Feeding kids at a grocery store...

[cynatnite]

Today at the store I was with my son to pick up a few items. We only had two and went to the express checkout. A lady was in front and she had four kids. Each of them were eating chips from the small bags. The little girl in the front of the cart dumped her bag of chips all over the floor right in front of the register where a person would be standing to pay for their items. It was a huge mess and we stepped around so we wouldn't be crunching up chips.

It occured to me at just how bad of an idea it is at feeding kids junk picked from an aisle in a grocery store. It's a method to shut the kids up or it's a bribary of sorts. It gives in to the kids who want something and parents just fork it over.

I've never once considered feeding my kids as I shopped. It never occured to me, but today I realized at how often I see it. There are so many complaints about our overweight kids, but no one's lecturing parents who feed their kids a bunch of junk. At least I'm not seeing it...I admit I may have missed it.

Either way, feeding kids at a grocery store has got to be one of the dumbest things people do, IMO.

P.S. I've lost four pounds since I quit drinking soda.

[RB TexLa]

1. I just miss being able to drink a couple of beers out of the six pack as I grocery shop

but every place isn't as progressive as Louisiana.

[Madspirit]

7. "I just miss being able to drink a couple of beers out of the six pack as I grocery shop"

:rofl:

Lee

[Oilwellian]

28. Oh, and the drive-thru daiquiri shops

One-Fifty-One Pina Coladas. Mmmm. Mmmmm..Mmmmmmmmm...:D

[beyurslf]

2. I guess I figure a parent taking 4 kids to the store alone---I'd do anything

to make that trip work out. I don't like taking even one of mine to the grocery store with me.

[cynatnite]

6. I've had few few problems...

I've taken my kids, grandkids and other people's kids with me. They range in age from 12 months to 12 years old. We've used two carts to get everyone around and the problems have been minor. Even if they'd been major, we wouldn't feed them to appease them. But I was raised a certain way to behave in public and I passed it down to my kids.

Maybe this is me just being me...the way I am and how I was raised. :shrug:

[pnwmom]

22. Maybe there's an element of luck.

None of your kids or grandkids have ADD or autism or a host of other problems beyond your control.

I am thankful every day that I wasn't given more challenges than I can handle.

[renate]

26. I think ADD, autism, etc are special cases, and I would never judge

A person's gotta do what a person's gotta do, and if a kid truly can't cope developmentally with the boredom of shopping or the frustration of being hungry and not being able to eat the food two inches away, it may be more considerate of other shoppers to let him or her open the bags in the store and avoid a meltdown.

For kids that just can't take "no" for an answer, though, or for parents who don't like saying "no," that's different. The food's simply not ours till we pay for it. That's what I always told my kids, and they couldn't very well argue with that. Never had a problem.

[smtpgirl]

8. For me, this would not happen, I would get the kids

excited on a cooking project when we got home, so they wouldn't need the snacks.

If the kids were hungry before the shopping, that is the mistake. Give them a snack of grahams, veges & juice (all of this is an easy snack). If they didn't like it, oh well, no meltdowns in the store!!!!

How about the cocktail lil' smokies in a blanket???? The kids need to make them as well.

Crescent rolls & little dogs, but the caveat is the dough needs to be proportionate to the dog. So they need to cut the dough small enough to cover the dogs.

After they are cooked, they won't want that many.

And people I am not a mother, just doing the right thing.

[SoCalDem]

9. I used to shop with 3 boys under 6.. (involved TWO baskets)

and yes I did it by myself.. The 5yr old pushed the food basket amd I pushed the one with the 2 yr old in the seat & the baby in the carseat in the basket..

My boys did not eat at the store, and they behaved themselved too. I did master the "please..somebody help me" look, and usually some kindly soul would give me a hand from time to time..

the only calamity occured once when the cart with the groceries hit a rut in the snow and tipped on the way to the car.. The only casualty was a gallon of milk that split open..

[smtpgirl]

3. My parents never did that to me

I think that parents today use that as a device to keep their kids quiet and well-behaved on a shopping detail!!

[grilled onions]

4. And Is It All Accounted For

I have seen that nibble doughnuts,gnaw on fruit and even eat cereal leaving a trail behind them. If the food is a set price at least I think they will pay for it but a bunch of grapes becomes less a bunch as they nibble thru the shopping trip. Small boxes of cookies somehow get lost before checkout. The mothers may never think of shoplifting but what do they call it when their kiddies eat something that never gets paid for? I would never think of eating any produce at the store. One only knows what germs,e coil etc could be lurking under that leaf or on that fruit skin. I don't know why they can't feed the kids something before they hit the store. How difficult is it to give them bread and jam or cereal???

