The Sain Mummy Shop Game

Do your children send you absolutely batty at the grocery store? Mine do! Don't worry, it's not just us, according to the PPP parenting course I did, apparently the shops is a common place of, shall we call it,  "challenging behaviour"! How many times have you witnessed a shocking display of "NOOOOOOOOO I WANT IIIIIIIIIT AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!"  at the checkout, often combined with a routine of throwing self onto the ground and headbutting the ground and kicking and more screaming. How many times have you thought "gasp, you poor, poor mother!" and an even deeper thought of "I'm glad it's you not me!" Are these your children? If they are then firstly, my deepest sympathies and secondly here is an idea that might help you. Kids get stroppy at the shops because of 2 reasons, 1, you are occupied with something other than them, your guard is down and kids come with their own built in "guard down" radar, and 2, because they don't have reasonable expectations.
Mum's head at the shops-"milk, bread, nappies, wipes,what els do I need, ooh is that Huggies on sale?"
Kid's head at the shops- "shops yay shops means lollies!"
For kids to act appropriately at the shops they need to know exactly what to expect, eg
Mum's shop prep talk-" Now Tommy, we are going to the shops to get all the things on my list and ONLY the things on my list. We are not going to get lollies or chocolates or comic books. You need to be on your best behavour at the shops or the man with the pricing gun will switch it to laser spontaneous combustion mode and incinerate you!" Well, maybe not that last part but you get my point. That takes care of the reasonable expectations factor. To help you with the getting borred and not getting your attention factor, why not make a game out of it, then you are turning a boring trip of torturous temptation into a fun positive experience.
When you do your shopping list (and remember we are shopping fortnightly now to save money) give them a copy of it and a marker. Tell them that they are your big helper today and if they tick off everything on their list they will be rewarded with..........? I usually say $2 to spend at the checkout. Kids love to help! I find this works a treat! If the kids are too young to read, make a list of pictures for them, really basic, they don't have to be detailed, they don't even have to be what you need, the point is to occupy the child while you concentrate on your task. If the kids are old enough to write, get them to copy the list themselves, it's good writing/spelling practice, and introduces basic budgetting skill. My kids are 9 and 7 and they still love this game!
Try it and see how it works for you! If all else fails, buy them that chocolate they want and then stand out the front of the shop and eat it in front of them! Very slowly and with lots of delicious facial expression and groans of satisfaction! They may cry a lot and scream but it reinforces the lesson for next time, they wont call you bluff again!