About that day when I just had to take my kids to the supermarket!
This was something I had never done in my entire life as a parent. Yes never. And trust me, it has been a long life! For those who have joined in late, I have a toddler girl who is almost 2 and a boy who is almost 6. That’s why I say, a long parent life. I have always held in great respect moms who have undertaken the Herculean task of shopping with their little boys and girls. The number of standoffs that I have witnessed between parents and kids in supermarkets have been biiiiiiig! This has been a major deterrent in my step towards attempting the aforesaid.
Each visit to the supermarket has shown me that there are two types of parents. Those who give into the kid’s urges and bribe them into silence, or the second (the bad ass ninja moms) who stick to their guns and make the term ‘I am in-charge’ very understood to the kids. Either ways, the moms get their shopping done! I, on the other hand, have simply not had the courage to take my kids to a place that has brilliantly stratergized enticements that would most probably than not, make them break into a frenzied dance of want simply to discover what kind of a parent I am!
So how do I stock my stocks you may ask? Well, I have smartly steered away by employing the services of Groffers, or planned the quintessential trip to the supermarket while the kids were away or somehow had the good fortune of having someone run the errands for me. I have, right upto this point, avoided taking my kids to the supermarket! It was a pleasure that I decided, my kids could live without.
And now, I absolutely had to do it. Ouch! I could safely confer this as the toughest thing I would’ve done in my entire life! I mean I was no warrior mommy! I wasn’t equipped to handle the aisles of sweet treats casting their magical spells on my kids, or their notorious outbursts for the want of The Avengers Titan Hero Series screaming ‘Pick Me Up’ from the aisle or have my son kick the pyramid of bean cans assuming some good Samaritan had set it up for him to shove his foot into!! Just the thought of my kids running up and down like banshees in the supermarket almost made my last few remaining functional brain cells degenerate!
Where was everybody when I needed them? My parents couldn’t have chosen a more inappropriate time to holiday in Africa! And the husband just simply couldn’t wriggle his way out of the business trip. I was pushed against a wall! Clearly I didn’t have an option here. I just had to take them. I mentally prepared myself for the inevitable. For the hysteria. For the notorious outburst. For the acoustic looping of ‘Can I have That’ at every one tenth second. For learning how to handle my kids in the supermarket.
Now I needed a plan. A plan that would ensure peace and not war. A plan that would make this an enjoyable learning experience for all of us.
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