I would say covid - but I don’t think that was a concern, given the videos of maskless indoor church services and outdoor vigils with maskless people close together.
Bringing a 5yr old and growing teen boy into a store will increase your bill, especially if they didn’t eat much that day. Many people don’t want the hassle of shopping with a 5yr old. Stores like Wegmans (a few candy-free checkout lines) and Mom’s Organic (no characters, free fruit & water for kids) are parent-friendly but those are the exception.
I had not even taken that in! Just watched a video from January 9th and the whole church is maskless. So maybe CW saying she takes the kids to the pond to get away from the "sickness" and people in CM video isn't quite accurate! Covid was raging in TN in January.
My reasoning would be like you said - 5 yr olds can be a pain in a grocery store. But I just don't think anything normal was going on that day so there is probably some other reason. She left the minors in the car - was she buying drugs behind the store? I am thinking more along those lines.