Oh yes, I dealt with these things. I used to push Aj inside the cart and let him use my phone or a game to distract from the chaos (to him) in the stores.
I would get so many judgmental stares and comments made “around me” as I say and not to me directly. I often internalized these actions and often felt like a terrible momma for years. Until one day it clicked that i was handling these things to the best of my ability and that no one was in fact “offering real help” so how could I really feel like I wasn’t doing what was best for us to get through the store minus meltdowns, tantrums, wandering, struggles ect.
After then, I tended to ignore the ignorance. As a young single momma.. that stuff really deeply affected me for years.
With my kiddo now being a teen and it became more aggressive, I kinda like the silver lining of covid bringing out services like grocery pickup and that I can avoid this for my little families sanity in getting food lol.