Let me introduce myself. I am sarcastic. I have a smart-mouth. It usually gets me into trouble. It has my whole life. Ask my mother. I have an attitude. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I am not shy about sharing my opinion - no matter how much it may hurt someone. I have a temper.
I'm not bragging about those things. Just sharing some truths about me.
So this last Sunday, we were out grocery shopping. Carter always does really, really well at the store. He has not once been one of *those* children who decide it's a good idea to pitch a fit, on the floor, screaming in aisle 7 so loud that people entering the store can hear. My kid is an angel compared to *those* children. And who knows - maybe we just haven't encountered that phase in life yet. For the time being? He's an angel.
So. This shopping trip sucked and I'm going to tell you why. We stopped shopping at Wal-Mart. I'm just tired of dealing with the type of people and the 45 minute wait in the check-out line. So we have moved on to a different store. At this particular store on Sunday, there were quite a few people. And let me just say, I have a bubble. If people stand too close to me, I get very uncomfortable and I will take a step back. No offense. I just have personal space. Respect it. So when I'm standing in the aisle with my cart, scanning the shelved for what I need, and a person walks up behind me and stands THISCLOSE to me? It bugs me. A lot. So I will move forward. And they will shuffle along with me. Let me tell you....it really throws off my ability to pick my shopping items off the shelf when someone is breathing down my neck. I feel rushed. I had a certain fella do this down one ENTIRE aisle. I would move. He would move. I would stop. He would stop. I wanted to ask him if he wanted to go around me, but for some reason, I bit my tongue. I don't know what made me do it.
Later on, down another aisle, there was a traffic jam. Most people just turned around and made their way back to the other end of the aisle. So when we came upon the traffic jam, we discovered it was a foreign family with their video camera....I guess shooting their wild shopping experience? It made no sense to me. And by that time, my patience was shot. So out of my mouth came the words "excuse me, can we stop shooting our home video in the grocery store and let people by?" Who knows if they even understood me. But they understood the tone.
And then...........because this shopping trip hadn't been fun enough.............Carter started to get a little restless. So I let him out of the cart so he could walk with us. I gave him a container of yogurt so he would feel like a little helper, and he walked around with that, happy as could be. The signs of any fit were gone and he was walking around, minding his own business. I crossed the aisle to grab some butter and when I turned around, Carter had followed me (Eric was with us, so he was watching him follow me). So I took his hand and said "come on Carter, let's go over here to the cart." Well, there was this woman who was standing right there, who apparently did not approve of me letting my child walk around while we were shopping. I did not take notice of her disapproval and kept walking with Carter. As I passed her, she said (and I want you to say this sentence in your head like you believe this cranky, old woman would say it), "maybe Carter should be in the cart!" I turned and looked at her, certain that I had not heard her right and I was totally shocked that it was a little, old lady. And I was just stunned. So stunned that I couldn't say the first thing that came to my mind, which was "maybe you should can it." So I just kept walking. And no, I didn't put Carter in the cart. I want my child to explore. He is not a terror child. He's not one of those kids running around, grabbing every item of the shelf and throwing it on the floor (we have seen those), or pitching himself on the floor in a fit (we have seen those too). I really wish I would have told that little, old lady to march her hiney over to aisle 7 and witness children who SHOULD remain in the cart.....or even at home. My child is well-behaved enough that he does get to go in public and explore the world.
7 comments:
I can so relate to this. I am not a mother, I am a child care provider and have been for almost 19 years now.
The little girl that I watch, Little Diva, loves to go shopping. She is a child that I can take shopping. She is good with us.
I know the type of children you are talking about. We have them here at our local Wal-Mart. They are always running around and screaming and yelling and talking in "their" language. (tried to put that as nicely as I could)
Sunday I was in the parking lot of Wal-Mart, and these children were running around, as usual, and one of the girls slipped and fell in the parking lot.
She was not seriously hurt, but as I was walking into the store, I mumbled, "that is why we should not let our children run in the parking lot". Or the store.
