down the aisles

Today as the rained poured down we headed to the grocery store.  When the boys were young it was easy to go with them.  Landon would be on my back and Will in the cart.  The past year it has always been a challenge.  Can we get this??  They get tired of walking.  They start yelling at one another. They fight over who is going to push the cart, etc. etc...

I started going at night or we would all go as a family on the weekends, but those times are precious.  I have my creative outlets I would like to pursue at night and the weekend, well it's family time.

My solution. I block off one  morning  a week. They each put things into the cart. They search for things. If I have coupons they have to try and find the matching item.  William reads the words and Landon has started looking for letters.  It takes a bit longer, but as I said to a neighbor who I ran into "It's school for today".

Then we have started using the self checkouts.  Their favorite part. William bags all the groceries while Landon scans each and every item.  I am basically just an observer. 

Since I order many dry goods in bulk online, (plus hope to join a CSA this summer), our cart is not extremely full.  It works well.

I could  go alone, but then the boys would miss out on a wonderful learning experience.