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Breyla.com Parenting Tip #1:
Making grocery shopping with your children fun and productive:
O.K.
so it’s that time of the week again when your normally well behaved
children go crazy with complaining as you utter the words “time for a
trip to the grocery store.”
After getting your children all strapped in the car or your littlest
ones buckled into the stroller for a walk to the local grocery store
your mind wonders into a daydream about a grocery store trip that
will only take three minutes total – with every store item needed
leaping from the shelf into your cart not to mention the checkout lane
that automatically scans and bags in a split second. Woken from your
daydream by voices saying - ‘can I get that?’, ‘can I get this?’ - you
realize that you have arrived in aisle one with no magic genie in
sight.
Tip:
Before leaving for the grocery store create for each child age two and
up their own grocery store list. Depending on how much time you have
you may choose to cut and paste a list using that week’s grocery store
flier (this type of picture plus word list works great for children
who are not yet readers or who are just learning to read.) Have the
children choose items for their own list or choose items for them that
they would like or use (example: Sean likes apples, carrots, bread and
cheese. She uses paper plates and bendy straws. Aaron likes ice cream,
salsa, blueberries and bananas. He uses tissues, toilet paper and
zip-lock bags.) Read over the lists with the children before entering
the store - before leaving the house, in the store parking lot or
during your walk to the store will work well. Right before entering
the store hand each child their own to place the items from
their own shopping list into. Before entering each aisle read the
aisle number and the item categories found in that aisle. If you are
with children that can read have them read the categories to the
family out loud. Knowing what to expect in each aisle will help the
children look out for an item that they might find from their list to
be placed in their own
cloth grocery shopping bag. With
children that are old enough to go through the store on their own or
be an aisle ahead or an aisle behind you a scavenger hunt shopping
trip is also a great idea. Have the older children take 10 items each
from your master plan shopping list along with a
cloth grocery shopping bag
and
see who finishes gathering their items first or who saves the most at
check out time with coupons and sales. As you and your children work
together to accomplish a main goal co-operation skills, communication
and on a good day bargain finding skills are developed.
We would love to hear
from you.
How did this tip work for your family grocery shopping trip?
Contact us today with your
stories, comments or suggestions.
View more Breyla.com
Parenting Tips:
Breyla.com Parenting Tip #1
Breyla.com Parenting Tip #2
Breyla.com Parenting Tip #3
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