Grocery Shopping can Be Educational for Kids

When you consider that as parents we teach our children necessary life skills for them to survive in the real world, you can see how grocery shopping with your children can be an educational experience.  Not only does it teach them about money, but it can also show them many other useful life skills.

Some of the life skills that I learned from my mother and my trips to going to the grocery store included learning about the value of lists, the importance of planning meals and the opportunity lost by not having a plan.  I didn’t realize some of these life lessons until I was in college.  I can remember going to get groceries for the week, but instead of buying what I had on my list, I made the choice of going down the wholesale candy aisle and bought candy instead.  It was delicious, but it meant that I ate spaghetti just about every day that week.

Even though my children are young, I am trying to include them in the grocery shopping process.  I feel that by getting them familiarized with the grocery store and what we need for meals, that they will be better prepared to cope in life when they finally leave home and my care.  Besides, it is fun for me too when I see how much they are picking up on things while we are at the store – it is nice to see the impact that I have on their development.