Struggles at the Supermarket

My husband and I do our groceries monthly. We do this to minimize our trips to the supermarket thereby saving on fuel. We usually leave our son at home so we could complete everything on our list but for the last three months or so, we've been bringing Johan with us to the supermarket.

Yesterday, we decided to do our grocery shopping a week earlier than usual. We brought Johan with us and as expected, it was a riot!

He made all the biscuit containers into drums

He wanted to help Mommy so he kept on putting things in our cart

Then he wanted to help Daddy with the cart

But all he really wanted was to get in the cart

I enjoyed a momentary silence when we passed by an aisle with a little LCD screen
showing a product commercial

And of course, he just have to turn that roulette

Johan having the time of his life

My boy has been his usual, naughty self when we were at the supermarket. He kept on putting stuff in our cart, wanted to get inside the cart when it was already full so I went and got an empty cart that he can get in, and he kept turning that roulette over and over. Good thing is that the lady manning the roulette found my son  too cute, she even gave him a balloon.

But, seriously, with my son's overactive personality, bringing him to the grocery is no easy task. I was confronted with the constant urge to scold him when he's being so makulit. What I did to keep the boy preoccupied sure helped us finish our grocery shopping without losing any of our cool, here are some of them:

1. Let the kid help. When Johan started to grab things and put all that into our cart, I called him and asked him to help mommy with some stuff - I let him carry small boxes of soap, sachets of fabric conditioner, shampoo -  and allow him to put these necessary stuff in our cart.
2. I ask him to look for some items - while we're at the milk aisle, I asked him where his milk was or I told him to get a toothbrush while we're at the oral health aisle.
3. Dance. It is great that supermarkets now play music in the background so when my son heard Oppa Gangnam Style, he immediately stopped what he was doing and jumped his heart out.
4. Teach the kid some manners. Whenever we see another child or a supermarket employee looking Johan's way, I tell my son to say Hi. I also taught him to say "Excuse me" and "Thank you".
5. Charm people. My son used to be so shy around people but he's been a little sociable lately and I cannot be more than glad that he's finally coming out of his shell. He's charmed some supermarket employees by his dancing, waving, answering "two" when asked how old he is and saying "A-ya!" when asked what his name is.

Grocery shopping, so far, has never went smoothly when Johan's with us. But, it sure did make it more interesting and well, yes, fun.