As a new mom, grocery shopping quickly became a confusing part of life for me. When you’re used to waltzing through the store by yourself, having time to think about your purchase decisions, and not having to worry about carrying extra items or people, suddenly having a little person that cries, needs to be carried, and has their own schedule is a whole new ballgame! Fortunately, I found that after figuring out some of the practicalities, grocery shopping with babies and toddlers doesn’t have to be something I dread. In fact, we actually look forward to our weekly grocery trips.
Now, with three kids three and under, we’ve been through numerous seasons of babies and toddlers at the grocery store. As the ages change and the seasons change, we’ve adapted our strategies to make grocery shopping a fun and do-able time for everyone. Taking a newborn into the grocery store in the different seasons (summer versus winter), adding walkers and talkers, and even navigating parking in different types of parking lots are all challenges we’ve had to adapt to and figure out.
If grocery shopping with babies and toddlers feels overwhelming to you, take heart! While it might not ever be as quick as zooming through the store by yourself, with some practical adjustments, it can become MUCH easier and actually be a fun part of the week for everyone.
Let’s start with why you should consider taking your kids to the grocery store, and then I’ll dive in to some tips for shopping with babies and toddlers to show you how we actually do it with three littles.
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Should I Take My Kids to the Grocery Store?
Everyone has their own unique set of circumstances, but if it’s a possibility for your to take your kids to the grocery store, I say do it! There are so many great lessons to be learned by taking your kids to the store.
At the same time, there are seasons where taking little ones into the grocery store might be altogether too much. In these times, don’t feel bad about grocery pickups or grocery delivery. They have their place, too, and have certainly been of benefit to us in different ways and at different times (although not delivery, since no stores will deliver to us this far our in the country!).
Here are a few reasons why you should consider taking your kids to the grocery store with you.
It teaches them life skills
We’re raising little people with the goal of them becoming competent adults. It’s never too early to start training and teaching them practical tasks – grocery shopping included! Taking young children along on the grocery trip teaches them skills like thinking about money and how to get the best value, making healthy choices, socializing with others, using quiet(er) voices (although we do plenty of chatting during our trips!), and obedience.
During our trips, we talk about why we choose to eat whole foods, why we can’t buy everything we want (budgeting!), and the meals that mom planned for the week.
They also get to learn to interact with strangers in the aisles and the grocery store clerk. Not surprisingly, you get a lot of comments when you’re at the store with two toddlers and a baby! This gives us lots of chances to smile, say hi, and be friendly with others. Chatting with the employee at the checkout also gives the kids a chance to witness how to strike up a conversation with someone you don’t know and be interested in other people’s lives.
It includes them in family life
Food is a HUGE part of family life! I’ve never calculated precisely how many hours per week I spend planning, sourcing, and cooking our food, but it’s a lot! Taking kids grocery shopping includes them in a significant step in the process of providing food for the family. Of course, including them in the kitchen is a major part of this, too!
The kids get to eat the food, so they also get to be a part of acquiring it and (as often as we can let them) preparing it.
It’s an encouragement to other people
Kids are a part of society and part of the nuclear family, and it’s good for people to see them in public. It’s good for fellow shoppers to see moms with their kids during the day. This is real life.
We are deeply under the persuasion that kids belong with their parents – not in the public school system or daycare. Because of this, its natural that they should be with their parents in everyday situations. It is good for other people to see this.
It’s also good for people to see mothers enjoying their children and children obeying their parents. It’s good for them to see the blessing that children are!
“But what if my kids are melting down? That’s not an encouragement to anyone!”
Meltdowns can be embarrassing and overwhelming to manage anywhere, but a grocery store environment can be an especially tricky setting. However, remember that they happen to everyone at some point, and even the most well-behaved children are not perfect.
While the tips we’re going to discuss below have significantly limited (and nearly eliminated) meltdowns in the store, they can still happen, and do from time to time!
