by Laurie Ellis

Created on: July 31, 2009

Another day at the grocery store with children running up and down the aisles, pulling things from the shelves, throwing items into the shopping cart, playing Indy 500 with the carts, using the shopping baskets as battle helmets ... this has to STOP!

I got tired of dealing with this every time I went to the grocery store. I also got tired of scooping the boys up and leaving the cart full of groceries right where it was. Not to mention, I got just plain TIRED!

After I got the boys home and put into time-out, I poured myself a cup of cold coffee, got out a pencil and paper to make a list of things I absolutely needed at the store. The hope was to make the next trip to the store as short and sweet as possible. The next thing I knew, I had a list of ten things I could do at the store to distract the boys while I shopped.

Here they are:

1. Give them coupons with pictures on them and have them try to find the match in each aisle that I'm in.

2. Give them a piece of paper and a pencil and have them make a shopping list while we walk around the store.

3. Hold them up so that they can see what's on the shelves above their heads. (when I set them back down onto the floor, they're still looking at and trying to figure out what it is I showed them)

4. Let them help you decide which brand of an item you should buy.

5. Hold them up at the meat counter, show them the meat and ask them to tell you what kind of meat it is. {beef, pork, chicken}

6. In the produce section, show them that ALL apples aren't red and ALL peppers aren't green. Then ask them to show you other fruits and vegetables that don't follow the norm.

7. Hand them a sale flyer and have them help you find things in it that you normally buy.

8. Let them have a free sample of what the lady in the *funny hat* is cooking. In fact, let them have TWO!

9. Have them look for things on the shelves that are tipped over or in the wrong spot and ask them to make it right.

10. Point to something in the cart and ask them to tell you the different ways that it can be cooked or prepared.

Not all of these worked but some sure did. And it made our next shopping trip much easier and less stressful on all of us. Distraction is the key.

Happy Shopping!

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