Many things are tougher as a single parent when you are out-numbered. One parent to one child is a pretty fair match and it is when you have more children than adults (which happens in many single parent families) that things start to get really challenging. Going to the grocery store for a single parent with more than one child can take precision, coordination and determination…
As a single parent of three, very close in age, I developed a few strategies for grocery shopping. First, whenever possible, I went on my lunch hour or left work a little early and went before picking them up from day care! That was the sanest solution. However, that wasn’t always possible and there were plenty of times when I had to do the food shopping with three kids in tow. I confess, I broke all the rules and let my kids ride in the main part of the cart and let them ride on the end when they were older. We would play “games” to see if all three could stay in or on the cart the entire time simply so that I could keep them contained. When they were very tiny, I would often put all three kids in one cart and pull a second cart to put the groceries in!
Additionally, even small children can help out with tasks. As soon as your children are capable, give them jobs to do to help out with the shopping. Children can be in charge of crossing items off and reading the list (once they are school-age) and they can help find items off the shelves. For small children who are not yet able to gather products, a parent can come up with learning games to entertain them as you shop. Have them see who can find the numbers 1-10 or look for certain letters. I used to have my kids see if they could find all of the letters in their names. A different game for each aisle can keep kids very focused. Of course, this requires that the parent be alert enough to invent the games but many of us learn to do this anyway.
See Keeping Track of Mulitiple Kids in Public in our Forums and Staying on Top of Your Brood in Public