Wednesday, August 20, 2008

To Shop or Not to Shop with My Kids

I think after my experience at the grocery store this week I would like to opt not to shop with my 3 kids. (Now I know many of you take 3 or more kids to the store, but for some reason I have a hard time w/MY 3, well one in particular.)

The play by play of my grocery shopping experience. Sorry, this could be long.
  • We are out the door and in the van by 9:30am. (We are starting off great because I rarely have everyone ready and out the door this early.)
  • The diaper bag is loaded with fruit snacks, pretzels, water, and all the other necessary items.
  • We go to Smith's because I can put the two older kids in the car part of the cart and the baby in her car seat on the cart. (There is also two seats in the front part of the cart which can come in handy and will play a major part in this particular shopping experience.)
  • Everyone is happy, we get the green car, we give it a good wipe down with the handy cleaning wipes they have available.
  • The older kids are ready to drive, so I thought. I put some nectarines in a bag and Katelyn is already wanting out of the car. (The nectarines are at the very front of the store, she did not even last 2 minutes in the car.)
  • I quickly pull out the fruit snacks and tell her she can have some if she sits in the cart up front with Ashley. She is happy with that idea. (Phew, we avoided a major melt down.)
  • Now we are in the meat section. Katelyn ate those fruit snacks way too fast and is already wanting out of the cart. (It has only been about 3 minutes since I put her in the seat.) She was starting to get frustrated and the whining and crying started.
  • I decided to let her out for a minute and told her if she did not stay by me she would have to get back in the cart.
  • To my surprise she stayed with me while shopping down one aisle of food. But the next aisle was not good. She decided she wanted to take food off the shelves and stack the food. When I told her to stop she ran to the florist area and started pulling flowers off the stems. AAAAAH! (okay, now I am starting to sweat because I am pushing the enormous car cart and trying to stop Katelyn from destroying the store)
  • On a positive note, Luke and Ashley were being very good. Thank goodness!
  • I finally capture the flower thief and tell her she has to get back in the cart by Ashley.
  • She was not wanting that and the screaming began. She is not shy when it comes to screaming and she is so strong. I am trying to lift her into the seat and get her to bend her legs to go through the holes. She is fighting me, but I finally win. (now I am not only sweating, but my back is hurting from wrestling her)
  • This is probably when I should have just left the cart and loaded everyone back in the van and headed home. But we needed milk and I only had a few more things to get so I endured and everyone else in the store had to endure also.
  • She screamed and kept telling me she wanted to get down. Major tears!
  • I tried giving her the pretzels or any other treats I could find, but that wasn't going to stop her. I tried to make her my helper by having her hold the coupons and grocery list. That lasted about 10 seconds and then I ended up picking them up off the floor.
  • We got those last few items as fast as I could push that humongous cart.
  • It is finally time to pay for the groceries and she decides to reach for all the goodies that are at the checkout stand. No matter how I put the cart she could still reach them. I put the groceries on the belt as fast as I could and then picked up all the candy bars off the floor.
  • The cashier distracted Katelyn for a few minutes and gave her some stickers. (I know, she got stickers for all that misbehavior.) I was just wishing I had packed some magic stickers in the diaper bag because they made her day and she was happy as could be sitting in the cart. You would have never known what a "fun" experience we just had throughout the store.
I bet you are all wondering if I kept my cool throughout this experience. Yes and No! I will leave that to your imaginations.
I think I may start waiting to do my shopping after Kevin gets home from work. But if I do decide to brave the grocery store again with all 3 and you see me there, I'm sorry. I thought I should apologize in advance. :)

18 comments:

Amy said...

Oh Jess! Katelyn sounds soooo much like Camden right now! You can tell they are only 10 days apart. Through this whole entry I wanted to laugh and cry all at the same time! I totally feel your pain but I only have 2 kids! Well 2.5 kids:) But that will be me in a few months. The flower part made me laugh, I know it was not funny at the time but I can just picture Katelyn doing that:) I found out the bright side to shopping with kids is that you don't spend as much money because you grab the essentials ASAP and bolt to the checkout:)

Jess said...

That is so true Amy! There was no extra spending this trip. :)

Me said...

