Shopping with a little one is painful.
We braved Wal-Mart when Esmé was 8 days old. I figured how to push a cart with one hand while carrying a crying baby with the other.
All too quickly, she learned to say, “I want!” With great passion. And drama. And sobs and tears and tantrums. We’ve tried “discipline.” Rewards. Letting her play with one item throughout the store and having it mysteriously disappear at the register.
Then she skipped the “I want” phrase and went straight to putting items on the register conveyor when I wasn’t looking. I’ve become more vigilant after discovering unplanned purchases of neon nail polish and lavender-flavored candy.
A couple of weeks ago, as we were checking out, she made the pronouncement, “I don’t have ANYTHING in my pocket.” Uh oh – warning bells! Sure enough, she had nabbed a cool bracelet. (Why do stores put bracelets at 3yo level?) I trust the consequences were sufficient to prevent recurrence.
Some of you handle multiple vagabonds on the same shopping trip? You don’t buy your milk in little cartons at a McDonald’s drive-thru? You are my heroes…
In spite of the pain, shopping provides some great learning opportunities:
Colors. We’ve spent many grocery shopping trips in search of a specific color – I love green! An I Spy game is another way to get in colors.
Letters. I used to ask Esmé what letter a food started with. Then she started calling letters out to me, and now she’s beginning to sound out words. If you have a beginning reader, check out the Grocery Store Activity Sheets at Reading Rockets.
Math. Esmé likes reading prices to me, though since we haven’t covered decimals yet, everything is hundreds of dollars. It’s also fun to make the connection between size and price of similar items. I often give her a small allowance at the dollar store and have her pay for her own purchases.
Nutrition. I’ll ask Esmé to identify what food group a particular item falls into. Or tell her we need something in the fruit category, for instance, and ask her to pick it out. NOTE: Letting her make choices in the grocery store in no way indicates that she will actually EAT her choices.
Geography. It’s fun to look at a store map and try to figure out how to get to the restroom from here. Especially from a 3yo hold-it-til-the-last-minute perspective.
Vocabulary. The produce section is great for this. Stroll down the aisles and quiz your child on the names. Make up a short picture grocery list or use coupons with photos on them. After reading Amelia Bedelia’s First Apple Pie, we can’t get through the apple section without naming each variety of apple. We are still on a hunt for Winter Banana – has anyone ever discovered it?
What lessons has your preschooler learned in the grocery store?
Monday’s Preschool posts are written by our preschool writer and homeschooler, Jane
I usually have my kids count apples (or whatever) as we place them in the bag. My daughter recently read the word Pops (Corn Pops) and therefore got her first sugary cereal. It was a one time thing…but she remembered on the next shopping trip!
I have three preschoolers (4 yrs., 3 yrs. and 16 months) and we go shopping with a friend who has no children but some physical disabilities. She doesn’t drive so I provide transportation, and she provides an extra pair of hands when I need to take someone to the restroom etc.
Things we do:
1. When the children say we should buy something we discuss whether it is on the list or in the budget…this is an introduction to fiscal discipline.
2. The 4 year old walks or holds the cart and gets things off of the shelf for me. We discuss economies of size, packaging etc.
3. When we go to Costco or Sam’s Club I buy one case of yogurt. They then have to stretch it as long as possible as I only go to those stores every other month or so…this teaches both supply and demand and deferment of pleasure. They also learn to share by splitting one yogurt instead of each having one.
Mostly we talk about what we see, what we’re buying and so on.