Why you shouldn't take kids shopping with you…ever! – Mummascribbles

We decided on Wednesday morning that it would be a good day to go and sort Zach’s school uniform. Originally I was going to take him on my own but then the other half mentioned that he needed some new trainers and footie boots, and so we thought we would kill two birds with one stone and do it all in one go. The only thing is, with Oscar’s regular daytime nap, it makes it pretty hard to plan the perfect time. The mornings are a rush because we know nap time is looming, and the afternoons are a rush because by the time he’s finished his nap and had his lunch, there isn’t really enough time to go to the shops.

We decided on risking the morning slot and headed on up to the shops (a mere ten minute drive away), with heads full of plans as to how this was going to go. We would sort the uniform first, a mixture of M&S and Tesco, and then we would go over the other side to JD Sports where we would sort the other half’s footwear out. In my head, we had enough time before nap time, enough time before Oscar would get too aggy, and we would then drive home, pop him in his buggy and off to sleep he would go.

It all started to go wrong pretty quickly. I was always under the impression that children really enjoyed being in trolleys. I know that me and my Sister always argued over who got to sit in the trolley. Apparently, this bit of fun didn’t get passed down to my children and after about 2 minutes of being pushed around, neither of them wanted to be in there.

Photo credit – Helena @ Babyfoote

Instead, they wanted to be wreaking havoc in the aisles.

Whilst Zach was having his feet measured, Oscar was running wild, picking items off of the rails, hiding round corners and making a lot of noise!

We then headed to Tesco’s and this is where it went really wrong. Apparently Oscar was a bit hangry and so we picked up a snack for him to munch on. But then – then we started using the self scanner thingy and there was an all out war between them. It was Zach’s turn to scan, then it was Oscar’s but Zach wanted another go and Oscar was screaming ‘my go, my go’. They snatched it from each other, they argued over it. Why did we think using one was a good idea?!

Then Oscar got tired. Really tired. Sooner than I expected because he had slept a bit later in the morning – but he was ready for his nap. We managed to get the rest of what we needed in Tesco, among the tired thrashing of an almost two year old and the complaints of ‘I’m bored’ by the Zach. But then we decided to go back to Marks to compare their school trousers, only I couldn’t find the ruddy size and colour that we needed, Oscar was moving into absolute meltdown territory and we quite simply had to leave. The boys being absolute pickles, us moaning at each other because it had all gone wrong. The other half annoyed because he hadn’t even got to step foot into JD.

What was probably a 2 hour shopping trip, resulted in us coming away with a new pair of slippers for me, some socks, some new shoes for Zach and new school t-shirts. We only bought half of what we needed, meaning we needed to go back again.

So yesterday morning, I went back with Zach and we managed to sort the trousers out (sort of – I still need to order some more online when they are actually in stock!), and the other half got his Dad to take him up there in the afternoon when he was round, so he now has his footie boots! And because Zach was a super good boy, being dragged in and out of the changing rooms and trying on multiple different pairs of trousers, I took him to the cafe for a treat!

Quite simply, we just can’t take the kids shopping. We know we can’t. It’s why I do an online shop every week with Tesco. And dread when I have to pop into the local shops with the pair of them! Kids and shopping just don’t mix. And yet I felt like we had failed. Parents must take their kids shopping. We must be the only ones with feral children running and screaming through the aisles.

Thankfully that is not the case. I took to my wonderful blogging community to get them to tell me their biggest kids and shopping fails. Here are some absolute corkers for you! I hope they make you feel as better as they made me. I certainly realised I wasn’t alone!

A few times with my son, I’ve parked, got to the shop entrance and then never even made it through the door! I’ve had to turn around, go back to my car and just give up and go home! He had the worst terrible twos ever and if he didn’t want to do something then he’d go rigid and scream the place down. He’d especially do it at the supermarket so I couldn’t get him in a trolley and therefore couldn’t do my weekly shop at that moment!

