nightmare in shopping centre with 4dc, is this normal??

[Rochel4]

today, me, my dh and 4dc ages 7, 5, 3, and 10mo went shopping. nothing could have prepared me for the total nightmare of whining, fighting, bickering, crying, defiance, moaning and total FRUSTRATION! My dd went into a mood coz i didnt buy her a chapstick, which is only because she took it from the Boots checkout till without paying (shes only 5 you see). she wouldn't walk with us, kept lagging behind, saying she would prefer a different family anyway, when we told her stories of kidnappings. how exhausting! And then my oldest ds 7 yrs, who has to be the winner at everything, the first in everything etc, pushed my dd out of the way so that he could reach the top of the escalator first. Cue the crying etc...
Does anyone else ever experience this or am i just really unlucky?

Lots of sympathy going your way.

Why did you all have to go shopping at once?
Could your DH not have looked after the DCs whilst you got on with things or vice versa?

Shopping in the sales is asking for massive tantrums from children and adults alike.

You are very brave or foolhardy!

no, you aren't the only one. I have 3 and it's a nightmare.

but, i don't expect it to be anything less tbh. shopping is deadly boring for little ones and they're bound to play up a bit.

I would never take 4 children shopping unless I absolutely had to. It's bound to be a nightmare. It's not exactly going to be much fun for them is it, being dragged around a shopping centre is it??

My children really really really hate shopping and I don't blame them. I do everything I can not to take them with me, but do understand that thats impossible sometimes.

But a family trip to a shopping centre never features on our list of fun days out, put it that way!

you are all absolutely right! in fact we had planned a nice lunch there, abit of shopping and then on to the activity centre, but we never made it there because of all the drama!