Many moms swear by shopping alone while their husband or some other trusted sucker babysitter tends to the children. However, if you, like me, have more children than is feasible to pay the astronomic costs reasonable wage to a sitter just so you can shop; and you also like to supervise the Honey Do list cherish the family time when your husband is home, it may be most practical to learn how to grocery shop en masse.

Here are my personal best strategies for enjoying – yes, I said enjoying! – your family togetherness while running errands:

1. Pray. Seriously. God hears and answers. Big stuff and small stuff. He wants you to ask him to shape your character and your children’s character while you work together, but he also delights to answer prayers for a parking space. I know. Upon occasion, when I’ve really needed it, he’s given me prime asphalt in a crowded lot. Pray with your children before you go inside, and as you walk through the aisles.
2. Have a plan. Yes, I know it’s an amazingly simple concept, but you can’t flutter from aisle to aisle randomly grabbing stuff and then run back to the first row with a group of 7 like you can with 1 person. Not sayin’ I’ve never done it, just sayin’ it works better with a list.
3. Try to shop at less busy times. Less busy in the stores and in your family routine.  If the kids are flexible nappers, great. If not, try to avoid going during naptime. If the energy level buzzes in your house at 5:30 every day, you’ll probably pay at the store big time long before the checkout line.
4. Dress up. We’re not talking heels and pearls, but combed hair, washed faces, and matching shoes on the correct feet, at least yours, will help you feel more pulled together and ready to face all the friendly “You sure have your hands full” people with a grin. However, when they ask if they’re all yours, cheerfully reply “Nope! I roam the neighborhoods collecting children to bring shopping with me!”
5. Feed the crew. If it’s risky for adults to shop hungry, it becomes downright treacherous when it’s the whole thundering herd. At our warehouse store I can feed 6 of us (the 7th still drinks mama juice) a hot dog & drink for under $10. We eat more nutritiously at home, but it’s something to enjoy occasionally. If you bring drinks in the car, the dollar menu sandwiches at the drive thru can also be an economical meal.
6. Line ‘em up. I don’t formally use the “buddy system,” but I do assign bigger children to a younger one as we walk through the parking lot, doctor up the hot dogs, or make a potty run. There is a specified order to our walking as we shop, too: baby in carrier or arms, 2yo in cart seat, 4yo and 6yo holding sides of cart, 9 & 11yo’s help to push cart, or select items. Good behavior allows some relaxing of these positions; using the freezer doors as a personal jungle gym misbehavior leads to restriction of privileges.
7. Know the rules. In our family, children do not touch any items for sale without permission, nor do they ask to touch each thing on the aisle. They do pick up items when asked to select them, and they are allowed to unload the whole cart at the checkout stand. We do not buy or request the snack stuff at the checkout. Exception: Displays of watermelons, which instantly turn all of my offspring into crazy bongo drummers as they simultaneously inform me that they’ve “found the best one!”
8. Practice makes perfect passable. This is probably my best tip. It’s not original, but since I don’t remember where I got it, no extra credit will be given. If your children are young and/or unused to shopping with you, a “dry run” is invaluable. Go at a time when you are not (a) not in a hurry (b) not doing major shopping and (c) preferably have your husband or another responsible adult with you. Tell the children your behavior expectations in advance, practice them as you go through the store, and reward them with your excitement and praise for a job well done. I need to refresh this one in our family, we’ve “forgotten” a few things.
9. Have a discipline plan. Besides reducing roaming ability, I’ve been known to put a child into a “corner” with their nose neatly balanced against the closest cereal display. This only works because “corner time” is also a standard restriction at home. If things have escalated beyond redemption, you need to:
10. Know when to cut your losses. I have yet to leave a cart full of groceries in the store and take a child out for misbehavior, but if that day comes, I will. Character and obedience are much more important than getting the shopping done today.
11. Keep a joyous perspective. If you have a few stores to hit in a row, make sure everyone knows the plan, and is still having fun. We’ve been known to sing Jingle Bells in July while walking the aisle of the fabric store – not so loudly as to annoy other customers, of course, but hey, it is a public place, and if they can chat on a cell phone…. In other words, remember that you’re shopping with children, and stop to smell the roses in the floral display case, even if you don’t take any home, and sometimes let them wipe out an entire tray taste one of the samples of smoked salmon. The sample ladies are usually gracious, and always thrilled when the children pipe back a “Thank you!”
12. Feed ‘em again. Despite strategy #3, everyone seems to be starving by the time we arrive home. Knowing what’s for dinner and that it’s a simple plan makes a large impact on my everyone’s attitude. In our house, I bring babies inside and supervise the stowing of items while the minions children carry in most of the loot groceries. If we don’t have a crockpot meal or leftovers to reheat, I usually let the older children make something simple like cheese sandwiches, burritos or even scrambled eggs. On return from a long afternoon of errands, it works best for me to tend the tired young ones, we seem to have fewer fatigue induced spats that way. Worst case? There’s always a short stint of brain-frying video time to fall back on.

Happy shopping to all! I promise, pledge, might consider using less strikethrough next time I post, but for now, bear with me, I’m new to blogging, and it’s addictive too much fun. For more Help for Growing Families tips, visit Ship Full O Pirates.

I don’t keep Sunday School papers. Or announcements from Awana. Or even (gasp) most of the doodles that my children make in their spare time. Oh, a select few are put into a notebook to avoid terrorizing by the toddlers, but most are enjoyed for a time and passed to the recycle bin or trash. My children know this. They are ok with it.

What I do strive for is to make sure that my children know their creations and gifts are special to me, because they are. However, I’m blessed with six creative children, and we’d be drowned in paper very shortly if we kept every piece!

So I try to make special spaces. Yes, some things go on the refrigerator, and others on the wall, but we enjoy them for a season, and then it’s time for them to retire.

I have a decorative pot on top of my microwave where we keep a select few rocks from outdoor adventures. Overflow gets stored in special rock piles outside.

The vase you see pictured in front of my speckled kitchen window is a great space for mama love bouquets that are brought in from playing. It’s probably about to stand empty for a while, as the cold weather has set in, but I did receive this lovely clover head from Lydia the other day. Perfect company for dish washing.

And since I photographed the vase, that leads to another method of clutterless preservation. Snap a picture of the artwork, preferably with the creative genius who made it. I have a special category in the computer picture files for such displays of creativity.

My household is far from clutter-free, an issue I continue to work on, but this system is working pretty well. Perhaps you will find something to share the joy with all as you love your little ones and their creations.

For more Help for Growing families visit Ship Full O’ Pirates.