[Nevernose]

5. "No" is the most important lesson you can teach your kids.

In adulthood and adolescence, it translates into "No, I won't have sex without a condom" and "No, no matter how much I like joint, I won't smoke meth with you." It also helps delay gratification, as in "What I need to do is eat and pay my power bill, not got to McDonald's and worry about my power bill."

May god help me, I hate to admit it, but Nancy Reagan was right -- maybe for the wrong reasons, but (hopefully) for the right outcomes.

[Contrary1]

10. I never considered feeding my son at the grocery either...

he always managed to feed himself. :)

At 8 months, he had the quickest hand to mouth action I have ever seen. Didn't seem to matter how careful I was. By the time I realized he had a block of cheese in his hand, it already had little toothie marks on it.

You would not believe how much cheese I ended up buying.

[MrMickeysMom]

11. Amazing how the little things you stop doing matter in terms of lbs!

[NeedleCast]

12. Sometimes Chips are Just Chips

I agree with you in principal though. There's a chance you're right, that the chips were used to cajole the kids into "proper" behavior, but then again, there's (I think) as much of a chance that mom said "Hey, you kids were sure good today, lets pop over to the store to get something for dinner and you can each pick out a bag of chips as a reward."

(P.S. Congrats on the weight loss)

[BlooInBloo]

13. It's possible you're right, in principle...

.... But doesn't it sound just a lil bit odd to say "you've been really good - lemme give you some chips in the middle of the store, because you can't wait til we get home for your reward, oh no!"

?

[NeedleCast]

17. You're Right, It Does

sound a bit odd but it doesn't stop it from happening I don't think. We are, after all, an instant gratification society, even though we hate to admit it (because hey, it's not fast food, it's good food served fast, right).

If I were a parent, would I do it? No. Do I really care if some parents do? No. Does it rank high on my list of factors contributing to the downward spiral of society and thus the end of the world? No.

I don't want this to seem like an attack on the OP because from what I've read of his, I dig the guy. I just think sometimes we spend to much time worrying about what other people are doing.

[cynatnite]

21. Eating in grocery stores and porn...the downfall of society...

:rofl:

Just kidding around. I'm a girl, BTW :hi:

I don't consider it an attack at all.

[ekelly]

14. I was married when my kids were very young,

so I was able to leave them at home with hubby when I went grocery shopping.




P.S. cynatnite, I've lost six lbs. since quitting soda 1 month ago. Amazing, isn't it? I went from 4 cans a day to zero.

[cynatnite]

16. My daughter brought me a coke from McD's the other day...

one sip and ICK! It tasted awful. I won't say I'm completely broke of the addiction because I did have a little craving today.

[ekelly]

18. I have found that when I get a craving

for sweet carbonation, a diet 7-Up works wonders. No fat, no calories, no carbs, nothing. I have 1 about once a week.
I plan to dump the ice cream demon next week :)

[SoCalDem]

19. Perrier Lime is great

and plain ole iced tea with alemon wedge :)

Congrats to you for kicking the soda demon :)

[pnwmom]

23. Mineral water in general

all of a sudden tastes good to me.

Probably enough of my taste buds have died by now!

[cynatnite]

20. You are a braver person than I...

I can't imagine giving up ice cream. I have a bowl about once or twice a week...mostly at night. Gotta lay on the chocolate that gets hard. Yummy. Nope, can't do it. :)

[ekelly]

25. I'm not brave, LOL....

I just can't afford new clothes, so I have to make the ones I have fit better. The jeans were getting too tight for comfort. I realized that if I can't buy new clothes, I can't justify spending money on overpriced fizzy sugar water.

I'd heard that simply cutting off the soda could make a huge difference and it's true! I actually lost weight without changing any other eating habits. This week I started walking in the evening and doing a few other healthy things as well. I feel better and I really like it.
The results happen fast! I like that :)

[cynatnite]

29. I can tell a difference...I'm sleeping better at night...

I can't tell on the weight except for the scale, but I think I'll be able to tell before long. I realized this morning when I was fixing breakfast that I cook too much with butter. So, I'm going to quit that. Was thinking of switching to olive oil to cook breakfast with. I think that'd be better than butter. Not an expert on these things. I just know how fattening butter can be.

