Shopping With Your Child

2008 January 28 by: Scott

Plan your trip in the store before you leave. Think about the lay-out of the grocery store and divide your list according to aisles to help you stay organized and on track.

Take your child into a store they will enjoy, such as the toy store. Some malls also have Santa Secret Shops where your child can go in to shop by themselves with adults supervising in order to pick out gifts themselves. Remember to set a time limit before you enter the store.

Set up rewards before you go shopping. Rewards can be earning tokens after each store you visit or after the shopping trip is over. Rewards can be anything from complimenting your child on their behavior to letting them have an ice cream. No matter how you set up rewards, take a moment after each store to let your child know how well they behaved. Determine consequences beforehand. This will help you to not lose your patience in the store, instead, remind your child of the consequences, such as losing television or video games that evening.

Be consistent throughout your shopping trips. Once your child sees a pattern to your shopping trips, your future trips will be predictable and more less stressful for both you and your child.