Going Grocery Shopping When You Have TwinsThere is no food in your fridge, the cabinets are bare, and you have a hungry family hovering around the kitchen like flies to a homemade apple pie. Aside from letting them all starve, you only have one option: heading to the grocery store and quickly. A trip to the local supermarket wouldn’t be a big deal except for two facts: you have toddler twins and you have to bring them with you. I know what you’re thinking: a meltdown in the frozen foods aisle is more likely than snow on a frigid January morning. Not to worry. Strap your babies into their car seats. You can head to the market and still maintain your sanity. Here are some suggestions to make your shopping trip quick and easy.
Make a List Never walk into the supermarket unprepared. That’s setting you and your twins up for an experience worthy of a room with padded walls and barred windows. Instead, browse through the store circular ahead of time and comprise a list of items that you need. You can make your list of necessities even easier if you group items together. For instance, put all of your produce in one column; meats in another; dairy products like bacon, cream cheese, milk, and butter in a third; condiments in a fourth; and so on. As you walk through the store, you can browse one particular category of items and in each aisle, grab all that you need. Each time you find an item that you have added to your cart, make sure you cross it off your list. If you shop with coupons, make sure you have those out and ready before you get to the store. Since you will know ahead of time what items you will be buying, you can organize your coupons and have them in a handy envelope. That will ensure a faster trip through the market.
Make Them Work Your kids don’t see food shopping as a chore. It’s another adventure, another great place to explore. Why not give them a job to do while you are shopping? Here are some suggestions. Make up two separate, smaller shopping lists. Give one list to each child. Some of the items you could list for the kids are apples, bananas, cookies, cans of soup, cereal, and juice boxes. If your child is too young to read, draw pictures or use stickers to determine the products you want them to look for. If your child is learning how to read, this can be an educational experience. As they find the foods on their lists, they can spell out the words to you. You might even suggest clues to your kids as you walk down the food store aisles. For instance, you could say, “Down this aisle, you’ll find boxes of this item that we eat with cheese.” (Answer: crackers). Another idea for you when you food shop is to let each child hold something of importance. One child can hold your grocery list. The other twin can hold your coupon envelope. This makes them feel responsible while keeping them busy. Let your children pick out some foods that they like that will be served at meals. Maybe your kids love creamed corn. Encourage them to pick out a few cans in the canned food aisle and talk about when you will serve that particular food. If your kids are old enough, plan a menu together and decide what will go with the main entrée you’ll be serving. Let them decide on what kind of potatoes (baked, mashed, or fries) to have with roast beef.
Treat the Kids Allow your children to each pick out a special item that they like – a favorite cereal, package of cookies, or goldfish crackers. Don’t let them open their treats in the store. Tell them that if they behave until you get into the car, then they can have their special items. This way, you don’t have a huge mess on your hands while you are trying to bag and pay for your groceries. The entire time you shop with your kids, reward them with praise for good behavior. If they find the correct foods on their lists, tell them they did a great job. Don’t be stingy with your praise. Let the kids know they are behaving and being big helps to you.
Keep It Simple with twins Make sure that if you take your twins to the grocery store with you, two things are kept in mind. The first is that you try and keep the shopping trip to an hour visit or less. Don’t expect your children to behave while you shop for a banquet Christmas dinner for 30 people. They will get restless long before you find all of the ingredients for your first course. Secondly, take the kids to the store when you know it won’t be crowded. So, skip a Sunday afternoon expedition when you can expect the entire neighborhood will be shopping and opt instead for an off time like Wednesday morning. Shopping at a more appropriate, less crowded time will ensure that you get better customer service and are out of the store in a quicker period of time. As you maneuver through the store with your twins in tow, move quickly. Don’t stay in any aisle too long as your kids will be bored. Instead keep up the pace and encourage your children to do the same. Before you know it, you’ll be at the checkout paying for your groceries and thinking to yourself, that wasn’t so bad. Of course it wasn’t. You were prepared. The kids behaved beautifully. Give yourself a huge pat on the back for being well-trained for the grocery store marathon. And have pity on that poor woman in the next checkout line with the screaming three year old in the cart. Apparently, she’s not as up to the challenge as you are!
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