As I sat down to dinner with my kids tonight, I knew I still needed to come up with some kind of Family Home Evening Lesson (what we do every Monday night). Dad was out of town again and I was already feeling backlogged with dishes and laundry and hadn't thought much about a lesson. When I mentioned needing to have FHE, my oldest said, "Can we please do something FUN instead of just sitting around and talking?" Ugh, extra pressure now, I thought. I told the kids I had a lot I needed to do, so it probably needed to be something quick and easy, and then it hit me: I really needed to go grocery shopping and maybe we can somehow make that fun. Visions of "Supermarket Sweep" came to mind - the exciting game show I used to watch as a kid. Contestants would race through the supermarket to get all the items on their list the fastest and within budget. It was decided. We would do our own version of Supermarket Sweep!Prior to leaving we discussed grocery store layout. I actually drew a birds eye layout of the store on a piece of paper and pointed out where all the food categories were located. We also discussed how to "shop around the edges" of the store for healthier choices. The kids then helped make grocery lists. They helped inspect the fridge and the pantry and wrote down what we needed. We split the list in two so each team had one. The boys would be with mom and the 11 and 6 year old sisters would go off on their own in the store. I told the kids that we had 30min to get everything on the list...including ice cream for a reward.
I guided the boys a lot, but the girls were totally into it and didn't want me to follow them at all! At checkout, they bagged their own groceries, then helped me load/unload and put away. I was impressed that they all did so well and it was one of the fastest grocery trips I've ever made (with kids)! Plus, they were really excited to see who guessed the closest to the cost for groceries.
On the ride home, we talked about what they thought about it and what seemed hard. A couple comments included: "It's expensive to feed a big family" and "It's hard to shop with kids and not get distracted". Maybe they don't have to be all grown up to 'get it'. There's nothing like teaching great life lessons while being able to cross some to-dos off my list! A special thanks to my 4 helpers tonight.
