1. Posted by TracyE on Thursday, Aug 21, 2008 10:30 PM (EST):
That is priceless. My kids were snackers when smaller, too, however, never a banana bite (not yet anyway) 
The Grocery Store Can Be Fun
or How My Men Like to Shop
Posted by Rachel Balducci in Family on Thursday, August 21, 2008 9:12 PM
When my four oldest boys were little, we ate our way through the grocery store. Not necessarily the entire store, but usually from the half-way point on.
In those days, an outing to the grocery store was an all-day affair. The boys and I would usually arrive in the late morning, eat a light lunch in the dining area and then hit the aisles. We would wind our way up and down, row after row, the boys trying to touch everything and me trying to calmly balance checking items off my list and keeping my brood in check.
By the time we made it to the snack aisle, everyone was generally ready for a change of scenery. Like a faithful friend, the goldfish were always there for us. I would grab a pack off the shelf (sometimes even checking to see if they were on sale), and start dealing out the tiny orange koi one at a time. The gentle distraction bought me about fifteen minutes, just enough time to zip through the produce and be on our way.
My favorite part of the trip would be at the end. Besides the obvious reason that we were DONE!!!, I always enjoyed waiting for the salesperson to make note of the goldfish bag. And sure enough, almost everytime, the cashier would ask if I realized the bag was already opened. I couldn’t decide if she was doing it to be nice, or to point out that I was the kind of mother who sometimes resorted to allowing her children to snack while she shopped (I have discussed this with friends who have had similar experiences, and the jury is still out).
One-year-old Henry has not gotten to that snacking stage just yet. In general, we zip through the store with little incident. I’m not sure if it’s that I’m now a better shopper, or if having older boys to keep him occupied is the answer—even when I have all five boys with me (as has been the case all summer long) we can get in and out without opening anything.
Until tonight. This bunch of fruit was next to Henry in the cart, and as I picked the bunch up to put on the belt, I noticed one banana had been tampered with. I half-expected the cashier to ask if I realized it had a bite out of out.
Mercifcully, she did not.
note: no children choked in the making of this entry. Henry had JUST taken the bite and I fished it from his mouth immediately. Then I took the picture.
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2. Posted by Lisa R on Friday, Aug 22, 2008 2:16 AM (EST):
My daughter doesn’t bother taking the wrappers off mints & such before taking a bite. It always makes me wonder why little ones will chew on almost anything, except a vegetable!
3. Posted by TracyW on Friday, Aug 22, 2008 8:51 AM (EST):
When oldest ds was not quite 2, he would always eat a banana while shopping. At the end, we would present the banana peel to the cashier, and ask them to wiegh one of the bananas in the bunch twice. Most were either moms or gma’s themselves and would simply smile and nod reassuringly with their own memories of what it was like to shop with toddlers.
ANYHOO! Enter store manager, (or asst. manager, I don’t remember which, but for the sake of this story we’ll just call him the manager!). He asked me what I thought I was doing and accused me of shoplifting because ds was eating a banana. I told him we how we paid for it at the end. “If you HAVE to feed your child while you’re shopping,” he said while rolling his eyes, “you have to PAY for it first.”
Ummm, have you SEEN the checkout lines at commissaries? At this base, you had a MINIMUM 20 minute wait time on any given day. The point of feeding him (at least it was something healthy, right?) was to distract him and get through most of the shopping with as little stress as possible. Obviously, manager guy never shopped with little ones. But shoplifting? A banana?! Do they have a big problem with people lifting produce?!
I never shopped there again. Except for diapers. And the commissary is supposed to be a cost benefit, but there is no benefit worth THAT. Especially when dh was deployed and I had no choice to go with toddler, the little banana thief that he was.
4. Posted by Maureen Griffin on Friday, Aug 22, 2008 8:59 AM (EST):
We often go get a baunch of bananas first and pay for it then begin the real shopping...handing over a couple of peels at the register. The other option is zwieback for the baby and strawberries for the toddler - again open containers at the register...but I think they’re getting used to me and no longer comment. When we go to Costco for the big shopping trip my son always tries to bite into the brick of cheese through the wrapper. To save the clerk having to grab a spit-covered item I offer to scan it for them and put it back into the cart (you can tell who has kids at home because they take it without blinking and smile at the babies.)
5. Posted by Beth on Friday, Aug 22, 2008 11:19 AM (EST):
I love to shop with my little ones in tow. We are fortunate enough to live in a small town that still has a mom and pop owned grocery store. Name brands, but I buy the store brand to save money. Anyway, it’s small, cramped, crowded but it’s part of our evangelization. And everyone in the store loves to see the kids and knows them by name. One of the owners is an 85 year old bachelor and he just waits for us to come in each week. He takes Jude by the hand and asks him if he’s been a good boy for mom and then asks him what kind of treat he wants this week. Whatever Jude asks for, Mr. Morris gets if for him--for free. And he always gives him enough to share for his siblings. We see this man at mass on Sundays too--he has become part of our lives. The kids send him an occasional thank-you picture, Valentines and Christmas cards.
When we moved here four years ago, the first people we “knew” were the grocery store folks---they are still a big part of our lives. It is a real treasure having a store such as this in our town--and I tell them so often!
6. Posted by Debbie [website] on Friday, Aug 22, 2008 4:48 PM (EST):
Too Funny! We, on the other hand, do eat the bananas. I once was able to make it two aisles over from the fruit section before I had to give my son a banana. The lady next to me commented “I was wondering how long it would take you to finally give him one!”
7. Posted by melanie b [website] on Sunday, Aug 24, 2008 2:57 PM (EST):
I’ve almost always brought my own snacks with me to the grocery store: a bag of cheerios or raisins, slices of bread, or chunks of cheese in a bag. The few times I didn’t, my snack solution of choice has been whole wheat mini-bagels. My daughter loves them and it’s almost impossible to tell one is gone from the bag, which reseals nicely with the little plastic tie.
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