Shopping with your kids!
Any normal mom knows that shopping with children is a nightmare.
I’m not talking about the moms who shop with the help of a nanny. I’m talking about moms like me. It doesn’t matter if you shop with just one or all your kids. It stays insane.
I've said this many times. Letting your toddler walk with you is just not an option. They run in all directions and touch and want EVERYTHING they see. It’s pandemonium! I once told my eldest she can’t have everything she sees. She replied: “But mom, I can’t help it if God gave me two eyes.”
I’ve done an entire shopping trip with her on a trike the goes TRRRRR! TRRRRRR! TRRRRR!! Fellow shoppers stared and shook their heads. Ja – not the mommy-shoppers with kids. They don’t stare. They have their own problems. With all that noise, I at least knew where she was the whole time. So there's that.
I'm a problem solving mommy
So to solve the not-letting-them-walk-with-you problem, I put them both in the trolley and hope for the best. Unfortunately ‘the best’ I get are their best fights. Sometimes it’s anarchy!
They’re not all bad all the time. There are days where I barely notice my two highly functional energetic daughters in the trolley when they count, sing, hug and laugh and each other’s jokes. Those are the shopping trips I cherish... Until we get to the checkout line.
This is what I think. I think the stores employ a team of sick sadists from the highlands who have meetings once a fortnight.
The one and only item on the agenda: “How can we f&ck with the exhausted mommy-shoppers in the checkout line.” (hie-hie-hie) – That’s not me laughing – it’s on the agenda!!
Solution – Let’s stock sweets! Expensive gimmick sweets and chocolates. Toy-sweets that cost a fortune and break before they get to the car. The kids will scream blue murder for it and the exasperated mommy-shopper will lose her wit and spend an extra R100 just to stop her children from making a scene.
This was our checkout this afternoon
Our daddy falls for that crap, but not this mommy. I know the plot and I’m prepared now. I buy a punnet of strawberries or cherry tomatoes. (My kids LOVE both.) So when we reach the check-out counter I’m ready. They can’t see the sweets if they’re busy dividing their strawberry loot.
Did you know there's a store in Ohio that offers free fruit to all children under 12 that shops with them? Now THAT makes sense.
Admittedly, I’m not always prepared. I vowed I would NEVER do it, but this was BEFORE I ever had the pleasure of shopping with my children. On my off days (and I have plenty of those) - I promise them ice cream if they behave!
Yes, I had an off day
Hi @naomi.louise
Luckily my children are now big, now I must sponsor petrol (gas for our friends in the USA) money for their cars, tollgate money, I need to service the car etc. The shopping expenses are small, in comparison of what is coming your way. But on the other hand the joy kids bring are worth every sent.
I have to agree @rynow. Every minute I get to spend with my children is a blessing. Even if the blessing is disguised in chaos. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be able to see the funny side of it all.
This also applies to daddys :) (I mean, inverting dad and mom in your text)
Hi @lemouth. I can only speak for myself, but I agree wholeheartedly. This post can absolutely be inverted. If I look at the ‘loot’ when my daddy-shopper gets home – he most definitely doesn’t have it any easier when he shops with the girls. :)
At home it is actually more the opposite :)
@naomi.louise
What can I say? Those were the days! When my children were small, the demands was not as bad as it is today. My problem was the TV adverts. I thought my children could read at a very early age until I realised it was the TV adverts which made them recognised the products on the shelves!
LOL @frieda It's all on the 'agenda' to drive us crazy.