Grocery Store Adventures

Have you ever seen that guy in the grocery store chasing his 3-year old toddler up and down the aisles? Well, "that guy" is me.

Today's trip to the grocery store started out well enough. Even though Jack didn't want to sit in the cart, he stayed close to me and we made a fun little game out of gathering our fruits and veges. But that game ended as soon as we entered the "numbered" aisles. Jack's interest immediately turned to discovering all of the numbers hanging above the aisles. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that Jack has a strong interest in numbers. I just wish that his eagerness to count didn't involve an extended stay at the grocery store.

In situations like this, I don't attempt to fight Jack. I know that forcing him to comply to my wishes will only cause an embarrassing scene, and lead to a very unhappy little boy. So, I let Jack finish his numerical journey through the store, and by the time we reached the final aisle, Jack was ready to let daddy take control again. Which was great because in order to keep up with Jack's pace, I had to abandon our cart way back in aisle 3.

After reclaiming our partially-filled cart, Jack was 100% cooperative for the remainder of the shopping trip. He sat quietly in the cart, and I was able to collect the rest of our groceries in a very short amount of time. By giving Jack just a few minutes to satisfy his eagerness to discover something new, I was able to complete my task in a relatively efficient manner.

I guess it just shows that with a little compromise, we both will be happy in the end.