Living in (unreasonable) Hope

 

What does one do on the first day of school holidays?  Why, she takes her three children grocery shopping, of course.  It was not without a fair measure of frustration, but I did make some very interesting observations this time.

1. Mr Busy is the main cause of all shopping frustration.  He touches everything.  He gets in the way of both the trolley and my feet, whichever the case may be.  He requests all kinds of things that he knowing his requests will be rejected.
2. The girls are a dream to shop with.  They're even helpful!  The girls help keep Mr Busy in line and remind him that you get no joy at all when you beset your mother with a myriad of requests for special things in the first half of the first aisle.

I was reading a post at Shiny Red Houses the other day, in which Sara shared 11 easy steps to 'junking' (ie. finding great second hand goods at fabulous prices).  One of Sara's steps was to ensure you leave your children at home to go junking.  And then she made an astute observation about boys, specifically.  I think her comments are true of boys and all shopping trips.  She says:

"I have yet to meet a boy 

who will junk without being 
convinced that the junk shop 
will kill him dead on the spot. 

So just don't bring them."

She reminded me that when Mr Busy was about three or four years old, he used to cry and whine whenever I set my car in the direction of a shopping mall.  He used to beg and plead not to have to go until I promised that when he entered Preschool I would not ever taking him shopping again, if it was at all possible.  He settled down for a little while at that point.

How do you handle shopping with children?