Shopping with Children

Shopping with children can be stressful. So we have rules.. and they are reminded of them every time they go in a store.
1. It is your job to stay near me. You need to watch me. I am here to gather groceries, clothes, household needs.
2. One finger touch.. we teach one finger touch as soon as children reach out for things... 10-12 months I'd guess.. Baby Jason is 15 months and has been doing it for awhile now it seems and at least the last 4-6 weeks nearly consistently.
3. If you ask the answer is no. I will offer if I want to buy you something.
Unspoken rules that are just family rules that apply to shopping
4. If you have your own money you can spend it as you please.
5. Under the age of 6 you hold hands with an adult (someone 13 or up) in the parking lot
6. You quickly obey at all times, but especially in public where I am sense or see something before you do.
7. Older kids always keep an eye on younger ones.. I am distracted by the task at hand.
When there are issues and I get stressed.. we do a practice run with Jason at another time.. so he can watch for behavior. We have left a store once (I returned the child to my house and came back to buy the food I had left at customer service) And twice we have done training because it seemed our children needed some reminding of the rules. "Training classes" have been done more for getting in and out of vehicles that for anything else... can you imagine.. anytime we change seats, or sometimes because the season changes we have to train for getting that back row in and out and then the middle row and getting little children in and out and who is responsible to help)
I try not to go to more than 3-5 stores in a row.. if I do we stop for a snack in between. I always tell them the itinerary for shopping day so they have an idea of where we are going. We may stop at swings or run in a field for 5 minutes or so if I know we are going to have a long day. We normally only go shopping 65 or so times a year. I don't like to shop. Having children help with looking for sales tags (Jillian will say is this the store with yellow clearance tags..etc so I know they are watching) or help look for the next item.. cut coupons.. or even bring coupons they have found for snack items helps them to be involved. I do ask if they need anything while we are out. When I tell then the plan they may say oh mom I wanted to get marbles for a project we will be near the dollar store can we stop there.. a young adult may say I wanted to stop at Old Navy they have a sale on t-shirts this week.. and I may add their stops to the list.. or offer them another time that is better for the family schedule.
We are a testimony. Out in public we are definitely a testimony. People comment all the time.. how I talk to my children, how my children obey, how helpful they are, what good siblings to each other they are, etc etc. They also assume certain things.. we are of some religion.. we don't use birth control.. etc etc.. so it is important that we are well behaved and open to conversations. Have an answer ready and able to actually effectively get the task done.