Thoughts on children Black Friday shopping?

[mgreen]

The first time i took my son, when he was about 15, he was pretty useless. He was not prepared for the chaos that took place. The next year he was ready and jumped right in. Black Friday is an experience and may be too intense for young children and even some adults!

[Dyva247]

I never took/take my son because most of what I am buying is for him. No fun if he sees me purchasing things.

 

 

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[Nate Dogg]

I have taken my son with me every single year since he was 6 months old... never had an incident. We generally camp out every year, although the last 2 years we did not needed to... spend 2 days camping only to not have anyone else show up until 4 hours before the store opens.

 

He is 11 now, so he is old enough to understand and be careful, but when he was younger he stayed in the cart. It would be very easy for a child who is not being properly supervised to end up lost or hurt.

 

Not sure if it is good parenting or I just got lucky, but he has always been very well behaved. I also drill into his head what is going to happen and how dangerous it really can be and we talk through what to do in certain situations. We also walk the stores a couple of times the week before so he is familiar with the layout and surroundings.

 

I have seen children who were not properly supervised and can imagine it would be a nightmare for their parents, so my advice would be to go it you have the ability to take care of your children, but if your "little angel" cannot handle themselves in a crowd or if you constantly have to yell at them know there is a real risk of danger to them.

[bribri25]

I don't take the kids with me much because half the stuff is for them.  I have made a habit of taking them Friday morning to Petsmart (cat litter), Home Depot (batteries, poinsettias), and Menards (various random stuff), and have had no issues with them (other than being bored waiting in line at Petsmart...)

 

Edit:  Now DD7, and DS6

Edited November 4, 2017 by bribri25

[jaymacfla]

The first time i took my son, when he was about 15, he was pretty useless. He was not prepared for the chaos that took place. The next year he was ready and jumped right in. Black Friday is an experience and may be too intense for young children and even some adults!

 

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I am glad you gave him another chance.

[jaymacfla]

I train my family early. I will walk fast, and if they can't keep up and stay with me... I will not take them on Black Friday. Believe me, they have learned to move fast and stay with me, lol. Even my wife who is usually very slow knows that on Black Friday she better pick up the pace. Been doing this since before I was married or had any kids. Nothing will keep me from going, and no one will slow me down. This is probably about 23 or 24 years that I have been doing Black Friday shopping, and for the past 14 years in the area I now live in. Sorry, but I will never reveal what locations in order to keep from anyone beating me on the lines, lol. 

 

I have people who will talk to me, but will not utter a word of their intentions on Black Friday. This is primarily due to the fact that I beat them out of their position for years until I decided to move locations. I came to realize that they would do anything to eventually beat me to the line, lol.

[catholicbride11]

No way. Maybe once a kid hits teen years but before then nope. Kids make BF shopping difficult for everyone else around you. The screaming, the yelling, the strollers, constantly having to make sure they aren’t in your way, parents using the fact they have a baby to get in front of you... I could go on and on.

 

Now that sales have moved to Thursday I think taking them out on Friday isn’t that big of a deal. But Thursday you are just asking for trouble.

 

 

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[TTFN10000]

Newborns, infants have no buisness being out in the cold or in the madness when the stores generally open for buisness, unless you are shopping at particular stores that are not crowded. My daughter started comining with me last year when she turned 18. My son who is 9 will not go till he is older since he is special needs and will not stand still in a line or listen or sometimes will walk off that particular day is not the day for him to shop with me.

 

I went black friday shopping with my father up to a few years ago, now I go with either my sister in law or my daughter who now can drive. I went once with a friend whom I explained to her when I was going to starty shopping and how long we would be out so I did not want her to get confused with time ! Do you know she really thought we would start at 4 am and go till 6 am? I told her there's the bus. 

[shopping4my3son]

My oldest who's 23 now came with me when he was 12 but he was as tall as me then. I think he only came twice. The second time he might have been 15 or 16.

 

I won't bring my other kids. I don't like bringing them when I have regular shopping, I'm not bringing them on Black Friday lol. Whether on Black Friday or a regular day if people bring their kids I just wish they would keep an eye on them. One of my biggest pet peeves is unsupervised kids. I avoid Target because of this. It seems to be the norm here for people to use their strollers as shopping carts and the kids wander around. Especially young ones that are just learning to walk.

[jewleyp]

My DD who was 12 at the time asked to go with me but I was hesitant as I don’t agree with kids being out in the chaos. We decided that she would “man” the cart and stay in the lingerie section at WalMart. Lol. I got to get what I needed and brought it back to her instead of having the cart with me and she got to see what it’s all about. She has no desire to go back! Loll

 

 

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I have my own update!  LOL   When discussing BF Plans with her aunt my DD asked if she could go this year?  Looking surprised, I just stared at her and had no words -  my DH told her "no, you will just complain after 30 minutes and ruin your moms day"  

[jesusluvu]

I have my own update!  LOL   When discussing BF Plans with her aunt my DD asked if she could go this year?  Looking surprised, I just stared at her and had no words -  my DH told her "no, you will just complain after 30 minutes and ruin your moms day"

 

Thats me.... nope, no way, not going to happen

[jaymacfla]

I may revise my opinion of children on Black Friday.The other day, I saw a girl trying to fit into a suitcase in TJ Maxx. The mother was right with her and said nothing. I later saw her riding the same suitcase until it crashed into one of the shelving units at least 30 feet from where she started her roller coaster ride.

