Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Grocery Shopping With Kids

Everyone has to go grocery shopping at some point and if you have kids you are eventually going to have to take them with you. This can be quite a headache because some kids just want to run wild up and down the aisles, get in and out of the shopping carts, add lots of items to the your basket, etc. Here are a couple things you can do to keep the kids occupied while you shop and make the trip more enjoyable for everyone.

First, give the kids a coupon or two and see if they can find the item for you. Unless the kids are older I don't recommend giving them all at once because they will end up dropped, ripped, lost or all three. When you start down a grocery aisle look through your coupons and give them to the child to find.

Second is grocery bingo. Using a word processing program create a table and plug in names of items you normally buy. For younger kids you can paste pictures of the items. This will keep the kids busy.

Finally, I'm a big fan of hand-held gaming systems. My 4 year old will play a game of her Nintendo DS while sitting in the front of the cart for about half the grocery shopping trip. Hey it's better than her running wild, asking 20 million questions, having to go potty, etc. Plus, if you limit the times your little one can use the system - the more they want to play it.

These are just a few suggestions that have worked for my family. Get your grocery shopping done without the headaches. Use your imagination and you're sure to find lots more ways to keep your kids occupied.

Feel free to add a comment with what you use to keep your kids busy while shopping.

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