Go on, it’s semi-social, you can bring your baby or toddler, and you can GTD. (That’s “get things done” in Internet language. Seriously.)
When our firstborns were too little to know the difference between Target and the Children’s Museum, Whitney and I would meet with the boys to do some shopping and wonder if it counts as an outing. I say “yes”.
Meeting a friend out for errands is your 51st Rookie Mom challenge! Not ready yet? Pick another challenge.
Once, I met my (child-free) pal, Olivia, and we wandered the aisles at Whole Foods toting the little man in his cart and handing him banana chips at his every sign for “more”. We chatted amiably and I went home with ice cream. Ice cream purchase really put the kibosh on post-Whole Foods coffee dates, so plan carefully.
Thingamababy offers 10 excellent tips for how to get out of the house and shop all day with a toddler. He includes a great suggestion on what to keep on hand and what to leave in the car. If you’ve tried to take your toddler anywhere and run into frustration, you’ll appreciate the advice.
i think any time you get out with another adult and are able to have a “grown-up” conversation of any kind–that qualifies as an outing! (just stumbled across your blog)
My friend and I have done this with our weekly grocery shopping trips, even sans kids. We usually shop at the same store anyway, and usually leave the kids with our husbands too. It’s not exactly a spa day, but I’ll take it!
ah Target.. the outing/field trip of my child’s extreme youth. Recently I accompanied a friend to her child’s dr appt an hour away. Does that count? We chatted, our children whined… we were far from home….
oh.. should mention, I didn’t willingly take my child to a germ-infested doctor’s office.. it was an optometry appt. Nice and as safe as an other playgroup type place.
I love this idea…although my closest friend and I both have 3 kids, that’s A LOT of kids up and down the aisles at Target:) Maybe we could implement a ‘babies only’ rule and leave the big kids home with the Dads.
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Target was my best friend when I was a stay at home mom, we had one literally right down the street from the house with a Starbucks (the next closest was miles away) and with my shopping habits, it became almost a daily ritual to go to Target until my son started saying “Lets go shopping” then I nipped that right in the bud before I created more problems for myself and having a bratty kid.. but all in all meeting other moms with children out to run errands is perfect to get stuff done and lets the kids have some time..
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