It doesn’t happen often, but when it does….you better believe I am going to celebrate it!  I am talking about a brilliant move in mothering.

Grocery shopping is my least favorite chore (besides toilets!).  I am at the store a minimum of 3 times a week, but that is only if I am prepared.  I have finicky eaters and I have a gluten-free husband.  We can’t eat on the run easily, so that means I have to go to the local grocer more than I would like.  In the summer, more often than not,  I have to take both of my monkeys.

It usually goes something like this: “Mom, can we get cinnamon rolls?”  “No.”  “Mom, can we get Gatorade?”  “No.”  “Mom, can we get ice cream?”  “NO.”  “Mom, can we get Swedish Fish?”  “NOOOOO!” 

However, the last time we all went to the store my boys each had a list.  On it were 3 items that we needed and a free choice item.  I told them they were in charge of finding the items on their lists and then the could choose ONE item of their choosing.  Our trip went something like this:  “Mom, can we get cinnamon rolls?”  “Do you want that to be your free choice item?”  “Ummmm, no thanks.”  I knew I was on to something by the 3rd time they asked for something and my answer could always be the same. “Would you like that to be your free choice item?”   I was calm, there were no fits (unbelievably!), and everyone got what they needed.

Please note, this is not a usual occurrence for our family….so it is something to write home about.  This is not a spur of the moment activity, so it will take some planning.  But in my opinion, well worth it!

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 14th, 2011 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Life with Boys. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.