Monday, February 9, 2009

4,000 Questions - #6: Supermarket


Here's the background info on the 4,000 Questions posts...

Question #6: Tell about an incident with a child in a supermarket or store.

We really never suffered through some of the tough-parenting-situations-in-grocery-stores that I've seen so often on "Super Nanny," thankfully. I really don't know how I would have handled such monstrous ordeals. I've been blessed with a well-behaved girl. We've been grocery shopping together for many, many years, and here's how we've handled it during various stages of her childhood:


  1. Toddler: when my daughter was under 3, she rode around the grocery store buckled into the front basket of the grocery cart, where I could see her and talk to her. Our first stop was always to the produce section, where we immediately grabbed her a packet of freshly sliced raw mushrooms or pea pods. These were her special favorites; she would munch away as we shopped, and then we'd just put the empty packet on the checkout belt and pay for the container. She's horrified now, to think that she ate raw mushrooms, but she loved them then.


  2. Youngster: when she was a little older, my daughter LOVED to ride in the grocery cart that looked like a car from The Flintsones. We'd head directly to the book section, she'd choose a book or two to read as we shopped, and then off we'd head to get our groceries. She quietly and studiously read to herself as I filled the front of the cart. Then she could buy the books at the checkout, so she was always adding to her home library. (This photo isn't exactly like the one in our Stop N Shop, but it's pretty darn close.)



  3. Child: when she was 10 or so, Mrs. Claus gave her walkie talkies for Christmas! Such a great gift for a girl this age. She would take her walkie talkie to the next aisle over and look for the item I had "assigned" her. She was just so funny, really. She would ask me detailed questions on her walkie talkie, taking extra care to make sure she chose just the right product. She doesn't know that I was so often rolling with laughter, even as my eyes were tearing with love over her precious earnestness as she whispered her questions to me into her walkie talkie.



  4. Teenager: now she is often with a friend when we shop. I usually "assign" her the items that she'll be eating herself - granola bars, juice, and other snack foods. It's interesting to help her understand about unit prices and help her learn how things "work" in a grocery store so she'll be able to do this herself one day. I think she'll be a little more interested when she is actually shopping for herself and learning to make weekly meal menus and stay within a budget (although she IS a really good budget shopper).

Well that's our story of my daughter coming of age in the grocery store. Your answer...
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5 comments:

Blair said...

Awww! This is a cute post. I especially like the walkie talkie idea...hhmmmm...I might do this with my boyfriend.

I can't recall ever grocery shopping with a child, but I know stories from my mom. For instance, I was obsessed with having a baby brother when I was little. And even though my parents were divorced and my mother was through having children, I was convinced that a baby brother would come. I even had a name picked out. So, at the grocery store I would always run to the baby food aisle and start stocking up, yelling at my mom, "How much food do we need for the baby?!"

She said it was quite embarrassing.

LoveANewIdea said...

Blair-
Oooooh, I love that you were so convinced about this that you needed to stock up on baby food! Did you ever have a sibling? And, what name did you have picked out?

Blair said...

I actually have an older sister! (Plus, a half-sister and currently seven stepsisters from my parents remarrying, but I only grew up with my one sister.) We're very close in age--born 18 months apart. But for some reason, I wanted a baby brother! And unfortunately, my mom has never been able to remember the name I had picked out. haha...

Sean said...

Hmm. With no children of our own, I will have to relate an incident from my own childhood.

I was pretty young, and I no longer remember details such as even what department store this was, but I have a pretty vivid memory of going into a fitting room alone to try on a pair of pants.

Unbeknown to me there was a straight pin embedded somewhere in one of the legs, and, soon enough, it became embedded in one of my legs. There was blood, screaming, crying, and a visit to the department store's nurse's office (who knew they even had one?). I don't remember, but I don't think we bought the pants.

Ever since then and even to this day, I am super-careful in fitting rooms, and I have an unnatural fear of (or maybe it's a healthy respect for) miscellaneous straight pins either in the clothing or lying around on the floor of the fitting room.

LoveANewIdea said...

Sean-
What a story - and I never knew department stores had nurses, either! It's amazing what "sticks" with us from our childhood, isn't it?

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