...Also known as Costco.
It occurred to me today how many life lessons Jace learns in a shopping cart. There are the basic ones like why we should have patience while waiting in line when others don't seem to and that occasionally all those little samples actually DO qualify as lunch, but then there are the really important ones that I am astonished he takes in at such a young age. As most kids do, Jace has taken to loudly exclaiming his every thought for the entire world (or aisle) to hear. Nothing terrifies me more than walking into a store filled with elderly people, as they seem to fuel the most commentary. The first real run in was with a lovely group of elderly women with poorly fitted hairpieces that he wouldn't go near because "Their faces were waaaay too big!!!!" My darling child proclaimed this from the top of his lungs, much to my horror. (Can't lie, not much of a lesson was taught there. I was too mortified to do anything but smile and run.) So today when we walked into Costco the hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I saw that it was clearly senior citizen day. We weren't in the door 3 minutes when I heard my son ask a woman why her face was so grumpy. Ahhh, this was going to be a fun one. I explained that it's not nice to talk about people's faces and we moved forward. 2 aisles later...grumpy old man. "Mom, why is HIS face all grumpy too??" Figuring I better nip this in the bud I pulled over my cart to have a chat. I told him that sometimes people just look grumpy when they really aren't and that it could hurt their feelings when he brings it to their attention. I then explained that sometimes people are just grumpy. Not everyone is happy all the time and that is ok. Either way, we don't talk about the way people look. I told him that whenever he sees someone with a grumpy face he should look them in the eye and simply smile. I explained that smiles are contagious and that, for some people, seeing his smile might be all they need to put one on their face. He seemed to understand so we went back to our shopping. As we walked down the aisles, now filled to the brim with grumpy faced senior citizens, my sweet boy turned and smiled at everyone we passed. It took a few tries, but eventually he got a smile back. His excitement and the fact that he really got the lesson melted my mushy mommy heart. It was such a great reminder that instead of getting mad and scolding our children when they don't behave like the little angels we'd like the world to think they are, we should realize that we are in the perfect position to teach them important lessons that will help them for the rest of their lives. Who knew Costco trips could be so profound?
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