Misbehaving at the Store

Megan, mom of a 2-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl, told me how embarrassed she was during a recent trip to the grocery store. Her daughter started putting things into the cart that weren’t on the list. When Megan told her she wasn’t buying these things and she needed to put them back, her daughter started screaming. Her son contributed to the mayhem by tossing a couple other items into the cart.

When calmly reasoning with the children didn’t work, Megan found herself yelling at them and feeling like an out-of-control crazy woman. Yikes! This is not the way she wanted it to be.

Although she was trying to set limits on her children’s behavior, it really wasn’t working. We discussed some other things she could try. She decided that next time she would take a friend along to the store. When the kids acted up, she plans to calmly take them out to the car and put them in their car seats. Her friend will watch them in the car while she finishes shopping.

Knowing that other parents have suffered through these same types of struggles and having a new plan helped Megan feel more hopeful. Sometimes just getting some new ideas to try is the beginning of turning a situation around!