Shopping with kids can add hours to your day and wrinkles to your face. If you have children, you know that taking them out without the help of another adult is challenging. Even when there are multiple adults present children have a way of demanding so much at times that you consider never leaving the house again. As an alternative to living the life of a hermit, you can simply learn techniques that may help you to better manage the situation when you shop with little ones. Here are just a few tips for how to go about maintaining your shopping sanity even with little ones in tow.
Be prepared – Before you leave the house to go shopping with your children, make sure that you have prepared your children for being away from home. This means making sure that your children have been fed, will not need to take a nap while you will be gone, have sufficient clothing to be comfortable in the temperatures that they will be in, etc. Generally, it is also best to go shopping at the beginning of the day when everyone is well rested and fed. If finding a time when everyone can be prepared to leave is simply not possible you may consider choosing a new day to go shopping or finding a sitter for an hour or two. Be patient and remember to stay in control no matter what happens.
Talk to your kids – Children learn best by experience and example. Role play with your kids to teach them what behaviors are appropriate while away from home and what behaviors are not appropriate. Establish rules of shopping and bring them up often so that your child is fully aware of what is expected once you reach your shopping destination. For safety’s sake, make sure that you teach your children that they need to stay by you and not wander off at the store for if they do they can become lost.
Pack a bag – A diaper bag can be a mom’s best friend. Make sure that your diaper bag is with you when you go to the store and that it contains wet wipes, clean diapers, your wallet, healthy snacks, activities (anything that will distract your child and keep him entertained), a drink, etc.
Involve your child – When shopping, talk to and involve your children in what you are doing. Conversations will vary by age of course, but you may want to ask your child to tell you the colors of some of the produce items. Or maybe you allow them to count the number of pieces of fruit that you need. Have your child be in charge of something so that they feel like they are an active participant in the shopping process and not just an annoying tag-along that is forced to be with you.
Teach and encourage – When your child is behaving well, commend them. Tell them how polite they are being or how smart they are for knowing the answers to some of the questions that you may ask them. Sometimes when you do not know what to say to your child, simply thinking out loud works well. You never know what bits of information they will pick up on. Make sure that they feel wanted and reassure them that you love them and enjoy being with them even if you had a rough day shopping.
Give it some time – There will be times when your children go through phases that will make shopping with them very difficult. Take heart and know some of the strategies that you tried today that failed, may work better in a few months.
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