Taking Kids Grocery Shopping

A couple of weeks ago my kids and I were leaving Fresh Market, two stores into our morning of grocery shopping. I was carrying my seven-month-old baby on my hip, I had several bags of groceries hanging on my arm, and I was leading my two sons (four-years-old and two-years-old) out to our car.

And it was really hot. That seems important to mention.

We got to our car and I deposited our groceries in the back. Cold items in our cooler bag, everything else balanced on top of the cornucopia of items that fill up the back of the van. Because, you never know.

My sons climbed in the car and started to get their straps buckled while I strapped in the baby. Just as I heard the last click of my baby’s buckles, my two-year-old takes the opportunity to inform me that he had to go to the bathroom. Immediately. He has only been potty trained for a couple of months so expecting him to “hold it” is out of the question.

Back in the store we went. This time without groceries but lugging the car seat carrier in to avoid having to unbuckle and re-buckle Molly. Return quizzical glances with a smile and a shrug of the shoulders. Say a prayer of thanks that the bathroom is conveniently located in the front of the store.

We left the store again, no longer in danger of soaking superhero underwear.

As we near the van I reach in my pocket to unlock the doors. Which undoubtedly looks rather awkward since I am still toting the car seat carrier and am trying to keep the boys from distractedly walking in front of passing cars.

Aaaannnd, the keys are missing.

Turn around and return to the store. Herd all three children back to the bathroom. Simultaneously snatch the keys off the toilet paper dispenser and swat the toddler’s hand away from touching the toilet. Leave the store for the third time. Ignore sympathetic (sneering?) stares.

Conclude that I probably definitely deserve something chocolate…

I won’t lie and pretend that shopping with young children is always easy and enjoyable. It is often exhausting. Scratch that. It is always exhausting, even on the best days.

Even so, I enjoy being out and about with my kids. I actually really enjoy grocery shopping with them. Which is good, since going alone is an incredibly rare occasion. Just behind getting out of the house alone for date nights.

There are so many teachable moments that can occur just by taking kids grocery shopping. Today we drank juice made from ingredients from the Amazon. After which my eldest learned to recognize the number 12 so he could find the section with the Amazonian juice to purchase. A few aisles down I let the boys feel how heavy a bag of rice was and asked Jack to guess (estimate) how heavy it was. He surprised me with a (probably lucky) not too-far-off guess of seven pounds. Lunch included a discussion about sky lights and saving energy by only turning on half of the lights during the day.

We do have our days when the kids get strapped in and we grin and bear it and just get through the shopping the best we can.

But more often than not, I try to allow us plenty of time to go at a leisurely pace and just enjoy this part of our routine together. We get treats from the bakery for our morning snack. We take the time to smile and talk to fellow shoppers and store workers. We plan to picnic at the park with fresh bread and fruit or grab an inexpensive lunch at Costco.

I made this shopping list for my boys with the hopes of keeping them engaged during our shopping trips. They usually like to scribble all over my list, so now they have their own.

The new list has already been a learning occasion. Today my eldest drew a cake pop on his list because those were this morning’s special treats. After teasing him by telling him that if it was on the list it must mean we need to buy it, he started drawing a cupcake. Yep. Lesson learned…(That list following is always up to the head shopper’s discretion).

You can print your own kid-friendly grocery list.  (Click on link to open and print).

Print off a few and have them on hand for your next grocery run. Make a game out of it. Color the items in. Talk about the food groups. Read the words or just point out the letters.

Take your time and remember that the {shopping trips} are long but the years are short.