit the stones in there?

Now why didn't I think of that Aloha. Great idea since the trolley is only actually for transporting DS and stopping him wrecking the shop.

Where have you been anyway?

Another point I have a friend with children aged 27 months and 11 months who used to work in Sainsburys. She says she would never let her kids eat things before she'd paid for them and she used to hate having to scan sticky wrappers etc.

And I made my own peg bag. So there!!

OK so it was while on pre-baby maternity leave and not something I would have contemplated at any other point in my life.

XAusted, I keep it in my mouth until I find a bin, or, if I've got a carpark ticket in my mouth already, then I put it into a tissue and wrap it up and keep it until I find a bin.

Oh yes, nice to have you back Aloha

Suedonim I have an aversion to the wipe and spit that my mother used to do. YUCK!!!!!!

To the mumsnetters out there who do not like eating in public are you relations of Catherine Zeta Jones by any chance?????????????

I was very proud of my DS1 that day, in fact I had tears in my eyes!

Ah Doormat - I wondered how long it would take for my clone to be mentioned again.

Oh, you know. Just annoying too many people... getting fed up. And I'm a confirmed grapestealer and french stick eater too. Poor ds doesn't stand a chance. Still, if he turns out a wrong 'un he'll fit in nicely around where we live.

Amazingly long thread - obviously struck a raw nerve Tallulah!

I agree with you and Bobsmum but when very tired one day I gave mine a croissant to share - this was mainly to try and prise ds (3) and dd (20m) apart - they pinch hug pull fight wriggle and generally cause mayhem sometimes when seated next to each other. So my excuse was that I needed to for a general policing violence policy!

Doesn't matter at all though does it!

got it:

2, 4, 6, 8
Let our kids eat the grapes

OK so it's not Shakespeare but hey it's an anarchist group so all contributions valid.

I think I might chain myself to Sainsburys bike stands on Thursday.

Now, should we have Grape Detectives in the supermarkets??????, I'd love to see it, I'm usually the one trying to blend in with the grapes whilst tasting them!

Oh and by the by tigerlily, my kids do say please and thank you, always.

you dont want to do that katierocket,youll be an easy target for the "others" ,we can chain ourselfs to the trolleys and still be able to run away from the baguette attacks

Tigger2

Like 'please will you nick me a grape?'.

Oh, and I'd do a smily face here if I knew how.

My ds is too young to even notice whether the grapes came from my bag or the trolley!!!!!! Whenever he's old enough I'll just pop them in my handbag when he's not looking. Then he'll think that I've brought them with me and I won't scar him for life.

SHURRRRRRUP MORAL POLICE! IT'S A FECKING GRAPE!

By the way........ don't see what this has to do with my child growing up knowing his P's and Q's... when I'm stealing grapes for him he always says 'Ta, Mummy'!!!

lol m2t

Whymummy - I've still never received your email..... maybe youjust don't want to reveal your true ID to me......... >sniff

I know I shouldn't - but I'm going to add my thoughts to this one.

I cannot believe the number of people who allow their children to eat food from the trolley before it is paid for!

If it is a weighed item, then I'm sorry but it is THEFT, no matter how seemingly meaningless - and it's not the supermarket who pay for it but those of us who don't indulge in this stealing, as we have to pay higher prices to cover the losses - and before you go on about it only being a grape, have you seen the price of them recently?!

If it is an item that can be scanned after consumption and it is subsequently paid for then I agree you are not stealing, but I still feel it's morally wrong - you should pay for goods before consuming them.

I have two daughters, 2 1/4 years between them. I never took them shopping when they were hungry. They were always allowed a treat - but only after it had been paid for. This was the rule, no exceptions, and I never had any problem with either of them, as they knew exactly where I stood. So I'm sorry, I just can't understand why people would have a problem with enforcing this!

As a teacher I see far too many pupils who don't have a firm grasp of what is acceptable and what's not, and although it may seem a trivial thing to get worked up about, to me it's the thin end of the wedge. Establishing groundrules and then sticking to them is an important part of parenting. Many pupils I see who cannot accept discipline and rules at school have not been brought up to respect other people's property or groundrules at home.

I know these views are unpopular, but before you count me out as aged - I'm 37.

rosiemum

bad day?

Nattie- if you read my original post again you will see I was not talking about 1 grape. the child in question had polished off half a bag, in a shop that weighs at the till, so no, her mother did not pay for them.

Re the twix example- I didn't phrase that well. The other part was what if she'd eaten something like a twix, which she'd then not scanned the wrapper of. Is it ok to steal grapes but not other food items?

And yes it is rude to eat in shops!

No worse than usual northernlass!

think we need to change our nicknames in case we get tracked down and arrested!

Always pay for all my food - have not stolen anything and have very rarely done the croissant immoral thing. Anyway they don't finish it so it always gets put back in the bag and scanned through. Hands up though - feel bad when I do do it but life's too short to worry about what other people think.

Roseiemum

You are very brave to post such unpopular opinions. I salute you!

Sorry - I don't get it, why is it morally wrong to eat something and then pay for it. I've never been told off by anyone working in the supermarket if they have to scan an empty bag from the deli which one contained an item of food, (which I rarely do to be honest) or a drink which I've opened to take the much needed headache tablets (which would be more common with me).
And why is it rude to eat when you're out and about. I don't get that at all. Rude to eat just when you're in a supermarket or out in public, other than a restaurant, in general?