Taking the kids to the supermarket is like, well, taking candy from a baby - or so advertisers would have you believe. However, reporters from Children's Express found the reality somewhat different at Sainsbury's in Liverpool Road.
| They scream and pull things off the shelves. |
"Shut up whinging!" yells a father at his young daughter in a crowded Saturday-afternoon Sainsbury's. "Somebody give her some sweets!"
Retail rage is becoming a familiar scene in our supermarkets as exasperated parents try to shop with kids in row nothing like the cute picture painted by advertisers.
I've got three children aged four, six and eight and I try not to bring them," said mum Mira Good. "It takes longer when they're with me because I lose them." Her woes were echoed by other parents - children get in the way and get upset; shopping is clearly preferable without them.
Nicola Ashby, out with her toddler Charlie, said. "They scream and pull things off the shelves." Margaret O'Donnell, who has four children, said: "The worst thing is the tills; because you have to stand in a queue and the kids just want to muck about."
However, some parents did enjoy having their children in store, saying that they stopped shopping becoming a chore and helped choose what to buy.
"I prefer shopping with my children because I can buy all the things they want," said Lisa Buckingham, who had two young children with her. "The best thing is that you buy the food you really like but you just wouldn't buy if you were on your own."
Peter Benson, who was with his baby daughter, added: "It's nice to have them with you. It's also educational and fun for the kids to see the outside world."
Not all parents were so accommodating. One girl's request for Corn Pops or Cornflakes was refused by her parents, who said she should get some decent cereal, not "that rubbish".
Ten-year-old Gillian Antwi-Bosiako, a Children's Express reporter, said the experience was a familiar one. "Shopping with my mum I think I'll get to choose what we buy - but really she gets to choose," she said.
Sweets and snacks appeared to cause many of the conflicts. Either parents would assert that they were rubbish or kids would be bribed with goodies proved to keep them quiet.
"I give my children sweets to keep them happy when I'm shopping," admitted Ms Good. Ms Buckingham confessed: "I usually end up buying loads and loads of crisps to feed them on my way around. To discipline them, I shout very loudly."
Supermarkets could perhaps do more to improve relations between children and parents. "There could be people to talk to kids around the supermarket, perhaps clowns to entertain the children in the shop rather than a separate crche," suggested Children's Express editor Momtaz Begum-Hossain.
About the team
This report was conducted by Julia Press, 17, Momtaz Begum-Hossain, 16, Stuart Fletcher, 14, Senab Adekunle, 14, Abeyna Jones, 14, Ruth Sewell, 12, Cenk Ceki, 10, Gillian Antwi-Bosiako, 10; Mehrak Golestani, 13, and Koiya Donovan, 11. It was published in the Highbury & Islington Express.
