Seriously what is up with whining about people bringing their kids shopping. I get that they hate poor people I just would expect them to have more than one thing to talk about
Edit: Even though I enjoy conflict, I guess I’ll add some context here anyway. The usual line I hear as smalltalk is “You don’t have to bring the whole family shopping,” which if you don’t shut it down immediately, will be followed up with some of the most racist and/or classist statements you can imagine, typically involving birth rates
The childcare part is what gives the game away. Everyone I know with sensory issues that they acknowledge will rightfully complain about stuff triggering it, but they frame it experientially and they’re never the ones making this particular complaint
The folks making this complaint in person to me have been, without a single exception, trying to use it as an inroad to talk about birth rates. Those fuckers hate universal childcare
Anybody complaining about birth rates is no more than five degrees from openly seig heiling.
Seriously though why would we prioritize a few with sensory issues over children spending time with their parents. That makes zero sense.
I’m not saying “ban children from stores.” They’re the most entertaining part of shopping, for one thing. I’m saying there would be far, far fewer meltdowns if parents had a choice in whether or not to force a kid to follow them through walmart
As it stands, bringing the whole family shopping is the only option for a lot of people. This is fine if the whole family is okay with it, but can cause problems if one or more of the kids doesn’t feel up to it. Since grocery shopping can be very time-sensitive and has no acceptable activities for kids, it’s generally an unpleasant surprise at best for them
Give parents access to nearby free, safe, supervised places for their kids to play and that (plus so much more) becomes a non-issue. If a kid’s dreading Walmart, just let them do something kid-friendly. If not, then there’s no reason not to bring them along
yeah as a kid I hated going to the supermarket with my parents your mum would always meet a friend and you’d just be hanging around for what to my kid brain felt like 20 years
This shit is so detached from reality, idk how to even respond to that. Kids really aren’t a problem at grocery stores, it’s an extremely normal part of life. This is entirely a non issue.
I guess people in your area don’t dogwhistle about big families in grocery stores then