When did the grocery store become the new playground?
 

I had to go to the grocery store this afternoon to pick up some meds and some potatoes. As I was walking around, three or four kids with bicycle helmets were running hell bent for leather around the store. If I found my kids doing **** like that, it would not be a good day for them.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1741749340.jpg

Did you step in front of them so they fell down?

be happy. My grocery has 3 security guards and gated entry/exit.

I shop at 5am, no kids and very few other customers!

You think you've got problems with kids? I have old people pushing their carts, at snail paces, down the middle of the isle while indiscriminately hollering at people and sampling the produce.

Pro tip: Don't buy the plumbs with bite marks.

Holy carp! :eek:
Not to mention the gauntlet of old folks trying to run you down in the parking lot before you even get into the store!

Lucky I wasn't there....

Once when my young kids were acting up, I threw a full on the floor, screaming, foot stomping, arms waving tantram when I found out the Cadbury's Fruit and Nut bar was out of stock :(

My 6 and 8yr old kids didn't know what to do with themselves, nowhere for them to hide, a few old folks in the aisle look at me in disgust

I thought it was pretty funny at the time :D

We go grocery shopping early (8:00 AM) on Sunday. There are usually two or other patrons in the store. I have never seen kids there.

We do go to Sam's, again early as I have business membership so the store usually has a dozen other people there. I use their app, and I can scan the items we buy (mostly fruit) and pay with the app. It pus a large QR code on my phone display, and we walk out through a portal, and it scans the QR code, and some of the items in the cart, and we walk out and did not interact with any other humans.

This thread is a great ad for grocery delivery services.
Living in a college town has its perks.

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We have a local grocery store that has been in business since the 50s. They have their own butcher counter and deli. They play jazz music. And they still bag your groceries and if you want will carry them out to your car.

Its where I shop for yummy mummies. I make my 8 year old be my wing man. He is however, usually pretty well behaved .
I used to look down on parents with kids with bad behavior , but man, single parenting is tough stuff . Its so much more prevalent now too . I only have one and sometimes have to snake charm him to stay in his lane.
I cant imagine being a single mom, trying to wrangle 3 little snot nosed brats , all the while trying to concentrate on getting groceries for the week .
Single parenting has somewhat changed my views on a lot of things

Are there any grocery stores that don't have a butcher counter and deli? And in my experience, most still bag your groceries. Taking them out is not as common as it once was, but I think many still will if you want/ask.

I think a lot of married parents are also not keeping the kids wrangled. I think the current generation has let electronics do so much of the babysitting that they tune the kids out and let them run wild. I've been in restaurants where the parents are letting 3-4 year olds wander around within a few tables of their table. When I was a kid, there was no wandering around.

That irritates the hell out of me. Last Monday we had some unusually warm weather so a friend of mine and I went for a motorcycle lunch ride. A couple of families with their kids came in, and, of course, sat down at a long table by us. Didn’t matter that most of the place was empty, they had to sit by us. Then two of the kids commence to running up and down the aisle in between us screaming loudly. I wanted to stick my foot out and tripped them, but managed to restrain myself.

We shop at Winco. It is cheap. Has lots of bulk bins. The smart poor people shop there as well as other cheap skates like me. There is zero monkey business. The grannies from the old country would come unglued if they did. Other than occasional marginal produce, it is an amazing experience.

Ever since Covid I shop online with home delivery 80% of the time, no more "people", weirdos, unruly kids, lines at registers, no more suggestions that *I* am the cashier, or parking in overcrowded lots. It's been wonderful for my mental state ;-) The few times I do go for "extra stuff" that doesn't deliver, it's almost pleasant because it's rare ! I once did a shopping cart comparo - like for like - and honestly with their little online discounts it's not much more $. Maybe 5-10% tops (minus my gas and door dings).

When I spend time in Europe in summer, most supermarkets offer a free "pickup" of all your stuff.. You order and pay online, park underground in a special lot, tap your parking spot on the app, and someone comes to your car, opens your trunk and drops everything in there for free, not a penny extra. Not even tipping (not allowed) It's the future.

Sounds like you needed to stand up abruptly while pushing your chair out.
"Oh, your unrestrained little kid ran into a chair in a place that he shouldn't be running."

I have 3 young children mostly decent behavior but they have their moments of course.

