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.

Wouldn't dream of letting my ds snack on his grapes without paying for them. It doesn't matter that Sainsbury's or whoever is a big firm; other customers end up subsidising those who steal and it's not a very good message to give your child - that it's OK to steal.
(ducks under brick bats etc. )

pie - lol

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Re peg bags. Don't any of you possess a flowery pinafore with a pocket for pegs on the front??? My sister does!!

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I would like to point out that with the tit in the mouth method payment may not reach you until you are 70 an incontinent, but alas some children will run off without paying.

I can't BELIEEEEEEEEEEVE people think that it's stealing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to stop now before I say something that'll really offend all you people out there that would have me arrested for letting my son have grape whilst walking around the supermarket that my dp works in where I spent £160 yesterday. Hmmm.

Get a grip.

ROFL

But surely eating something you haven't yet paid for is stealing. The question is whether or not you think it is a big deal.

In my opinion it ins't that much of a big deal - I am in no way bothered by people who do it. However, although my personal choice is not to give my DD anything that hasn't been paid for.

I don't see it as stealing. It's more of a loan and the supermarkets get paid back with interest, beacause parents can manage to stay longer in there, therefore spending more money.

pie

That is actually a good way of looking at it, Bobbins.
Still won't do it though!!!

I think I saw something on TV once about this, and it is actually OK to eat in a supermarket from a legal point of view, as long as you intend to pay. It was someone making a point by going round eating as much as he could in a supermarket, and they cant stop you until you leave the shop, because until you take the products out of the store you've not 'stolen' them. SO as long as you intend to pay it is OK. I think.

I shop at Safeway, where you used to be able to weigh (and bar code) your fruit yourself, as well as at the check out. Whenever I tried doing that, the check out girl would still insist on weighing the grapes again - despite the fact that the reason I had done it myself was so to ensure that the grapes that ds had had on the way around were taken into account. At that time he was grape mad!

They've now taken away that facility of pre-weighing, but fortunately he has gone off grapes -now into raisins, which I can, if necessary, give him from a bar coded back.

I've also had to learn to get TWO bags of crisps - one for him to eat and the other for the girl to scan (reduces tantrums while he try to tak ethe bag off him to be scanned!)

He's also that wee bit older that I can explain to him that he can't have if we've not paid - I'm not sure how much a one year old would understand of that!

But the real thing I've learnt is to leave him at home with dh while I go and do the shopping on my own!

OK ENOUGH SANCTIMONY, here's the definition:

steal (TAKE AWAY) verb [I][T] stole, stolen

-to take something without the permission or knowledge of the owner and keep it:

Does that clear it up?????possibly not!

I would like to point out that we are often talking about feeding small children who don't understand what waiting for you to pay for food entails. I think that it is more important when they are small to feed them as long as you intend to pay.

I mean it wasn't much more that 100 years ago when children where criminally punnished for stealing food when they were starving.

On a personal note, my great grandmother was a prominent land owner in Thailand when it was still classed as a third world country. She would take the majority of the crops and often leave her farmers to starve. If they were caught theiving they had their hands cut off.

Obviously if your child if old enough to understand what theft is and how to control their hunger than learning to wait is a valuable lesson.

On another note, if you kill someone accidentally without intent it is usually regarded as manslaughter, if there is intent then it is murder. Either way someone kills someone else. But we offer understanding in the first instance because of the intent. Perhaps it is equally important to teach children of a certain age that intent is an important thing, and that there are many grey areas in questions of morality and law. As long as you always pay at the end, so the child understands that there is always a price to pay I think that they can still understand the lesson that some people here think is paramount.

Edgarcat. Actually, I feel a bit mean poking fun at my sis now. She's a sweetie and just so old-fashioned that it wouldn't occur to her not to have a peg pinnie. BTW, do you really have a cat called Edgar?

whymummy sorry not me
Kids call me a old witch but not dragon.
anyway been shopping all day
very conscious of all the grapes.

Actually been to solicitor and got some very good news
did go to tescos though. I held myself back from eating even though I was bloody starving.

mumsnet tip : to keep your children happy while you are shopping in a supermarket, feed them grapes along the way.

sorry sed, I must be without morals because, given the amount of money I spend in supermarkets, I would not be particularly upset if I left without (accidentally of course ) paying for a 24p triangle of brie. Wouldn't encourage kids to deliberately do this naturally, but I certainly wouldn't loose sleep over it. Now I'm off to join th 'World's Worst Mother' thread

Tigermoth . I dare you to send it to Carrie, Justine et al as a genuine parenting tip

When DS2 is old enough to understand the concepts involved, he won't get fed in supermarkets.

Lil, great comment about paying for your meals in a restaurant before eating them

Mum2Toby - could not agree MORE. I just cannot understand why eating in supermarkets is "not a good idea". I always give DS crips or whatever and then scan the empty packet but really, a few grapes when we spend so much money in there.

Or is eating grapes in supermarkets the thin end of the wedge.....??? perhaps it's just indicitive of how this society is going to rack and ruin.. I'm sorry but I can't take this seriously

no wonder this country is going downhill if all of you allow your kids to eat three grapes everytime you go to the supermarket

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