Grocery shopping is one of those essential chores that involves all family members.
It is important, as it determines what household items will be on hand in the next few weeks to a month.
That alone should be a strong enough argument to involve your kids in grocery shopping; however, here are more to convince you.
Educational Opportunity
One reason to bring your kids to the grocery stores is that they can be incredibly enriching places.
Colours, shapes, words, and numbers—there is no end to the vast amount of information ready to be consumed.
Sometimes the most impactful learning opportunities occur in everyday moments, so parents have to make use of their surroundings.
Spoken word games like I Spy and the Alphabet Game that involve the environment provide entertainment while being educational.
Healthy Eating
Healthy eating is such an important part of children’s lives.
When they come along to the grocery store, they have a better understanding of which foods are healthy and which are not. Seeing the food they will eat later on may encourage them to try new things.
For example, if a parent brought a healthier snack back for their kids to try, it would not seem half as appealing as it would if they had chosen it themselves.
It is up to parents to convince their kids that healthy food is worth trying and doesn’t necessarily taste bad.
There are countless ways to do this, even if you may have to trick your child into healthy eating.
As said by Jennifer Shu, MD in her book on childrens nutrition, “You may not realise it, but you’re serving as a role model when you grocery shop with kids, especially when you stop to chat with them about healthy foods”.
Cultivate Interest in Cooking
Grocery shopping is also an excellent way to introduce your kids to cooking.
The bulk of what we buy in the grocery store is food, and most families plan what to buy before going.
Buying ingredients may pique their interest in what exactly goes into preparing a meal.
Especially for older kids, parents can plan a menu together before shopping, making it fun to pick out exactly what they need.
This excitement carries over into the kitchen, where they can apply that same enthusiasm to preparing a meal.
Develop Social Skills
As mentioned before, everybody goes to the grocery store.
This creates the perfect opportunity for children to start interacting with people outside their family.
When browsing the aisles, it is inevitable that we cross paths with others. This may then end up in a conversation.
Including kids in these interactions teaches them people skills and how to increase social development.
This not only creates exposure to different people but different cultures as well.
Budget Awareness
Although this may only be applicable for slightly older kids, going grocery shopping can create awareness of the prices and necessity of common household items.
When they are involved in the buying process, kids can get a first-hand experience of how transactions work.
They will also get an idea of how much things cost, which things are affordable versus which are not, as well as what is needed around the house.
Kids are often more intelligent than we give them credit for and can learn financial literacy from observing their surroundings.
Take It Slow
While grocery shopping can be an enriching experience, it is also important to know when your child is ready to face such a stimulating environment.
Take your child’s needs into consideration, make sure everyone is up to the task, and most importantly, have fun!
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