Because you know that the very same parents that let their children run through the aisles, will be the very same ones to sue Wal-Mart if their child slips and falls and is hurt.
As for the old lady, I would have said something to her. I know that we are supposed to respect our elders and all, but living here in Florida, that is a hard thing to do.
Some are okay, and even nice. Then, there are the ones that have a negative opinion on EVERYTHING.
It sounds to me like he was behaving, just wandered a little off course (as kids do) and was guided back by mommy.
No tantrums. No yelling. No screaming. No crying. No need for snotty, old lady comments.
You keep doing whatever it is that you are doing.
Maybe they need a grocery store strickly for 55 and over, just like some of the condo developments are around here.
Sorry such a long comment. Looks more like a post.
:0)
AMEN. and THANK YOU for blogging about what very well could have been me and my kids!!! well, except my kids kind of ARE "those kids"..SOMETIMES...LOL... but i have 2 that are 18 mos apart so they feed off of each other and i'm convinced they plan these little covert ops to embarrass me.
and the video camera thing? weird.
and the little old lady? pfft... what-eva lady!
and walmart? SUCKS.
oh, and i have to share this one with you...
one time, just the boy (he's 3, mind you) and i went to - walmart, of course - and i explained to him that we weren't getting any toys, just a few things... he starts whining about toys as soon as we got in the doors, the whining turned to crying, then to screaming, then to a full on fit. i picked him up right there, left the cart (it was still empty) and marched right out the door with him. it wasn't until we reached the sidewalk right outside the door that he started SCREAMING at the top of his lungs "LET ME GO!!! LET ME GO!!! I DON'T WANNA LEAVE!! LET ME GO!!!"
SO. of course every man, woman and child within a 10 mile radius assumed i was kidnapping my own child. i would have GLADLY handed him over to the authorities, had they stopped me.
Marchelle - that is too funny! Although, I'm sure at the time, you were NOT laughing. And I'm also sure that one day, my child will do that same thing to me. And I will deal accordingly. I just wish that in the meantime, people would keep their comments about my well-behaved child to themselves.
And when we were little? My mother put the fear of god in us....she had "the look" and I know all the moms know exactly what LOOK I am talking about. All we had to see was that LOOK when we were starting to get a little unruly. It was a look that said "you have two choices: you can behave or we can make a visit to the bathroom or the parkinglot." And trust me, we did NOT want to make that visit, lol!
I AM SO LUCKY TOO!! Jeff just chills while I do my thing. He just looks around, taking it all in. Some people have no courtesy, especially when they feel the need to assist someone in their parenting duties.Ugh! I feel ya girl.
I try and ignore everyone around me. Its hard to do on a crowded day. Which doesn't seem to happen much anymore. The other thing that bugs me is cell phones. Hello! Do you have to stop in the middle of the isle and have a personal conversation that the entire store does not need to hear?? and Don't you notice the line up of people behind you??? LOL! Its stressful enough trying to keep track of the total so that it doesn't go over the budget! I don't want to deal with people! Gotta love grocery shopping!
you know, i've always thought that you do a great job at parenting. you're so calm and actually take the time to explain things to Carter- which, duh, equals a very smart, well-mannered child. my mother raised me the same way and i never misbehaved. well, ONCE- i wanted to run around the theater when we were seeing a kid's movie. she immediately picked me up, and DRAGGED ME down the aisle and outta there. we never saw the end of the movie. and that was the last time i ever acted up in public.
that old lady? would've seen a nasty lauren. cuz i don't stand for that. i'm a very sweet person but if you cross me? ooohhhh watch out.
cut to me last night when this woman cut me off and almost nailed me when i was driving home- i let her have it. as in, i'm a very good driver, and i made it known that i don't appreciate idiots. heh. i sorta... snapped. but she deserved it! seriously. people think that they can do whatever the hell they want with no repercussions. nu-uh. not in my world :)
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