Grocery Store Etiquette

Posted by Barb Hacker Mar 12, 2008

I read an advice column that had a letter from a reader complaining about how rude a mother in a store was because her child was having a tantrum. She suggested that the mother needs to immediately take the offending child out of the store.

The woman’s opinion bothers me for several reasons.

I have been shopping and ended up with a child throwing a tantrum in the store. I do everything I can to prevent grocery store tantrums, but sometimes they happen anyway. I am a stay at home mom with three kids and a tight schedule. I do not have the time or the patience to leave a half-filled shopping cart and come back another day to shop.

A tantrum is an emotional outburst. Sure, sometimes they can be loud and even annoying to listen to, but sending the message that our emotions are something to be hidden seems counterproductive to me. Learning how to control emotions as we mature is one thing, but learning to be embarrassed about them is another.

I do not believe it is a good discipline practice to leave a store whenever a child tantrums. A child that is removed from the store when he tantrums is likely to learn that his outburst will mean he gets to go home. In the future, he may use this as a tool to leave any situation he is bored or impatient with.

I have ridden out grocery store tantrums with my head held high. More often than not, I have gotten sympathetic looks from other parents who are thanking their lucky stars that they are not in my shoes. These are the parents that have been there before and know they will probably be there again.