We have several to many school age children in our densely packed suburban neighborhood with medically diagnosed behavioral issues like ADHD or on the spectrum and related. I am no doctor and I have no idea why this is so prevalent these days, but I do know some of these children can be very difficult to manage at times.

I choose to try to be patient and sympathetic to the best of my abilities, versus being short fused and judgmental. It hard one of my daughters playmates came over the other day and started rifeling though all our drawers telling me she was looking for something in an agitated tone! This girl definitely cant help it an her parents try their best.

Public service announcement: Im happily married but if you are looking for divorced milfs The woodland tx grocery stores are a GREAT place to start.

I suppose it's possible that food, nutrition, chemicals have actually altered kids today so that they are different from 40+ years ago. But I think it's also possible that parents back in the day dealt with most of those issues and were able to rein most of that behavior.

Ive mentioned it before. My oldest is Autistic. He is 19 now and doing well . Raising him, was a challenge however.
He ruined many a meals out for us, and we had a few instances out shopping as well . It took us a while to learn the things that triggered him . It was frequently just stimlulation overload, loud noisy places, or sometimes, even smells .
We always just removed ourselves from those situations as we knew it was not fair for other patrons, and it honestly just sucked for us. Total embarrasment , till we figured it all out .

Ahhh, a sly pivot to the OP thread title; "When did the grocery store become the new adult playground?"

I don't know some of the behaviors I have observed seem natural to the kids more than bad parenting to me. Again no doctor but I see approximately one billion school age children in a typical week.

I think a third and not improbable explaination might be 40 years ago people left their children with difficulties at home more often, and hid their struggles better.

They became playgrounds because people "don't care".

While I was there, I’m thinking I want to tell those kids to stop acting like *******s , running around, bumping into things and throwing stuff stuffed toys they had there.

Then I was thinking, maybe I tell them, hey the manager just called the cops on you, so you might want to beat it.

1970s

My mom would leave me on a bench by the registers with a grape crush. There was always a stack of comic books with the covers ripped off. Sometimes another kid to hang out with. We’d play with green army men.

The prime difference I see today is that you’re no longer allowed to discipline other people’s kids. If I had acted obnoxious any adult could have roughed me up and my folks would have been fine with it.

Timely topic.

I just returned from the grocery store where I encountered two 30-something nitwits stopped with their carts right in the middle of an aisle having a lengthy conversation.

No room to squeeze by, so I just stood there and waited. They were oblivious to the fact that they were blocking the aisle and just kept on yacking, but one finally did notice me and moved just enough for me to barely get by.

I made sure that my cart bumped theirs rather soundly as I passed...

My folks would have been fine with that too and I would have gotten it a 2nd time...

Bah! "stood there and waited", nope. I say "excuse me". Depending upon my mood, it may be normal or possibly a little loud and abrupt (which is often startling to oblivious morons).

THat reminds me of one of those things where 2 folks are passing each other going opposite directions on a 2 lane road, and stop to chat while blocking both lanes. In that case, I'll stop and wait for a sec, but they'll get a very short toot of the horn if they don't seem like they are stopping their conversation.

And what's with people pushing their dogs around in their shopping carts? Talk about unsanitary...

Interesting, a few months ago I was grocery shopping, and going down the frozen food aisle were three kids trying to play kickball, using the ball from one of those big wire enclosed displays they sometimes have for things like cheap kickballs, etc...

Well the ball came to me so I kicked it back to the kids... The mom was looking overwhelmed, while shopping and dealing with the three little terrors..

I smiled, the littles kids were happy to keep the ball in play.. and the mother smiled at me...

Maybe its me.. but, I wasn't upset with kids being kids

I was barked at plenty by known/associated parents. Complete strangers would have been case by case but never the cops being called.

A little spicy but realistic for the 70's time window:

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I usually go between 9am & 10am during the week to avoid all of the "old people", not to mention, I fall into that category so I can miss all of the dawdlers. This week, I walked to Target to pick up a few things and it was later than 10 and the store had quite a few teenagers running around dressed for summer or in their pajamas. They will be off of spring break next week so mid mornings will be the young mothers and seniors walking around.

When someone has their cart blocking the isle and they are on the other side looking at an item I will wait about 15 seconds and then I just move their cart. They look surprised but no one has said anything to me. If it is someone on the phone and just standing there blocking the isle, I move it 5-10 feet.

I announce I'm going to do it but do not wait for approval. If the person can easily pummel me, I'm more polite.