I try to NOT have to grocery shop with my boys (8 and 6 years old) because they fight (with me, with each other and with their little sister), they want stuff and beg and whine until I end up irritated at them! (Yes, I have been known to go to the grocery store at 8:30 at night after everyone is in bed to avoid the trip WITH children!!)
Recently though, I have had to take them with me for one reason or another and I found that if I give one of my boys the grocery list to read and the other one a calculator to add up our items, then they are both too busy to beg for junk. Well, ok they manage to sneak in one or two items to beg for, but it sure has been minimized!
ONE problem however, is that once in awhile the "clear" button gets pushed on the calculator and we lose all data! I am trying to stick to our exact grocery budget and not go over so this "data" is critical!! NEVER FEAR THOUGH! I found a solution for this too. Once we add in an item, the child doing the calculating tells me where we stand and I jot it on a piece of paper or I ask the grocery list holder to write it on the bottom of the list. I just scratch out the numbers as we get new numbers in.
This is what works for me! Head over to We Are THAT Family for more helpful tips and ideas.
8 comments:
Smart... Genny drives me CRAZY when we grocery shop... i should totally give her a task!
Sheer.Genius.
I was just remarking to someone yesterday about how I never go shopping with the kiddos. I sometimes try to give them the list and let them do a "scavenger hunt," but it always ends in disaster because someone gets their feelings hurt because they couldn't find the mayonnaise and someone else found the peanut butter first. I like your idea MUCH better!
I don't like taking the kiddos either - however, I have found that (as they are getting older) they are understanding my frugalness more and they get why I clip all those coupons when they go with me. My daughter was amazed one day at CVS when she watched our large total dwindle down to merely nothing. Now she gets it. So, I'm glad they're learning. Now - if I have to take them, I try to take one at a time, since that lessens the "impact". And I, too, have been known to go to the store late at night just to avoid tagalongs!
Good thinking!! Mommys really are so smart! You should get a raise for that one, haha.... if only.
:)
~Tabitha~
freshmommyblog.com
Good idea! I admit to hating shopping with the kids too. The oldest whines like crazy if I pick him up from school and announce we have to stop at the store on the way home.
My kids are 6 and 2, and there's almost nothing more miserable than taking them grocery shopping with me. I almost always go at night! I'm going to try the calculator thing with my daughter. I'm going shopping today, so the timing of this is perfect. My mom had a solution with my sister and me when we were little. First thing when we got to the store, she would go buy 2 carrots, you know, the old-fashioned full-size carrots. Then she would buy gumballs for us if we could make the carrots last for the whole shopping trip.
I shop late at night all the time. THAT'S what works for me! Ha! If I do happen to have my kids with me though I usually just keep shoving food in their mouths. Cheetos, graham crackers, dried pasta....whatever it takes to just get the shopping done. =)
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