although we really can’t completely avoid shopping with our precious offspring in tow, now that the holidays are upon us, here is my advice and must-have amo when taking the little ones shopping.

1. shopping cart: since my kids are 4 and 2 (and are on the tall side), they no longer fit in strollers which regulates me to only shopping at stores that have carts that they can sit in.  carts AND a toy section is an added bonus.
2. lollipops:  lollipops are the best – like my american express card, i don’t leave home without them since it takes about 20 minutes for my kids to finish a lollipop while sitting, calmly and content – and  contained in a shopping cart.

most of my shopping with the kids revolves around grocery shopping, or a quick run to supertarget, but if i have to go clothing shopping with them, nordstrom rack and marshalls are pretty much the only places i know of that have cute clothes AND shopping carts.  of course, with the kids, you are guaranteed a return trip back since i don’t recommend trying on attempting to try on clothes while they are with you – this only cuts significantly into your lollipop time!

so next time when you are out shopping with the wee ones, don’t be a ‘sucker’ - grab a pack of ‘dum-dums’ (they are the smaller version of the tootsie pops with no gum/tootsie roll inside) – throw the kids in the cart and start shopping…after all, you’ve got 20 minutes – and for the modern mama and uber multi-tasker, we can accomplish a lot in 20 minutes!