I am not even kidding (as my seven-year-old would say).

Go shopping with a little kid and watch how masterful they are at upselling and cross-selling and outright selling. Even if the child is normally as stoic as Sam Sheepdog they will turn into a selling machine in the grocery store.

To be able to stand back and observe what they are doing without pulling out your hair requires heroic levels of emotional detachment, but it’s worth it.

A few months ago I went grocery shopping with my two youngest children (ages 5 & 6 at the time) and kept track of all their upsells and cross-sells. We were in the store less than 15 minutes and they attempted 14 upsells and cross-sells, which would have added $30 or more to my bill, easily.

Kids are smart. If, say, you put Velveeta in your cart to use in a soup, they will notice that there are no crackers in the cart and start cross-selling you on that.

If you put bread, peanut butter and grape jelly into your car and foolishly assume that’s adequate, they will start cross-selling you on buying Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread (I told you kids are smart).

My kids went through a phase of trying to sell me on buying popsicles in January. Any time we’d pass the frozen section they’d launch into a chorus of why they needed popsicles.

“It’s too cold out, you won’t be able to eat them outside, and they will make too much of a mess inside,” was my argument against that idea.

“Oh, don’t worry, we won’t get the kind on the sticks, we’ll get the ones in plastic that you slide up as you eat, then there’s no mess! Please? PLEASE??? They will cheer us up and make us think of summer!”

See, kids can even spot the hidden benefits. They’re smart.

So I recommend you take a little kid to the grocery store sometime and pay attention to their sales skills.

A word of warning, however: avoid the toy aisle.

I am not even kidding.