At the Grocery Store

A calming picture...because I need it

We've all been there.  At the grocery store when a kid is having a melt down.  If the mom yells, she's a terrible mother.  If the mom ignores, she's a terrible mother.  If she bribes her kid with chocolate, she's a terrible mother.  Then we have kids and realize that she can't choose the right way to react, because there is no right way.

I was that mom today at the grocery store with the kid who cried the entire time.  Unfortunately it was my almost 3 year old and not the baby as one would maybe expect.  I calmy tried to tell him that nobody wanted to listen to him cry, I begged with him to please stop.  I took the chocolate bar away from him in the checkout line, which resulted in more tears and extra embarrassment for me.  But it probably would of looked worse to give my crying kid a box of smarties, right?

I don't even know.  It was awful and I hope it never happens again.  Maybe it happened so that I wouldn't be so sad about going back to work in five days.  What's the right way to respond to this though?  I guess you just hope that the people around you in the store that day realize that you're trying your best and that when a three year old decides to have a tantrum there's not a whole lot you can do.  Except feed him, because he was starving, because he refused to eat his breakfast before we left the house....

So anyways, if you were in the grocery store today with my family, I'm sorry.  And if you were at Wal-mart today, be thankful that I decided it wasn't worth the stop and just went home.  You're welcome.