Yesterday I took Dylan and Blake out for a day of errands and shopping. We have gone out for errands and shopping many times before, but yesterday a few things happened that left me wondering whether other moms have experienced similar situations.
The first incident happened when we were at a consignment store. I had brought in a bunch of baby clothes that Blake has already grown out of, and the store owner was looking through the box, deciding what she wanted to buy. I was looking through baby clothes in Blake’s current size and Dylan was beside me until he saw something that caught his attention. That something was a pink Disney Princess bicycle helmet. He ran and grabbed it and asked if he could take it home.
We had been talking about getting him a bicycle helmet, and he wanted that one. However, it was much too large for him. I began to explain that we could not get it because it did not fit properly. He started having a huge meltdown. I sat down on the floor and pulled him in close to me, trying to hug his shaking, sobbing little body as best I could while his brother was strapped to my front. I kissed him on top of his head and held him as he cried. I told him that I had something else to tell him, when he was ready to listen. After a couple of minutes he had calmed down enough so I was able to finish explaining that we would be going to another store in a few minutes and there would be plenty of helmets there to choose from. He stopped crying and looked at me. “Really?” He snuffled and wiped away the last of the tears, and went along our merry way.
No one at the store said anything, as it was a children’s clothing store and I am sure that both the customers and the owners are experienced with toddlers and the things that they do. However, I always wonder if other people’s kids do things like that in public too. They must, right? I figured that I should share this story with all of you in case there is anyone else out there wondering whether their toddler is the only one who has had a meltdown in the middle of a store. In case you are wondering, Dylan found a helmet at the next store that we went to. He was so excited about it that he held onto it in the car all the way home. By the time that we got home, he was practically bursting because he was so eager to put it on and ride his bike. The too big pink princess helmet has long been forgotten in his mind.