This week, Mark dives into the chaotic, absurd and quite often traumatic world of shopping with neurodivergent children. If you’ve ever emerged from a supermarket having to impulse buy paracetamol just to get you through the shop, then this one’s for you.

Joining Mark is the brilliant Helen Stuart – a mum of six (four of her own and two step-children - all diagnosed or suspected neurodivergent), home educator, and co-founder of Thrive Together Training. Between them, they dissect the minefield of supermarkets, the unpredictability of meltdowns triggered by automatic doors, sensory overwhelm, the trauma of shopping for clothes, rage waiting, and the unholy panic when you realise the supermarket has unexpectedly moved everything around.

This is a laugh-out-loud, painfully relatable episode for anyone who has ever had lofty ambitions to do a quick “top up shop”, before ending up having to negotiate UN-level peace deals with your child in the frozen food aisle.

 

STUFF WE COVER:

00:00 – Intro & Listener Feedback

02:00 – Meet the Guest: Helen Stuart

06:00 – Topic of the Week: Shopping

13:00 – Why Supermarkets Are Sensory Torture

19:00 – The Emotional Toll of Trolleys and Comments

25:00 – PDA Autonomy, Meltdowns, and the Elsa Cup Incident

33:00 – Supermarket Sweep, PDA-Style

39:00 – Self-Checkouts vs Human Interaction

45:00 – Clothing & Footwear Battles

52:00 – Lush, Libraries and Return Rage

59:00 – When Book Tokens Become a Poisoned Chalice

1:04:00 – The Positives (Yes, Really!)

1:10:00 – Neurodiversity Champions

1:16:00 – Tiny Epic Wins

1:20:00 – What the Flip? Moments

1:23:00 – Wrap-Up & Thrive Together Info

LINKS TO STUFF WE MENTION IN THIS EPISODE:

PDA Society - Support and resources for families living with a PDA profile: https://www.pdasociety.org.uk

Supermarket Sweep - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarket_Sweep_(British_game_show)

Sunflower Lanyard Scheme - For invisible disabilities: https://hiddendisabilitiesstore.com

Waterstones Book Tokens - https://www.waterstones.com/help/gift-cards-and-vouchers/32

H&M - https://www2.hm.com/en_gb/kids.html

Skechers - https://www.skechers.co.uk/kids/

Lindsay's Swim School - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063580090089&sk=about

Nelson Street Church, Rochdale - https://www.nelsonstreetchurch.org/

Thrive Together Training website – https://thrivetogethertraining.co.uk

Thrive Together Training Facebook page – www.facebook.com/thrivetogethertraining

Thrive Together Training Instagram account – www.instagram.com/thrivetogethertraining

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CONTACT US

🎧 Do you have a “What the flip?” moment or a tiny epic win to share?

📧 Email us: hello@neuroshambles.com

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FOLLOW US

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🧵 Threads: @neuroshambles

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CREDITS

🎶 Theme tune by Skilsel on Pixabay: https://pixabay.com