Grocery Shopping

I hate doing grocery shopping with the kids if hubby isn’t around. Taking Alva is not too bad. But if Alden tags along, it automatically becomes a grocery-shopping nightmare.

He doesn’t want to sit on the trolley, likes to wander off and wants everything. When I ask him to hold my hand, he pulls away and says NO. When I chase him, he laughs at me and says na na na na na. Yang style bikin girigitan tu ba. When I’m not looking, he grabs stuff from the shelves and puts them in the trolley. There was one time, I found a packet of 8 AA batteries in the shopping bag. I didn't even realised he took it and I already paid for them.

Any mother who has had the joy of doing grocery with their toddlers would understand how crazy things can get at the supermarket.  It can be really frustrating cos you never get to finish your shooping. I always ended up leaving the store in a hurry cos all I wanted to do was to get home.

When my sister sent me the following short story, I immediately thought about the many shopping adventures I have had with Alden. The story really hit home cos I can totally relate to the grandfather.  

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did :)

THE CARING GRANDFATHER

A woman in a supermarket is following a grandfather and his badly behaved 3-year-old grandson.

It's obvious to her that he has his hands full, with the child screaming for sweets in the sweet aisle, biscuits in the biscuit aisle, and for fruit, cereal and drinks in the other aisles.

Meanwhile, granddad is working his way around, saying in a gentle controlled voice, "Easy, William, we won't be long . . . Easy, boy."

Another outburst, and she hears the granddad calmly say again "It's okay, William, just a couple more minutes and we'll be out of here. Hang in there, boy."

At the checkout, the little terror is throwing items out of the cart, and granddad says again in a controlled voice, "William, William, relax mate, don't get upset. We'll be home in five minutes; stay cool, William."

Very impressed, the woman goes outside where the grandfather is loading his groceries and the boy into the car.

She said to the elderly gentleman, "It's none of my business, but you were amazing in there. I don't know how you did it. That whole time, you kept your composure. No matter how loud and disruptive he got, you just calmly kept saying things would be okay. William is very lucky to have you as his grandpa."

"Thanks," said the grandfather, "but I'm William … The little bastard's name is Kevin."

source: unknown