I'm mainly going at this in lots of little ways rather than make drastic changes.

[Hippo_Tron]

30. Ice Cream is something I never have the craving to binge on for some reason

I think it's because my parents raised me on frozen yogurt and it tastes so rich in comparison. But I'll pull the pint of ice cream out of the freezer, grab a tea spoon, maybe take about 4 or 5 bites and be done. I wish I could say the same about other junk food.

As far as soda goes, I drink probably too much diet soda, but sometimes I need it to keep me awake. The only time I really drink sugared anymore is when I'm mixing it with alcohol.

[murielm99]

15. I raised three kids, all two years apart.

Most of the time, they went with me to the grocery store, whether it was for the big shopping trip or the bread and milk runs in between.

They behaved. I only remember one tantrum. They never ate in the store. We did not argue and act like fools in the cereal aisle. They were raised to behave, and that was all there was to it.

I tried to make sure no one was tired or hungry before we left.

And they knew we would buy certain things at the store that were a once a month treat. There were some donut sticks they liked. We got those. And they were each allowed to pick a healthy snack for their lunches. I remember my son being excited about getting fresh pineapple that we cut ourselves. My daughter wanted avocados. As they got older, they helped me with a calculator, so we would not go over budget.

As far as this being a new phenomenon, it is not. I grew up during the fifties. I remember seeing it a few times then. I asked my mother if we could eat animal crackers in the store, because I saw other people doing it. She was appalled.

[pnwmom]

24. My store passes out free cookies from the baked goods department.

Yeah, I know, junk food. But my kids all looked forward to that one little cookie, and didn't ever ask for any other snacks.

[TwilightGardener]

27. My kids usually acted like shits in the store, but it never occurred to me

to feed them--hunger wasn't their problem, boredom was. I was never one to try to entertain them very much on long car trips either, beyond coloring books and Gameboy. I have relatives who would never buy a car without a DVD system to constantly play videos for their kids, but I figure it's better just to look out the window. Life isn't on a screen. Sometimes you just have to learn to be bored and deal with it, anyway. Nobody's going to distract and entertain you 24 hours a day.

[Horse with no Name]

31. I've done it with my granddaughter before

We have to drive quite a ways to do any large amount of shopping and when she was a little younger, she would get tired and hungry.
I used to carry cheerios and stuff (and I always picked up anything she dropped) to satisfy her until we could actually get somewhere to eat.
Shopping with 4 kids though? The lady probably deserves a medal or else this would be a thread about screaming children in the grocery store.
Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do...I'm sure not going to judge someone for doing the best they can do.

[cgrindley]

32. some people are just terrible parents

I'm not looking forward to this new crop of ignorant, self-absorbed, dunces growing up. Of course, parents can team together and demand such innovations as candy-free checkout lines at the local grocery store (they have these in the UK). That at least might help.

[Sanctified]

33. OK call me a horrible parent.

But as a dad if I am grocery shopping with my two kids I usually head straight to the bakery first because they usually give away cookies to kids. I am usually done shopping before they can finish their cookies, I then wipe their faces before putting them in the car and tell them not to say anything to their mom about the cookies.

I have never grabbed a bag of chips off the isle but if they are giving cookies away why not use them.

[WinkyDink]

34. "Feeding kids at a grocery store" is WRONG, if the item has YET TO BE PAID FOR.

I stood in line the other day behind a guy buying a can of peanuts; he continually ate from it, and had eaten half of the amount before he paid. Jeez.

[Minimus]

35. Some of my fondest memories involve being fed in a grocery store.

I looked forward to going grocery shopping with my mom. She would always pick up one of those little boxes of animal crackers and let me eat them while I rode in the cart. When we got to the check out I just loved handing it to the clerk so she could ring it up and then give it back to me. (I know some will think me silly but to this day, at age 43, I think about animal crackers when I go into a grocery store. If I happen to see one of those little boxes with the circus animals I have to refrain from picking it up.)

My mom was not "dumb" nor was she bribing me or trying to shut me up. Now if I had purposely dumped the crackers on the floor I would of been scolded and future trips to the store probably would not have included getting the little box of crackers.

[Vinca]

36. I'm always amazed when parents start feeding their toddlers

grapes from the bag in the cart. Unwashed grapes! That's just asking for trouble.