Lylia Rose 

A Big Issue salesman (who had 11 children he wasn’t allowed to see) accused me of kidnapping my own daughter. Because she was having such a meltdown and screaming “Mummy” at the top of her voice.

Mrs H’s Favourite Things

A few months ago I made the mistake of tackling a Yankee Candle Outlet with a grabby one year old. He was strapped into his pram, and I naively assumed the aisles were wide enough. FYI, they weren’t, and Yankee Candles aren’t nearly as durable as I thought they would be (especially not when multiple are swiped off of a shelf on to a stone floor). I’ve never ventured back…

Life With Boys

A few months back, we were in the supermarket with my three year old and four year old. They decided that they needed to fight in the supermarket, bashed into the shelves which then knocked one of the bottom shelf items off which was a glass bottle of cider vinegar – it smashed as soon as it hit the floor. I was so embarrassed but the shop assistant assured me it was fine and that I didn’t need to pay for the vinegar.

Winging It With Two Boys

Once when we were on holiday, we found an Aldi on our way back from a day trip and decided to pop in for some shopping to take back to the caravan. Our daughter had fallen asleep and so I went on into the shop whilst my husband got our daughter up. They were taking absolutely ages and eventually appeared in the shop, my daughter looking very coy and my husband wearing his huge winter coat zipped right up to the neck (this was mid summer and probably close to 30 degrees outside!). It turns out when my husband woke our daughter up she has been sick all over his white t-shirt from crying, and he had nothing else to wear! He ended up walking around Aldi in a huge winter coat in the middle of summer with several dodgy looks. My daughter however was perfectly fine and happy pushing the trolley around without one drop of sick anywhere near her lol!

Tantrums To Smiles

When she was little, my daughter used to enjoy hiding in clothes rails (thankfully she has grown out of this). On one occasion in TK Maxx, she took the opportunity to hide amongst the winter coats and jumped out to surprise us. Only it wasn’t me she jumped out on, it was a poor unsuspecting middle aged couple, holding a full dinner set. I’m sure you can imagine what happened to that dinner set? I’ve never been so apologetic in my life.

Mum’s The Nerd

I could write a book on my daughters antics! She’s stolen a teddy bear bigger than her, spun shoe racks around watching them fly everywhere, climbed up to the ceiling on rolls of carpet in a warehouse. The assistant told me I shouldn’t let her climb. “I KNOW!” I screamed back at him. She’s now grown up into a lovely adult.

Teddy Bears and Cardigans

I took mine shopping once in Marks and Spencer’s when she was about 10 months old. We were just looking round the clothes when she did an explosive poo. No problem I thought, since they’ve got a baby change room. Opened my changing bag to find I hadn’t packed wipes. Stripped pooey clothes off and washed her with paper towels and water. Went to get spare clothes but hadn’t repacked them after using them the day before! Had to bring her home wrapped in a muslin with my jumper over the top! It was December and freezing and I felt like a TERRIBLE parent.

Oh, I’ve also just remembered the time I took my 3 year old to Primark and she went under a clothes rail and weed on the floor. So embarrassing! I had to buy new clothes for her to wear as well. Why do we do it?!

Miss Manypennies

My two older boys were playing up in a Sainsburys Local so I marched them out. We must have walked over half a mile (they were 5 and 3 at the time) before I remembered that I’d bunged a load of shopping on top of the buggy. My littlest (aged 1) had pushed the hood back to see what was going on so it was hidden from sight. I then had to drag them all the way back to pay for my accidentally stolen goods. I was so embarrassed and they kept saying loudly “Mama stole food!!”

Cup Of Toast

A few weeks ago we had a failed shopping delivery (some cleaning detergent had burst and spilled all over our food, and they couldn’t redeliver it). So Friday about 6pm we took the kids to Lidl (age 3.5 & 11 months). The 3.5 yo had the BIGGEST meltdown when we got into the shop, screaming his head off, it was awful – so bad we had to leave. We had takeaway for dinner that night.

MakeUp Pixi3