Stress-free Grocery Shopping with Young Children and Babies

Grocery shopping is an activity that can be quite challenging with young children. The store is full of stimulation that can be overwhelming to your child. Parents are often in a hurry, to load up their carts with the necessary staples, pay and get home.
Here are some tips and ideas that will ease the shopping trip, and make it more enjoyable for you and your children.
Try to begin your shopping trip with a child that is calm, rested and fed. Give your child a nutritious snack before and even during the shopping errand to ease his/her irritability and reduce the “wants” of everything he sees on the grocery shelves.
When you are in a hurry, good communication with children of age, is a must. Before venturing out, explain what to expect, maybe even giving them jobs that are age appropriate. Praise their positive behavior, and reward them with something at the end, if you feel that is necessary. Discuss the safety issues at hand, reminding them before and during to stay close to you at all times. Toddlers and infants can be put in the designated child seat in the shopping cart. If you have a newbo
or a very fidgety and active toddler, you may want to consider bringing your stroller into the supermarket, if you have a small shopping to do. This way, you can use the stroller’s safety harness to restrain a toddler or buckle a newbo
securely. Your newbo
may even sleep in a stroller, making the shopping trip more stress free.
If you have the time, a shopping trip can be a learning experience for children of all ages. Babies can focus on faces, notice smells, textures and colors. You can also give them something safe to play with as you shop, such as a toy or a safe food item. There are also so many new sounds and voices for them to hear. Toddlers can learn the shapes and colors of many new items. You can teach them about touch and feel with the textures of different foods. Have them notice the smells of the various fragrances that the supermarket offers. Preschoolers can learn about sounds, colors and simple following directions. You can give them simple tasks to do, and help them follow through with them, praising them appropriately. Older children can read labels, and find you healthy snacks and foods. They can price the foods for you and cross off items on the shopping lists. Use this time to converse with them, creating a special Mommy-son/daughter time.
If your child misbehaves, stop the behavior as soon as it occurs. However hurting or embarrassing your child by hitting or yelling is counterproductive. If you have to deal with your child’s misbehavior, try to go to a private corner, or the bathroom or even out to the car. Speak calmly and firmly, and tell your child that the behavior is unacceptable, and you will leave the store if it will happen again. You must follow through with this, if need be. Consistency is the best approach when dealing with children’s behaviors.
Praise your child the entire time for good behavior. If you give them attention for positive behaviors, they won’t have to resort to misbehavior to get you to notice them. A shopping trip with your children can be a valuable experience, especially when you are geared with the right attitude and intentions.
Happy shopping!