Oh my gosh, you poor mommy! Those days when one (or more) of the kids are going bananas are just soooo hard! Not to mention having the push those huge carts that don't corner well at all, I hate them but use them for the kids, too.
I'm sorry, I know shopping is a big pain with toddlers. You did great being as prepared as you were, though!

Kirsten said...

I have to laugh, because I have had MANY experiences like that at the grocery store. Actually, I'm pretty friendly with the night cashier at Smith's because that's the only time I will go. Plus, when you're feeding a family of 7, there's no room for kids anywhere in the cart.

Heather said...

I feel ya! I so loathe shopping with my 3 kids too. And those big pain in the butt car carts don't keep the kids happy long enough, especially after all the effort of pushing those things!

Hang in there, I'd like to say it gets easier as they get older, but that hasn't happened around these here parts yet!

It's Been a Day! said...

i usually spend more money since i'm constantly opening boxes to try and find something the kids want!!

i have been there -even though i only have 2 kids. i have almost walked out when i had a full cart full of groceries, but realizing that i would have to come back and so the same thing all over again, even if was without kids, made me push through!!

Kasey said...

Colin is the same way except he can CLIMB OUT of the front seat and often does it when I am not looking and then he runs away. My kids like to push all of the wind chimes around (the ones in the floral dept.) and I get so embarrassed when they do that. I did a few Saturday morning shopping trips after I had Logan and it was so nice, but I have done my shopping on Monday mornings for so long that I can't seem to change my schedule. Just think of the few hours a week you'll get with Luke in Preschool!

Alida B. said...

Oh boy have I been there!!! It's become incredibly difficult with 5 kids lately so Jeremiah and I go together, we get 2 carts and we split up...I take some kids, he takes some kids...it works for us (mostly!)

Anonymous said...

Ah, deja vue. That is exactly why I always looked forward to Saturday mornings, when I could go to the store for groceries ALL ALONE! I did learn, though, that when I stopped in my tracks the moment the screaming started, left everything where it was, and took everyone home and put the offender to bed, repeating over and over again: "Don't you ever act like that again! You have to be good in the store!", the kiddos quickly caught on that I wouldn't tolerate grocery store hysteria. After one or two times of the "drop everything" technique, they never acted up again. It was a pain to go back and redo the grocery shopping, but it was well worth it in the long run.

Krista said...

Ugh!! I feel your pain!! Makenna has been overly whiny lately and it's driving me nuts;)

Heather said...

I have had many a trips to the grocery store that have gone like the one you just described.....I think many of us can relate.
I pretty much refuse to take them all unless it is absolutely necessary. I go at night when they are all in bed :)

Jodi said...

Every once in a while I will take my kids along. It's usually regrettable. I even avoid taking my older kids because they spend the entire time trying to talk me into buying things that are not on my list. At your expense, this was funny to read. Someday it will be funny to read it to Katelyn.

Kerry and Dave said...

First of all, you are SO brave! I know you mentioned that "many of you take 3 or more kids" to the store -- let me assure you, I am not one of them! First of all, I only have 2, but I won't even take 2 to the store. I wait until Dave gets home from work to stay with Lacey (who is my version of Katelyn!) and I take the baby. Otherwise, we live off food storage :)

Amanda said...

I can totally relate! I even avoid taking all my kids to the store even though most of them are older. Even when I just have the youngest by herself, it's easier than taking all of them.

Wendy said...

Oh, YIKES. What did you do when she attacked the flowers? I think I would've panicked. Maybe next time you should give a list to Kevin and let him take all three to the store, just to see what happens. They'd probably all be angels, though, because that's the way it always happens. Good luck next time. And take some comfort in the fact that most of the store employees have kids, too, so they can empathize.

Growin' Like Weeds said...

oh thanks for sharing this, can I just copy and paste this...and change the names?

Jason & Claire said...

Your description is perfect. I think we have all been there and I think we all come to the same conclusion-- wait until the husband is home to go to the grocery store!

The Pemberton Family said...

okay first of all--who gets 17 comments on their blog?? And secondly I realize it's because that was totally hilarious and rings true for all of us! Gotta love those munchkins!