Running The gift shop gauntlet!!

Let he spend her allowance/pocket money herself on whatever she wants for the money she has and make that part of the experience, or take her places that you know don't have a gift shop. At present a lot of places are not opening gift shops.

I used to ask them to choose a postcard which we then stored in an album. We wrote in the album the name of the gallery or museum and what we enjoyed seeing or doing there.

When ours were small, they were permitted to have a souvenir pencil, or something very small as we did not have the money to waste and told them so. If a tantrum were to erupt then so be it& they would get nothing. Parents are far too soft on pestering children these days& a firm “ not today sorry” would do some children the world of good.

Ha ha Lucca!

Josianne I had similar thing on a school (history) trip in Paris.
After a short “free time” session one student arrived back with his purchase of some kind of weapon (can’t remember…). As the French speaker I had to accompany him back to the store and exchange it for a tee shirt.
The boy was about 16 but seemed unaware the weapon would cause problems at customs……so his purchase may have been the sharpest knife, but he certainly wasn’t

A true story about the perils of gift shop purchases ....

So, on a school trip it is "educational" for children to buy a postcard, a snowy globe, or a momento of the place they visited. All agreed.
As best as possible I always checked the shop out first, but Mont St Michel in France has so many souvenir shops it is impossible to do that.
Two days later waiting on the coach to board the ferry home I get asked by a girl, "Mrs. P. do you know some of the boys have got swords and daggers from M st M in their bags?"
I think you might just be able to see from the picture.

Oh how I remember the dreaded gift shops, particularly when my children were on school trips. Fortunately, they chose quite practical things like pencils and novelty erasers so they did get used. Neither were keen on stuffed toys and they both soon adopted our stance on plastic tat and how to avoid it.
The OP however is in a different situation and I guess the only way forward is for parents and grandparents to adopt a united front, say no and mean no and put up with the tantrums.......for a while at least, I'm sure the little one will grow out of it.
It's just unfortunate that the exits from these attractions require visitors to walk through the gift shops.

I'm with Nonogran on this. It's a case of steeling yourself to the tantrum and remaining calm. No discussion, no pleas, nothing. Most children will only keep going if there is some sort of payback. Even our ASD grandchild who finds it difficult to understand is being taught that you can't always have everything you want.

Another vote for NO means NO! No explanations, no discussions, no bargaining, just NO! It's only a tantrum, for goodness sake! If you did not engage in discussions, 'reasoning' etc. you would not have this problem. I'm not against giving them a couple of quid for an ice-cream, but if she wants yet another cuddly toy, tell her she must save her pocket money. I be it becomes a lot less attractive when she has to spend her own money! Giving in just teaches her to be manipulative - not what you want to encourage.

How about “That can be your next birthday/Christmas present; we’ll put it away safely at home, and you can have it on your birthday/at Christmas”?

I personally love the gift shops and usually manage to find something that isn't too expensive.
The choices available for children, however isn't always that brilliant and the most eye catching things available are the soft toys that are usually cheap and badly made, that have absolutely nothing to do with the place that you have visited.
The idea of giving the child a certain amount of money to spend themselves can be a good idea, as long as you make it into a game with a time limit - one of my nieces took so long to decide what she wanted to buy, that the staff were waiting to lock up !
We actually got round that one by making the gift shop the first place to visit.
How about that they try the ice cream man trick ? We were told that if the ice cream van was playing music , it meant that they had run out! Perhaps say that if the lights are on in the shop, it means that they have run out of teddies (the ones in the window are for display only!)

Put it on your Christmas list is one of my stand-by's.
They're happy to browse & enjoy the conversation generated.

The odd trinket every now & then does give a reminder of a lovely day.

Gift shops at attractions are generally very expensive and unfair if you have to walk through them to get out as a parent or grandparent. As the grandparent I always say no to these shops before we start the outing , reiterate a as we approach to walk through and never have problems. Parents do the same. We always buy an ice cream though. If we go to a charity shop which the kids love I will always give them a small amount of money to spend. I give each £5 a week pocket money which they can squander or save. It was £3 but I upped it at lockdown on condition the tidied rooms, emptied dishwasher etc, etc. and be generally kind and helpful. I check regularly that they do. They are 12.

Give the child pocket money and a piggy bank. They should have control over this and use it to buy whatever they want, as long as they have enough. When it's gone, it's gone. Then it doesn't matter how many cuddly toys they buy. It's their money. My late husband and I used to disagree over this when our children were small but it taught them that money is (or should be) a finite resource. You can't spend what you haven't got. They can learn about mortgages and student loans when they're older!

Choose: we only have enough money for either the visit, or the gift. If you throw a wobbly, no more outings for a month (or two).

So agree with the thrill of the gift shop on school trips. We used to say once they'd been to the loo, eaten their packed lunch and spent their £2 at the gift shop, the actual intended learning experience was negligible.

My daughter was very good after throwing a tantrum in the doorway of a shop in a mall. It was the full throw herself on the floor kicking and screaming job. The friend I was shopping with and I proceeded to Call "Bravo bravo and applaud her loudly. She very quickly stopped picked herself up and walked off embarrassed by us. Her one and only aged 2 years and 2 months.

No means no, they eventually get the message, so I’m with the daughter in this. Mine knew that, my gc too. My gc were told no by their parents and if they made enough fuss it turned to yes, on many occasions. It makes for so many problems when you can’t lift them up and carry them into the car. They learn by making enough fuss they will get what they want. That’s not the grown up world.

Callistemon

You're very generous, V3ra!

Haha! We decided it was actually cheaper and certainly less stressful than paying for things, or not, as they asked for them.

Since they were really quite young my children were given a small amount of pocket money at the beginning of each week and had three jars labelled spend, save, give. It didn’t matter how much, but they were expected to put something in each of the jars, then on Friday they could spend whatever was in that jar, money in the save jar was used for specific purposes (usually to augment their holiday money) and the children could give money to whatever ‘cause’ they chose. This gave them all a good grounding in managing their finances, but also in developing an understanding that they had enough to share.

And yes, they did sometimes choose to spend their money in gift shops. ?

And one of my children is now an accountant! ?

Did somebody mention local honey I te gift shop?
My employer demanded local honey from Sandringham and I had no fight left to say no in the gift shop.
Only saw the £13.99 price tag after paying! It is not only the kids!!

I'm amazed at how many of you don't like the gift shop! I just love them.

All the knick knacks, Tiny packs of playing cards. Thimbles. Tiny plates. Books. Cute keyrings. Pretty purses. Notebooks and pencils.

We all love them.

You're very generous, V3ra!

My "toy shop obsessed" child was no bother in the "gift shop". It was just one particular toy shop.
?

I agree that children having their own cash to spend is the way to go.
We have three children and used to give them £5 each a day on holidays to spend on whatever they wanted: toys, ice cream, the arcade.
If they wanted a more expensive toy they had to wait for the next day's £5.
It focussed their minds as to how much they really wanted something.