Visits to the Grocery Store

One of my favorite times of the week is our visit to the grocery store. Some parents will stop reading this right now with pure disagreement.  I like food and I like all the colorful food choices that the grocery store presents.

My daughter also never complains when I say it is time to go to the grocery store. It is part of her weekly routine and I work to give her a purpose while we are cruising through the aisles.

We start off our adventure in the parking lot. I grab the cart and hand Lauren the reusable grocery bags to carry. (Hey, anything I can do to promote recycling!)  While Aiden is strapped in the child seat, Lauren gets to ride in the big part of the cart until we finish with the produce aisle. (The cart gets too full then). As we walk through the produce aisle I pick up each piece of fruit or vegetable, smell in and then say it's name. I then give it to Lauren to smell and repeat the name of the food. She gets to hold the sturdy things like jicama or cantaloupe. Recently I have been shopping almost strictly organic. We review what it means to buy organic versus not organic.

Then it's time for the baby food. Lauren's chest puffs up when she, as the big sister, gets to pick out food for her baby brother. We talk about getting vegetables, fruit and meat. She goes for the food with the brightest color.

A couple of aisles later we end up in the coffee aisle. It's Lauren's job to pull the lever and watch all the coffee beans fall into the bag. Then she smells the coffee and lets Aiden's nose have a turn too.

A couple of aisles later we end up at the eggs. Lauren's job is to review the eggs in the carton for any broken ones. We've only found one broken egg ever, but boy was that fun when we did. We put the broken egg carton in the grocery cart and took it up to the cashier. Lauren had the job of handing it to the cashier.

After the eggs we head to yogurt. While mom is picking out her favorite yogurt, Lauren gets free reign to pick 10 different yogurts and throw then into the cart. This becomes her favorite snack during the week.

We end the shopping trip in Lauren's favorite aisle, the pinata aisle. Our grocery store has a Hispanic aisle with pinatas hanging overhead. I hinted that we would get a pinata for her birthday. She has had her birthday pinata selected for months. I get a weekly reminder.

At checkout, Lauren's job is to hand the cashier the reusable grocery bags. Then yes, I finally let the child rest and sometimes snack on one of our purchases.

This routine keeps my daughter occupied throughout the whole shopping trip and I hope she learns a little along the way.