by FourFatMom

Created on: February 20, 2009

I have discovered the secret to shopping with elementary school aged children! I will share it with you in the hope that there will be fewer obnoxious children running rampant in the grocery stores and the world will be a happier place. In the past I have tried everything to get my kids to act civilized while performing this necessary life chore: bribery, punishments, ignoring. None of these worked for me very well. Then I had an epiphany.

A few weeks ago, I was in Sam's Club with all four of my little darlings. The darlings consist of 6-year-old twins, a 9-year-old, and an extremely high-maintenance 11-year-old. There we were just beginning our trip around this gargantuan store and they already were being loud and obnoxious - whistling, arguing, poking each other - you know, basically being annoying as only school-aged kids can be. My oldest was whistling loudly and, despite my telling him to stop about 50 times, continued to do so. The twins were poking each other and running around using the cart as a shield from each other. The 9 year old was whining at me that the little ones would not stop bugging her. I was a frazzled wreck.

Now, if my husband had been the one shopping with these four crazy kids, he would have ignored them completely and let them do whatever they were doing unless forced to intervene due to blood or complaints from management. This is why I cannot shop with my husband and the children. It inevitably leads to arguments since I find their behavior unacceptable while he is happy to ignore it. However, just because I find the behavior unacceptable it does not mean that I am effective at controlling it. In the past, I have tried it all: yelling at them, threatening them with punishments, taking away privileges, bribing them with treats if they behave, you name it. Nothing worked very well.

So back to my epiphany, there I was surrounded by all these wonderful yet loud and embarrassing kids who would not listen to me, so I just stopped. That's it I stopped right next to the gigantic packages of toilet paper. I just stopped and waited. Eventually they all noticed. "Come on Mom, what are you doing," whined the oldest. "I'm waiting until you're quiet," I said. He laughs, thinking that is quite amusing. They all calm down and I then resume shopping. Approximately 30 seconds later, the noise level has risen into the unacceptable region again, so I stop and wait again. Now the 9-year-old notices first and giggles. Then she tells her siblings to "shush."

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