Remember that when kids disobey or melt down, this is an opportunity to parent! Watching another parent stay calm, patient, and firm can be a great encouragement to other adults. Parent your child, take a deep breath, don’t get worked up, and allow other people to see that while sometimes meltdowns are unavoidable, it doesn’t mean that the parent has to melt down, too. 🙂
It frees up evenings and weekends for family time
While I’d say I’m an advocate of taking kids shopping for more reasons than one, this is the most practical reason why the kids come along on grocery trips. Having them stay home with dad while I go by myself is just not practical for our family.
We’d prefer to have evenings and weekends available to do other things together (or just be home). It just makes sense for the kids and I to get the shopping done during the day.
Tips for Shopping With Babies and Toddlers
Okay, so maybe a shopping trip with kids is a good idea, but how do you actually make it work?? Here are some of the ways we’ve made grocery shopping an enjoyable time for both myself and the kids!
- Time your trip wisely
- Prepare ahead of time by making a grocery list
- Don’t forget the diaper bag
- Set bounderies
- Talk to your kids before and after the trip
- Park near the carts
- Include toddlers and older children in your grocery planning
1. Time your trip wisely
Possibly the best way to have a successful trip is to choose the right time of day. If at all possible, don’t go grocery shopping during difficult nap times – or right before nap times, when the toddler will likely fall asleep in the car and ruin their afternoon nap!
If you’re going during snack time, pack snacks to eat as close to your normal snack time as possible. (I find it helpful to bring snacks to pass out on the way home to help toddlers stay awake!)
Because having consistent rhythms and daily routines is a big part of our family life, it’s not too hard to figure out when the best times will be for going shopping. For us, this has almost always fallen in the morning – after breakfast but before it gets too close to lunch or afternoon nap time. I usually like to go during the baby’s morning nap time. He/she will take a short nap in the car on the way there and/or back (and sometimes during the shopping if the baby is still very young). At this point in the day, the toddlers are fed, content, and happy to go on a morning adventure.
Because the all of the grocery stores are 20-30 minutes away from us, we’ve sometimes struggled with toddlers falling asleep on the way home (which never goes well for the afternoon nap!), so I try to go early enough to mitigate this problem. Sometimes, though, the drive home finds us with the windows rolled down and music up to keep someone awake!
2. Prepare ahead of time by making a grocery list
With babies and toddlers, you don’t often have the luxury of stopping the cart for more than a moment or two to think through decisions in the store. Planning as much as you can at home is so helpful to limit stressful, in-the-moment decisions.
I always make a meal plan and a shopping list (written in the order that we walk through the store), so almost all of the decision making and prep work happens at home before we get to the store. The more you can limit thinking about your groceries in the store, the more brain space you have for enjoying your kids, talking to them, and getting through the store at a quicker pace.
3. Don’t forget the diaper bag
It may sound obvious, but a well-stocked diaper bag goes a long way! It gets easier as they get older, but infants need a lot of stuff. The last thing you want is to be caught with a diaper blowout and no extra outfit for the baby, or a snotty nose and no wipes or tissues.
Keep your diaper bag well stocked with plenty of diapers, clothes, wipes, water cups, a nursing cover (longer grocery trips sometimes warrant nursing in the car for little ones!), small snacks, and any other must-have items.
Even if you’re just planning on it being a quick trip, it’s always better to be prepared!
4. Set boundaries
This one goes for almost every area of parenting, but it’s especially helpful at the grocery store!
It’s MUCH easier to set boundaries in the first place than to have to take away privileges later.
What do I mean by this? Setting expectations and boundaries for your kids right away helps them to know what’s expected and eliminates so many meltdowns.
Some of our grocery store boundaries include:
- You must stay in the cart, in the seat that mom put you in. Either both toddlers in the front if there are two seats, or one in the front and one in the back of the cart. At these ages (3 and under), there is no running around in the store or hanging on the side of the cart during a grocery store trip. Any time we’ve allowed this freedom, it ends up getting out of control, and everyone gets frazzled! The exception is that in certain situations and stores, if we have more adults with us (dad, grandma, aunties, etc.), they might be able to get out. But this only happens if we truly have the bandwidth to stay right with them, and it usually shortens the trip!
