I was in the grocery store with three of my children. I will usually try to avoid this at ALL costs. There are a million things I would rather do than go shopping with three kids. I will do anything. I have been known to shop late at night after boot camp is over and I'm all sweaty and tired and I really just want to have a shower. But as long as I'm alone...it is TOTALLY worth it.
However, today I was taking the big chance because I didn't have a full list. I was just getting some things for my son's birthday party. It is still a big operation. I have to try to keep each child occupied. It uses every bit of my energy and all of my faculties. I put the smallest one in the cart and usually shove a bagel in her mouth. Yes, I do. It works. That's all I have to say. I ask the oldest one to push the cart so it keeps his hands off his younger brother. I ask my middle son to get me items off the shelves as I walk very, very quickly down every aisle in order to maximize the very small window of opportunity I have to stay sane in a store with children accompanying me. As soon as I see my middle son starting to look like he's about to start knocking items down just for fun, I will say in as loud and commanding a voice as possible, "I need leeks NOW! Go! Go! Go!" It's a pretty good strategy I have to say, barring a few bouts of wrestling in the produce section.
Anyway, this one woman was watching my kids and she told me that they were very well-behaved. I looked around for the mom behind me who I knew she must be speaking to. To my surprise, it was actually me who she was addressing. I thanked her and prepared to move on. I was thinking to myself, "We better get out of here fast before she sees what my kids are REALLY like." (And that would be: normal, active kids who get bored in a nanosecond.) Anyway, as I was leaving she asked me if they went to private school. I replied that no, they just went to a plain old public school. Let's not go there, I thought.
Next she asked me if I had heard those other children screaming. Yes, I had. I think everyone in the store and within a half mile of it had heard these two. They were two little boys with their mom and they were screaming very loudly. To be fair, they were pretty young - maybe not even two. I felt badly for the mom, because I have been there. And it's not nice to be judged. My youngest child was at least two years older than those boys. Maybe that lady had never had kids or maybe she had forgotten what it was like. Babies cry. Kids scream. They have temper tantrums. They get tired and they can't articulate it and so they yell. It's life. It has nothing to do with private school. And sometimes you just need to get your milk and bread before you get out of there.
No one likes to hear screaming but let's try some sympathy for the moms out there who hear it the loudest. Who's with me? You'll have to get back to me; I need to get my kids out of the store ASAP.
1 comment:
so true jen! first, groceries are never a family outing, unless circumstances are dire. second, i have been the mom of both the well-behaved child and the screaming wild-a-beast. if one cannot be kind to the haggard mom of the screamer, at least don't be rude. a smile would go a long way to easing the humiliation. and third, good grocery store strategies jen--feed the one you need to immobilize, keep hands busy, and use a runner. brilliant.
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