One of my least favorite things in this world to do is grocery shop. Now if you add a 2 year old to the equation the strong urge to be intoxicated before the outing gets even stronger. (Don't worry I have not given in and gotten totally lit before hand...but its sounds fun though, right?)
I am fortunate that it is not my child's natural instinct to raise hell in the store. She can actually be pretty cute, we usually meet new people due to her limited vocabulary and her strong desire to make noise with her mouth. Being that some of her favorite words are things like: Hi, Bye, See Ya, Thank You, I Love You.....ect. So as you can imagine we meet people, she is just so friendly.
One time while in the local Walmart she yelled back in forth in the store to this other little boy. She yelled HI and he responded with an equally shrill HI!!!! It was cute for around 5 minutes. Then the little boys mom who we would periodically pass while doing our shopping would glare at me as if i was the one who was encouraging her son to interact with my daughter across the store. I thought it was hilarious, so did a few others. But not her... They went on like that for probably 10 minutes.
Last week while in the store a much less humorous thing occurred. While in the bread isle at Albertsons she began chattering and yelled HI!!!! at a man who was absorbed in picking out bbq sauce. Unfortunately if you ignore her greeting it becomes more insistent...and becomes a full out yell...which is immediately less cute. So after being yelled at for a few minutes the man turns and finally looks at her. I had tried to get her to stop saying Hi to him several times, but she was not having it. So I just tried to decide on a bread faster so we could leave the isle and hopefully she would stop harassing the poor guy. When he finally turned to look at her she screamed and cried and grabbed a handful of my hair. I found that very irritating especially since I was not paying attention to what was going on. As it happens the man was missing an eye, the side of his face looked as if he had been in a bad accident. His eye socket looked collapsed, so there was no hope for a glass eye even if he had wanted one. I felt so bad, I had no idea what had happened but when I realized that his face had scared her and he had most likely been avoiding looking at her for just that reason. He left the isle with out a word...and with out any bbq sauce.
How do you reprimand a child for being scared? Its not as if she was staring or that she knew that the random person she was so intent on greeting would not turn out to be what she was expecting. I had no way of foreseeing the outcome. I felt a bit helpless and ashamed. Of course my 2 year old did not know her reaction had surely distressed the man.
If we are going to be honest...children are down right embarrassing. And if your child has not made you uncomfortable in public I beg of you please share your parenting skills with me I am in need of a bit of help when it comes to public outings...not a lot, just a little. That is of course if it is decent normal advice...Not things such as: Upon arriving at the grocery store I dose my children with sedatives then secure them in the basket. Or: Muzzles also work for children with a little modification. I am not interested in going to jail...so if that is your parenting style I recommend keeping it to yourself as well as sitting down and truly evaluating your ability to be an adequate parent to your child. ;)
Here are things I have found helpful to bring along on shopping trips: Crackers, I usually choose to leave important outings for after naps. And after naps she is usually hungry, I take her to the store and keep a continuous line of crackers coming upon her polite requests. I also choose a whole wheat cracker due to the fact that I am feeding her quite a few of them in order to get through the shopping.
If times get real rough...I bring out the big guns. I will use technology to my advantage and break out Netflix on my phone. She will sit there and hold the phone nicely and watch her movie. And these are all I have in my arsenal of shopping tricks.
Being a mother really sets you up in life, my skills in improvising have increased significantly. I would say my ability to not have a mental breakdown during a stressful situation is on the rise. Motherhood makes you qualified for just about anything. (Within reason) Its like being permanently assigned a job in customer service/teaching. Your clients however must be taught a thing or two, they are also non verbal for a stretch of time. What a gig! Lets be honest... I adore it.
Love THIS!
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