- Mom/the grocery list determines what we buy – not the kids. Of course, sometimes they ask for things, but they know that they must be content with either a “yes” or a “no” (or a “maybe next time”!). Establishing this from the get-go has pretty much eliminated any arguments about what we’re going to buy at the store. They also know that they can mention a food or meal they want during the week, and if mom thinks its a good idea, it will probably go on the meal plan or grocery list.
How to establish boundaries
If you haven’t established boundaries from the get-go, it’s not too late to start. But don’t wait until you’re in the store to set up boundaries. Talk to your toddlers before your trip and in the car so they know what to expect, and stick to any repercussions that you establish.
Setting boundaries is one of the best and easiest ways that we keep grocery shopping peaceful and everyone happy! Of course, having older kids and more kids will change the boundaries, but the point is having expectations more than the specific rules for each child or family.
5. Talk to your kids before and after the trip
Prepare your kids beforehand by reminding them of the boundaries and your expectations for the trip. Remind them them to use gentle voices, obey mom, and be kind to one another. Even though you probably expect these things week after week, we find it always helps to communicate our expectations again right before an event or trip.
When you get back to the car, encourage them and point out anything you noticed that they did well (you can do this as you shop, too!).
6. Park near the carts
I love Aldi because the parking lot is so small that it’s easy to park right near the carts. When we go to stores with a bigger parking lot, I find it super helpful to park right next to a cart corral. This way, I can grab a cart easily to put the kids in when we get there (unless they’re covered with snow or rain!), and I can easily put it away when I’m done after the kids are already buckled in.
Navigating getting in and out of seats and into the carts with multiple children can be tricky! It’s also important to consider safety here, especially with multiple kids. Parking lots can be scary places, and you should never turn your back on your child or have them out of your reach more than absolutely necessary.
I usually use a baby or infant carrier for the youngest (Ergo brand is my favorite), so oftentimes I’ll get the baby strapped to me and then take the toddler out off his/her seat.
How we get in and out of the car safely
Here’s my current method with a 3-year-old, 2-year-old, and infant:
- Unbuckle the two-year-old from his car seat in the middle row.
- Lean in and unbuckle the three-year-old from her car seat in the back row.
- Close the van doors while I grab a cart (which is usually only a few feet or yards away if I park correctly!), and have the two toddlers meet me by the baby’s door. (Another tip here is to try to have an open space or a large enough gap between that door and the next car in order to bring the cart right up to the side door that the baby is in).
- Strap the baby in the baby carrier and then put the toddlers in the cart. None of them are ever out of my sight or more than an arm’s length away!
- To get back in, take the cart up to the baby’s door and let the toddlers climb in that door and go to their seats while I’m strapping in the baby. If you have one baby and a younger toddler, you can also put the toddler in while the baby is still strapped to you, and then go around to the baby’s door. If the baby is shopping in an infant seat, I’d probably put him/her back in the vehicle first since it’s quickest.
7. Include toddlers and older children in your grocery planning
The last tip is to include toddlers as much as possible while you’re shopping! They can get bored too, so it helps to engage them as you walk through the store. Talk to your kids about what you’re seeing and the decisions you’re making. If there are any quick decisions to make and you’re willing to let them help decide, let them! (For example, “What kind of fresh fruit should we get for your snack this week? Oranges, or grapes?”) Talk about any new foods you might be trying. This is a great way to include them not only in the trip, but also in learning about healthy meals and foods!
Let them hold non-fragile items in the cart or put them on the belt at the checkout (if they can do it carefully). You might even consider giving younger children a piece of paper with their own “ingredient list” to hold. They love to be like mom!
A product of taking our little kids shopping is that they now love playing grocery store at home! (In fact, they love any game that mimics the things we do in real life.)
Enjoy Your Kids!
Kids are a blast, and with some practice, you might just find that regular grocery trips end up being a good time for everyone – and a fun way to teach your kids practical skills at the same time!
I hope these tips for shopping with babies and toddlers are helpful to you!
What questions do you have about grocery shopping with young kids? Comment below, or check out our grocery shopping with kids Q&A!
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Such great tips! Especially parking close to the carts!!
I will totally drive a little farther to shop in a less busy parking lot with easier access to the carts! Makes such a difference!