September 28, 2009

Adventures at the Mall

Have you ever gone to the Mall with three young children on a PA Day? I do not recommend it unless you have taken alot of happy pills, have the patience of a Saint or enjoy Hell.

I, myself lost my mind years ago and thought it would be a fun way to spend a morning and I would be able to purchase some gifts for an upcoming event.

I was wrong.

It was Hell.

One child brought some $$ from his piggy bank so he could buy a John Deere truck and tractor. One boy did not bring $$ but thought he deserved a $39.99 toy anyways. Just because.

I would like a new desk, fancy chair, curtains, a new wardrobe and to lose 30lbs but do not throw tantrums on the floor of Toys R Us because I cant have them.

My 5 year old does.

And he also tells me he hates me approximately 7632 times.

And that I am the "baddest mom in the whole world".

When that doesn't work he then heads across the store and pretends he doesn't hear me as I call his name.

When I grab his hand he flops to the floor acting like I just punched him in the tummy.

Even though I thought about it, I did not and would never do such a thing.

Have I mentioned that at this point we had only been in the mall for 7 minutes?

Yeah, so, ummm......it was an eventful trip to say the least.

People stared. People gave me the look of "You poor thing" and "You are an idiot for bringing those monsters out in public". But I walked on with a 5 year old whining and crying 10 feet behind me. A 7 year old calling his brother a "suck" and pointing out how well behaved he was being. And a 1 year old saying "Hi" to the strangers staring at us.

I bought what I needed to buy pretending I was not wishing for aliens to land and take me away forever and smiled as if I was having a "peachy" day.

My only hope was that these people staring once had monsters of their own and knew exactly how I was feeling.

One day I am sure I will remember this event and laugh about it.

And when I see moms dragging their children behind them I will smile and let them know that they are handling the situation wonderfully....or I will pass them $20 to go to the liquor store.






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11 comments:

Beth P. said...

This made me laugh but I can feel your pain at the same time. My 1 year old waves to everyone, too. Its cute, until the old man in the grocery store comes up to us and says "Hi little guy. Wanna come home with me?"

Carrin said...

I feel your pain. Although my kids are to the age of wondering the store by themselves because I don't shop in the cool aisles, they still annoy me whenever we walk in the doors. I can remember the days of leaving a full cart in the middleof thye store to remove a screaming toddler fromthe store! Ah the memories!

Heatherlyn said...

I think most Moms who have spent any significant amount of their time with their kids in public has had at least one child throw a fit at least once. Of my 5, I've only had 1 do it. And that was more than enough. I have a lot of sympathy for Moms when I see it happen to them. I mean, what can you do? Leave the store or stay. There's no time-out in the store! And kids know this!!!!

I'm just hoping that the teen years don't make tantrums in the mall look like a walk in the park ...

Jenni said...

Is it wrong for me to laugh at your pain? Because I did...but only because I have SO BEEN there.

koreen (aka: winn) said...

Oh gosh. LOL! (sigh) I feel 1/3 of your pain (I only have one holy terror). I hate taking mine out sometimes because he's just rowdy and loud and very fervent in his "beliefs", and I get such looks from people... The worst was when one old man actually yelled at my son, and my son was being good that day! (Okay, so he was running in the mall and shouting at me to chase him. That's relatively good.)

Mercy Langille said...

Mommies, will we ever learn? Yesterday it was my 5 month old who wouldn't stop screaming in the store. I actually had to park the stroller somewhere and carry her, while continuing to shop and keep my toddler from emptying the cart as fast as I could fill it.

Jen said...

I had a similar time at the grocery store today. Jake screamed and wailed the whole time all while wiggling and almost hanging himself on the belt holding him in. Awesome!

Foursons said...

Yes, ALL the moms understand what you are going through. At least all the moms with more than one child do. Those parents with only 1 kid- they just don't count. It's practically like not having children at all.

And what's a PA?

Roeshel said...

Just brought back so many memories. ;)

See - there will come a day when you barely remember those times and can look back and laugh. Whenever I see some poor mom going through it...she definitely gets my sympathy. Then I feel like taking the $20 and treating myself to a DQ blizzard because I survived.

:)
Roeshel

Bridget said...

Found your blog from Mama Kat and this post made me laugh. I dont have kids yet but my close girlfriend has 4 lil girls and this reminded me of her.

Unknown said...

If I'd seen you and had the money, I woulda totally passed you the $20. Honestly. But then I would have said you had to share it with me, well you know, when I can drink again...