 

 

You know i had to make an announcement since the staff did nothing. "Responsible parent", "Is there a responsible parent on aisle 5?"

[tear1469]

Honestly I think it depends on where you are going and the maturity level of the child. I took my daughter with me when she was ten. That was when all the sales were on Friday morning. She was great, she loves BF shopping and has gone with me every year since, she's 23 now. This will be the first year we can't go together. She's in AIT training for the Army National Guard. I'm definitely going to miss shopping with her this year. My 2 boys on the other hand I didn't take til they were 15 and they never want to go again. Taking a baby out definitely needs a plan and you sound like you have a good one. Just use common sense and if it gets to be to much go home.

[starbeck96]

Honestly I think it depends on where you are going and the maturity level of the child. I took my daughter with me when she was ten. That was when all the sales were on Friday morning. She was great, she loves BF shopping and has gone with me every year since, she's 23 now. This will be the first year we can't go together. She's in AIT training for the Army National Guard. I'm definitely going to miss shopping with her this year. My 2 boys on the other hand I didn't take til they were 15 and they never want to go again. Taking a baby out definitely needs a plan and you sound like you have a good one. Just use common sense and if it gets to be to much go home.

I completely agree that it is dependent upon the maturity of the child.  My daughter is 11 and she is going with me and a friend this year.  My husband and at least of my sons (19) will probably go to Walmart with us as well.  She will be allowed to walk around the store for a while, but I will put her in line with one of us about 20 minutes before the chaos starts.  Our store is smaller and we know at least half the people there.  There has never been any real trouble either.  If it were a bigger store and it was known for trouble, then she wouldn't be allowed to go.  She also knows how to behave in a store. 

 

After Walmart we are all coming home to sleep and will get up early the next morning to go shopping at the other stores (an hour away from us).  She has been asking several years to go, but this is the first year that we've felt she would be able to handle it.   Honestly, if my friend were not going with me this year she would not be able to go because I will be buying part of her Christmas.  But my friend said my daughter could stand with her while I grab her stuff.

 

 

[tehlilone]

I was 6 or 7 when we started black friday shopping. This was back in the 90s though so it was always around 5-6 AM and there was maaaaybe a line of 10 people at most. The chaos was always fun.

I plan on bringing my daughter with me for her first Black Friday this year. She's only 9 months. We're a babywearing family though so either my husband or I will be wearing my daughter. She sleeps fine in her carrier so I'm not worried about her rest or being tired. She has already gone with me to Force Friday and a few midnight releases for things. She's also been to a few comic conventions so she's used to being in crowded places. I usually have my arms up to protect her head when I walk around and I'm prepared to create a good space bubble if anyone comes near.

 

I will say, I do hate unattentive parents on Black Friday. Unsupervised tweens and teenagers at the mall bug the crap out of me. They're always in the way and parents treat black friday extended hours as a baby sitting service The first year malls decided to be open on Thanksgiving night at 9 PM was horrible. I had kids run into me and my bags several times while I was shopping because they were horsing around and running through the mall. I also hate when parents don't care that they're kids are hungry, tired, and crying their eyes out. I've seen so much of that it's sad.

[budgetsRsexy]

As many others have said, it depends on the kid and a good parent generally has an idea if their kid can handle it or not. Having a plan in place for busy stores and for if a kid ends up getting overwhelmed are important. I honestly have a much bigger problem when I see bad parenting. It upsets me when kids are not dressed appropriately for the weather. I also find it extremely annoying if kids are misbehaving (or worse, doing something dangerous) and the parents are too busy on their phone or fighting over a sale to do their job and be a darn parent.

 

Best of luck

 

 

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[jaymacfla]

Here is my final thought on children on Black Friday......... No!

 

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[jesusluvu]

After tonight absolutely NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[starbeck96]

This was the first year that my daughter went with me.  She had so much fun!  She loved it but she is so tired.  We didn't stay out all night.  We went to Walmart around 5:00 (she stayed with my dad and niece because she wanted to stay and play).  Then, we picked her up and came home.  We went to bed early so we could get up at 4:00 this morning.  Got to the town for our BF shopping a little after 6 and had a good day.  Got back home around 3:00.  She came home, played a few of the games she bought (with the birthday money she had saved) and now she is in the bed watching a movie.   

She is 11 and knows how to behave.  So, there were no issues at all.  She had originally planned to come with us to Wal-mart.  If she had come there, she would have been able to walk around for about 30 minutes and then would have stood in line with her dad so she would be safe.

[MariahA]

My husband ended up going with me and our 9 month old. It went well, got to TRU at nine am, got what I needed. He dropped us off at Bath and Body Works. DS got a little overstimulated while we were in the checkout line, it was packed. As soon as we walked out he fell asleep and was fine. I call it a success.

 

The amount of infants in baby carriers at Walmart was ridiculous. Opening is not the time to bring young infants, I saw one who was maybe a month old. There were quite a few ten year olds and up, but mostly well behaved. Did have to snag a runaway at TRU, teacher voice still works even if I'm not one anymore. Her mom thanked me and then the child went in the cart.