Have you seen that mom at the grocery store where the kids are crying and that mom is just pushing her cart still doing her thing totally ignoring her children? I’m not proud to say it, but I was that mom yesterday!!
I haven’t been real grocery shopping in over a month. Sunday night I sat down and picked out 10 meals and made a list. Yesterday afternoon after Mally had all her naps and a snack, her and I head to the store. It starts out all fun and giddy. She stares down people who walk by and smiles at the ones who look back. She is chewing on my car keys and showing them to me over and over. A couple isles in I think… man my key fob is soaked I hope baby drool doesn’t break it. I then take them away because I fear that she will ruin them. Her world has been crushed – she starts crying! I try to distract her, but she is trying to turn around in the cart and reach back to the diaper and grab the keys. I pick up a box of mac ‘n cheese and show her that if she shakes it it will make noise. Content! She shakes and chews on the mac ‘n cheese for a few more isles… until I look down and see that she has chewed a HOLE in the box and has cardboard dust all over face!!!
I’m only half way into my shopping and break down and bust out the snacks. I try to hold off as long as I can for fear of running out too soon. I take away the box and give her a graham cracker.
Once the graham crackers are gone she starts turning around in the cart and grabbing the groceries. She grabs a bag of chips and starts banging. Pretty soon she throws them out. Now I have moved everything out of her reach and she is trying to grab a frozen pizza, but she can’t get a good grip on it and is starting to get mad. I keep moving her hand off the pizza and telling her no. After about 189 times she finally got really mad and my telling her no and she starting crying. To which I was like, YES! I WIN! and keep pushing my cart with a wailing child in it. I even had a little old grandma walk by and she turned to stare at my red faced, running nose, crying child. Except… I wanted out of this grocery store and I was on a mission to get this done – so I keep on doing my thing totally ignoring her.
Then we get to the checkout. Checkouts are a parents worse nightmare! They are tight isles! They have lots of colors and fun things to look at! I have to strategically place my cart so that I can unload it – yet Mally is out of reach of all things colorful and fun.
My checkout guy is kind of slow and Mally is on the verge of loosing it even more. I’m talking to Mally trying to distract her from the waiting and waiting. The checkout guy says… are you trying to teach her? I looked at him and said, yes I’m trying to teach her to be patient! (Now hurry it up because she gets her patience from her mother!)
Finally we get back to the safety of our truck and I plop her in her seat and she is quiet as a mouse and just sits there and watches me get drenched in the rain while I unload the groceries.
Now I know why Moms shop alone in the wee hours of the night while their babies are at home safe in bed!!
6 comments:
Even though the shopping trip was a rough one, it was still fun to read :) I found that a bottle of sprinkles work well also to distract in the store - they make noise and it's plastic so she can't chew a hole in it.
The key (for me) is to do smaller shopping trips more often. That way they aren't stuck in the cart for long periods of time. AND, I always bring a snack or a pacifier or some kind of toy (like Nolan's toy cell phone or a board book). When she's a little older, you can have her help you - I hand the item to Nolan and he puts it in the cart. Of course, you don't want to do this with produce or you'll end up with bruised bananas! :) But, it helps to involve them more in it so they are less bored.
You are so right Kim... I need to go more often. I bring toys with and she wants nothing to do with them - she throws them out. I have even brought toys that strap onto the cart so they won't fall on the floor. I try the pacifier, nope. Snacks work - next time bring more. : ) I totally thought... what would super nanny do? And you're right she has them help which will totally work when she is older and can walk.
ahahaahahahaha. I have so been there. Cora usually eats her way through winco... she's devoured a half a box of milano cookies, or a third of a pound of lunch meat. And that doesn't work sometimes. her latest obsession is trying to push the cart, and falls APART if I say no. And then I'm that mom, too, walking through looking sort of catatonic and daring someone to say something to me. :) I don't know how people do it with more than one kid.
The key is not to let other people's stares get to you. Just let them think whatever they're going to think - you've done what you could! The upside is that it does get easier. It might be another year for you still, and there will be several other bothersome developmental stages in there, but she will eventually understand what shopping entails, will pretty much like it and will cooperate (most of the time). Good luck!
Hahahaha- welcome to the world of having smart kids!
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