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View Full Version : Supermarkets and minded kids



Snowwhite
07-10-2014, 12:35 PM
Today i popped to my local supermarket for a few things seeing as i was near to it after i did a nursery school pick up,so i had two children with me aged 3 and a bit.(didn't get a chance to go before my pick up) Well of all the people to bump into at this supermarket its only the mum of one of the children. We were at the checkout and she was at the other one behind me and i just happened to turn around and notice her and said hello but didn't let on to the little boy his mum was behind us incase he wanted to be with her. We were waiting for a staff member to bring me back a non open smelly thing as a replacement for the one i picked up. Had i not been waiting i may not have bumped into the mum and been heading out. Both boys were chatting away nicely to each other and stood by me and the trolley whilst waiting but i just felt a bit uneasy bumping into her and it made me think oh will she be unhappy with me for doing a bit of food shopping whilst working!? She was fine with me and said a quick hello to her son and i said i am just getting a few snacks in. I know mum works a shorter day on a Tues but i didn't expect to see her in the supermarket!
Usually minded kids will help me put things in the trolley/basket if i stop off at a shop and may have a go at counting,but this time i just zoomed around to be quick. I even said to the little boy at the checkout to eat his cake as he should have finished it by now. Thats when not long after i see his mum,so i hope she didn't overhear me! (It was part of his lunch)
This happened to you before?

tess1981
07-10-2014, 01:23 PM
I have arranged to meet a parent while doing . my weekly shop. I tell parents we go to town or supermarket before they sign. I say I am a home childminder so try do the usual stuff with children parents would.

Mummits
07-10-2014, 01:26 PM
I took a couple of my toddlers into Waitrose a while back to get a bit of fruit. I saw the little boy's Mum but she signalled to me not to let him see her, and we carried on through the checkout and out without him spotting her. She told me afterwards she'd been behind us and had been amazed at how well behaved he'd been, staying close, chatting to me, helping pick the fruit and so on, and that generally he was a nightmare in shops, throwing tantrums and running off so that she never took him any more. She was even more surprised when I said we sometimes went for a babychino - and said I was very brave and hoped I would continue "training" him to behave well in public. So, I wouldn't assume a parent would think badly of shopping as an activity. On the other hand, I often mention that we have popped in to such and such a shop for milk or picked up a few bits of salad in the market so they know it's only a few minutes on the way to playgroup or whatever and not a major expedition to buy the month's shopping! Then they can they say something if they do have an issue with it, but nobody ever has.

hectors house
07-10-2014, 01:29 PM
I once met a mum and mindees auntie coming out of supermarket - mindee was so surprised to see them she walked straight into a bollard in the door way - she was so upset that the mum ended up taking her half an hour earlier.

I have seen another mindees gran in town when my children were sat nicely on a bench eating gingerbread men we had just bought before we went on our Pet shop visit - I saw that she had seen us and she decided it would unsettle the child if she came over so she walked on by. It was lovely to hear that she told his mum how well behaved he was being (although he is a little :censored: for mum so she probably would have preferred to hear that he was running around out of control)!

Snowwhite
07-10-2014, 01:30 PM
That's good to know. At pick up time i think i will say that he enjoyed the little trip to the supermarket and we got a bit held up there due to an exchange of item but he was behaving nicely. All true!

Mouse
07-10-2014, 02:16 PM
Look at it from the other side. If you were a parent and saw your child in a supermarket with their childminder, would it worry you? Probably not! You'd probably be amazed at how well your child was behaving!

When one of my boys went to a childminder I knew she took him to the supermarket because he told me! He loved going with her (hated it with me) because she took them for a drink and a cake when they'd finished. She didn't do it every day, not even every week, but I had no worries at all when she did. I also knew she ran other chores when she had children with her. Sometimes she had no choice as the places she needed to go to were only open Mon-Fri, 9-5. Her only other option would have been to take time off work. I'd rather she took my son with her than do that! I chose a childminder because I wanted my son in a homely setting. For me that included him being taken to the shops or on other errands :thumbsup:

k1rstie
07-10-2014, 03:02 PM
Nowadays with so many people doing their food shopping online, many kids do not know where food comes from, or how to behave while out in a supermarket or post office. Children need to learn that parents need to do the boring stuff, and if its just a small shop, I think it's okay.

I used to work in a supermarket, and I have seen children behaving very dangerously, one even toppled a whole trolley of shopping on top of themselves. On the whole. Childminders usually had we behaved children with them

Being out in the community is important. This is how they meet people in their community.

hectors house
07-10-2014, 04:21 PM
When I minded before Ofsted, when my own children were small I took my mindees everywhere, shopping, doctors, dentist and even sometimes had the hairdresser come to my house to give me a quick trim - back in the days when we really were home from home "homes" not "settings". I just asked parents to let me know which day they were doing their main food shopping on as it wouldn't have been fair on the children to have been shopping with me in the morning and then be back in the trolley for another hour in the afternoon. This was way before Sunday opening and internet shopping.

blue bear
07-10-2014, 06:03 PM
I used to childmind for a mummy who worked in the supermarket, she loved me taking baby through her till :)
I've even gone and got a poorly mummy's shopping in the past.
Shopping is a huge learning opportunity so much more fun than being stuck in a single room all day and many people rave how good for children that is

Kiddleywinks
07-10-2014, 06:26 PM
I take my LO's shopping to the local supermarkets.
Not a big full on weekly shop - I prefer to do that without distraction even from my own 2 (teenagers) if I haven't already done it online, but midweek-ish when I need bread, milk, fruit and veg etc.
I use it as a learning experience - counting, colours, social skills, behaviour, sharing, and practical skills (they love taking turns to find the barcode to scan then pack in the bag)

My local shop have just had a change around, so we're playing 'hunt the item' which has been fun lol, and the staff are brilliant with the mindees - lost count how many boxes we've brought home due to an activity or game we've been doing that day.

We've also been to the shoe repairers and as it was quiet, were able to stay and watch. Lo's loved being able to tell parents about that one.

A lot of parents don't have the time or the patience to make these kind of trips informative and less boring for little ones.

Daisy1956
08-10-2014, 12:23 PM
Shopping is a normal activity and when I take the little ones they love it all the colours, noise, people etc
We count fruit and veg and guess wether they come from hot or cd countries. It is a great opportunity. Although I would never do a big shop too much stress.