The Grocery Store

This morning I had to pick up some things at the grocery store, milk, bread, the breakfast stables. Miles woke up at 6 again so he of course came with me. If anyone ever invents a way to tap into a three year old' s energy supply they'll make millions. The maintenance guys are still cleaning the floors in the store and Miles is darting around aisles, grabbing things off shelves, and sprinting back and forth between the check out lanes. At the last minute, as I'm paying for our groceries (including a plastic orange ball that he wants to bring home for Skylar...really, how do you say no to that?) he grabs a bag of m&m's and runs out of the store. @&#^%!

I ran after him, leaving my bagged groceries behind and caught him just as he got to the automatic doors. I pulled him aside, rather forcefully, and said, "don't you ever run away from me like that again!" My adrenaline was pumping and I felt like I was outside of my body, watching myself on the security camera. I dragged him back to the check out and made him give back the m&ms and apologize to the clerk, who was actually laughing. Everyone took it in stride, and one of the women in line made a comment about how she wished she had that much energy early in the morning.

I was still seething though on the way out, I guess my body was still high on the adrenaline. I thought about that security camera, and how I've seen videos of moms on youtube, or seen them in person and how I've judged them in that one moment. I knew I over reacted a bit. No one should be judged on one small snap shot in time, and yet we do it all of the time, to each other and to ourselves. Sure, there are cases of real abuse or neglegence, but most of the time, that woman at the grocery store is a really good mom who just hasn't had her coffee yet and is doing the best she can.

We all make mistakes, especially in raising children, we're not perfect. The next time you see a mom scolding her kids, instead of judging and saying, "that will never be me", try just offering to carry her groceries. We all just need a little bit of support. After all, it takes a village!