About a year ago I was heading out the door for the supermarket when Heather ran after me with a screaming Annie squirming in her arm.
“Would you mind taking the baby with you so I could get twenty minutes to myself?”
I agreed even though the prospect of bringing a screaming baby to the supermarket wasn’t exactly on my bucket list, but if I knew then what I know now I likely would have thought it through a bit more. That’s because ever since that trip Annie thinks going to the market with her old man is the cat’s meow (or Rigby’s bark). Whenever I try to slip out now she squeals and says, “Store, Daddy? Annie go store?” Who can say no to that?
So Annie has become my little supermarket buddy, something which has complicated things significantly since I’m not the best shopper to begin with. Don’t believe me? Here’s a typical call from me at the store:
Me: “Is it minced garlic we need or garlic salt? Wait. There’s also garlic cloves. Why are there so many types of garlic?”
Heather: “It’s onions, Mike. We need onions.”
Thankfully, Annie enjoyed sitting in the the grocery cart’s basket on our early trips and didn’t cause me too much trouble… that is until a couple months ago when she started to whine the minute I set her down.
“Annie walk!” she yelled. “Dada, Annie walk!”
Since she wasn’t even two years old the idea of letting her walk around the supermarket sounded both insane and irresponsible, so I ignored her pleas and left her in the cart. This lead to many frantic shopping sessions where I raced to grab everything I needed in the 90 seconds or so before she went into total meltdown. After those awful experiences I’m pretty sure I could clean up on “Supermarket Sweep.”
But then a few weeks ago Annie whined “Annie walk!” before I could even get her into the cart, and I decided to see what would happen if I let her have her way. To my shock she wasn’t a nightmare knocking over displays or trying to run off. Instead, she was amazing! She stayed by my side at all times…
“Hi, Daddy! You said stay by the cart, right?”
…and even helped by putting items we needed into the cart when I asked her to. (And sometimes when I didn’t: “No, Annie, we don’t need that can of sardines.”)
“Banana, Daddy! Got it right here!”
“OMG! Shopping is soooo exciting!”
Since that day shopping with Annie has been way easier, and other shoppers compliment me all the time on how well behaved she is. Not only that, but when I tell them she is only two they are even more impressed! Okay, this proud Dad will stop bragging now…
The parenting lesson I learned here is that sometimes letting your kid “fly” before you think they are ready is the right thing to do. If I hadn’t given her a shot at walking I likely would’ve waited until she was at least three, and that would have lead to a LOT of very unhappy trips to the store. I’ll be sure to remember this the next time I think my baby is too little to do something and tell myself, “But maybe she’s not!”
Heck, she even pushes the cart!
“I have no idea where we’re going but I like it!”
C’mon, Daddy! There’s a sale on aisle three!”
Oh! I almost forget to mention the best part of shopping with Annie. She never lets me forget to buy cookies.
meoskop says:
I’d tell you it gets easier to tell when they’re ready for those flights, but I’d be lying!
Cinthia says:
Totes cute. Wish I could do that with my cats…
karen says:
Does your supermarket not do little troleys for kids? then why not get her a toy one and take it with you. She can really help then!
Sue says:
Annie sounds like the perfect little supermarket buddy!
Wendy says:
Trader Joe’s has “shopper in training” carts! They’re so cute. You should totally take Annie shopping there.
Neeroc says:
Oh my she is adorable! And how wonderful that you guys have your shopping time (although given your description of your shopping abilities, I am questioning Heather’s sanity a bit *g*)
Megan says:
So cute! I live in the LA area as well and the supermarket we go to has not only a Starbucks but TVs in the shopping carts for kids! The kids sit in a little car thats attached to the cart and you can choose Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse, or Little Einsteins for them to watch. My almost 2 year old has yet to venture out of the cart thanks to Mickey Mouse. It’s made me actually enjoy grocery shopping-I get my Starbucks fix and the kids sit quickly for 15 mins.
Melli says:
Love the omg face pic! She is the cutest? Also, your supermarket has really nice hardwood floors. The ones in NYC, not so much.
Pattie says:
So cute! And the pictures help make the post, especially the OMG banana one.
Staci says:
That is awesome! Your supermarket is quite lovely. Wow.
The real question is, what shoes do you wear? I saw the slippers in Heather’s “Tour …” post and wanted to make sure they left out of the grocery trip.
Kristen @ The Chronicles of Dutch says:
I love that you have some quality father-daughter bonding time at the grocery store! The pictures are hilarious – too cute.
liz b says:
I just let my daughter walk at the store for the first time too (she’s 21 months) and we play a game called marching where she holds onto the cart and pushes while i say syd is marching marching marching. She thinks it’s hilarious and it stopped the crying and keeps her holding onto the cart and by my side
Rachel says:
“OMG! Shopping is soooo exciting!” = Best. Annie. picture. ever!
So cute! =)
SmileyGirl says:
When my girls were little and wanted to walk in the store, I allowed it but only if they had a hand on the cart at all times. That way they didn’t get far and I had a “rule” about how far they could go. Once they were much older and more responsible, the “hand on the cart” was a discipline if they wandered too far away. It worked well and was a nice way to compromise without problems. If they couldn’t keep a hand on the cart, back in they went. Love watching your little family grow!
hdj says:
I completely agree with the little shopping cart – either finding a store that has them or bringing one from home. Then they get to put things in their cart and are helping even more. Plus is so super cute.
When my husband shops with my daughter, he is always open to suggestions of other things we need – like cookies, or giant Costco sized frozen deserts or bags of bulk candy. I try to see this as one of their things, but o.m.g. is my daughter’s daddy a sucker for her.
Me says:
Supermarket Sweep! Is that still on?
Leigh Elliott says:
great post! and I love the pics!! We use the “cookie at the bakery” and “Slice of cheese at the deli” every single trip. It helps!
Kerry says:
Omg, thank you for reminding of Supermarket Sweep! I loved that show! Annie is too adorable.
Annalisa says:
See, it must be a dad thing. I only very reluctantly let our daughter “steer” the cart, and invariably freak out if she lets go of it. In fact, last time my kid tried to take off from me in a store, I scooped her up, sat her in the cart and said “Giada doesn’t get to walk in the store if she runs away from mama”. She whined for a few minutes, but I decided to ignore it (and I let her hold random stuff to calm her down, she loves holding cans in her little hands).
Contrast this with the last phone conversation I had with my husband while he and the daughter were shopping:
“Okay, I’m here, I got X,Y, and Z. Can you think of anything else we need before we go?”
“Well, I was thinking we could…”
“Oh crap, gotta go. Giada just wandered halfway across the aisle”
“Well, don’t you have a cart you can put her in?
“Nooooooooo….”
“???”
“Giada bear? *long pause* Hon, gotta go. Love you! See ya!”
“What is…”
*click*
Not gonna lie, I panicked, and was half expecting to have my husband come home and say “Well, I guess we are not welcome to shop at [local Trader Joe’s] anymore! But at least I was able to stop her before the avalanche of bananas fell down on her”. Fortunately he did retrieve the daughter before any merchandise or toddlers could be harmed, and later said of the experience “boy, I think we have to go back to having her push a cart when we go”. I was so proud of myself for refraining from saying “I could have told you that! A 16 month old is waaaay not ready for that sort of freedom”. I just gave him the look (i.e., that scary angry mom look that we sort of perfect after the first year of a child’s life).