It is one of the main reasons parents avoid taking their children grocery shopping.
But new University of Otago research is encouraging the inclusion of children in the family grocery shop, because it can have a positive influence on their future buying habits.
The study, by Otago Business School marketing researchers Associate Prof Leah Watkins and Prof Rob Aitken, found parents could help their children become competent consumers by involving them in supermarket shopping, and explaining the reasons for their purchasing choices and the values that underpinned them.
The study centred on pairs of parents and children (aged 10-12 years old), who were tasked with doing the weekly grocery shopping for their family.
While loading their trolleys, the children made sure they stocked up on essential food items as well as salt, pepper, cooking oil and general household items such as tissues, food wrap and toiletries.
They made sure to include specific items that other family members preferred, such as a favourite shampoo.
Assoc Prof Watkins said the study showed the children were conscious of making healthy choices — allocating a large portion of their shop to fresh fruit, bread and vegetables — and echoed their parents’ values around frugality and ethical consumption.
When considering pricing, the children also recognised the need to keep within a budget and contemplate price promotions, balancing this with determining which products were best value for money.
"Results show children are highly aware of the competing demands of individual and family needs, and exhibited complex decision making that recognised the necessity of reconciling the needs of different family members."
What made a positive difference was how parents spoke to their children about buying choices, she said.
"Although children gained considerable practical knowledge from observing parents’ behaviour around planning meals, selecting products and provisioning the household for example, they also acquired underpinning knowledge from parents’ intentional explanations of the values and justifications for their consumption choices."
The parental influence on the children’s consumption behaviour was pivotal to the development of long-term attitudes and beliefs, she said.
Prof Aitken said the research was inspired by a previous study in the 1950s, when researchers attempted to discover what consumption choices children would make in the supermarket if they were free from parental control and financial constraint.
"An assumption was that the children would make decisions based on self-interest and personal indulgence," he said.
However, the 1950s children made sensible choices, and researchers put this down to their experiences living through shortages and austerity following World War 2.
"With our study, we wanted to find out if the escalating rates of consumption in today’s world would affect children’s choices, but we were pleasantly surprised to see the children making conscientious decisions," he said.
