The Supermarket Trip

 

Yes, spending time with your toddlers is fun. Especially supermarket visits ;)

It was exactly midweek, noon of a Wednesday. I had taken a day off from office to spend a complete day of my girls' vacation with them. I had it all planned - a visit to the supermarket (as Wednesday is their discount day and I had to replenish a truck load of foodstuffs and cleaning agents for every damn thing in the house. Last supermarket invasion of this kind was about three months back!), followed by getting mehendi done for my girls by the mehendi guy who sits at the market's exit (both of them simply love it and I make it a point to get it for them on long holidays), and then to get their favorite donuts from a store in the same mall complex. So, off I started with a battalion of my two little 'helpers' and my actual helper, their nanny.

Now, I bet that every mom who visits a supermarket with a toddler(s) cannot expect the trip to be complete (rather end somehow!) without any unnecessary and unnoticed items dumped in the shopping cart which are only discovered during (or after!) billing. Before this day, I could have tried filing a patent for my idea that I am about to reveal :

The first part of the plan was to grab a cart of my own and let the toddlers grab theirs. While I would religiously follow my list aisle by aisle, they were free to pile up their trolley with any item of their desire. Hey, I am not a genie mom who grants every wish of her two Aladdins. But this approach would help for three reasons:

1.     They would enjoy 'helping' me.

2.     They would enjoy giving each other jolly rides as one sits on the cart and the other pushes it, with the nanny's help of course.

3.     They would experience the bliss of shopping too!

4.     Conversations like the ones below would certainly, and most certainly be avoided :Conversation # 1 :

Toddler # 1 : "Mumma, let's buy dog food."

Me : "Uh, but we don't have a dog, remember?"

Toddler # 1 : "Huh, then can we at least buy and save it till the time we get one."

This, followed by me convincing her that how dog food has no utility without a dog in the house; she, convincing me on why should we get a dog while still insisting on buying that packet from an aisle that I had never even noticed before!

Conversation # 2 :

Toddler # 2 : "Green nail polish, orange nail polish, yellow nail polish.."

Me : "Hey, those nail paints don't look like been made by good people. We have pretty pink and purple coloured ones at home. Will put it for you when we go back."

Toddler # 2 : "Nai, aa levu che!"

Me : "Your nails might turn yellow if the colour is bad."

Toddler # 2 : "Nai, aa levu che!"

Me : "Your tummy might hurt if by any chance it goes in along with food."

Toddler # 2 : "Nai, aa levu che!"

I don't think I need to describe this conversation any further!

Part two of the plan was when I was done (and they were, too), I would ask both of them to get mehendi while I lined up with my cart for billing. Mind you, this was the time to carefully pick up a couple of items from their cart that would be useful at some point of life (or at least not unuseful and not heavy on my wallet) and include them with the items that were actually going to be paid for. And after this, their cart was to be handed over to the supermarket helpers for the items to be put back from where they had lost their way in our stuff. (Sounds penny pinching, I know. But if you have two enthusiastic toddlers backing you up during every market parade, then I do not need to justify myself!)

I followed my plan exactly. After I was done with my actual shopping, I sent them with nanny for their favourite girly thing as I scrutinised the heap of stuff in their trolley - burgundy hair colour (As older one thinks I should experiment with my hair. She was actually looking for pink. Thank God, the market did not stock one); an extra large pack of XXL sanitary napkins of an unknown brand (As they believe those are diapers for big people when there are no clean washrooms around); chicken masala (We cook only vegetarian, at the most eggetarian dishes at home. But they decided to save it for the day we decide to cook and eat home made chicken) and so on. But I am not as mean a mom as I may seem here. I transferred a sandwich cookie pack, a DIY kit for sand painting and a couple of animal shaped soap bars from the 'soon to be abandoned' cart to the 'to be actually billed ' cart. I made sure that these three items occupied the topmost spot in the shopping bags (keeping in mind the negligible patience of my girls).

As I stealthily pushed away the unbilled toddler cart, I noticed a supermarket helper staring at me. I imagined him saying, “Lady, deciding that you do not need to buy two or five items that you picked is understandable. But two dozen?”

Anyway, I moved on.

After having executed the plan to my heart's content, I proceeded towards them. "Wow, that mehendi looks so pretty on both your hands. Now who want to grab a donut with the 'no mehendi' hand (I made sure that older one got it on her left palm and the lefty younger one got it on her right)?"

"Mumma, I want to eat rainbow candy now", jumped the younger one.

"And I want to try on the glittery golden dress when we get home. Can I please hold it till then?" added the older one.

"Uh oh, both these were a part of the heap I never intended to get billed. Think of a story, think, think", I pushed myself to come up with acceptable explanations before any pout and tantrum breakouts.

"Hey, that rainbow candy is so sticky that it won't come out of your teeth after two days even if you brush four times" and the younger one got busy trying to understand the math. 

I quickly turned to the more grown up one, "The dress was not good quality. You would sweat a lot in that material. There are so many pretty party dresses at home. You can put on one in the evening when we are back".

"But you did not get me the doll last time and the lights before that", she added as if she had seen this coming.

"I swear, look at her memory", I said to myself. (To not make myself look really bad, let me explain about the previous two occasions. That doll was no different than four of those they already have. And the extra series lighting does not have any utility in my household except on Diwali.)

And as if arguing with one was not enough, younger one joined along, "No, I want rainbow candy.. rainbow candy.."

"But look, I got the sandwich cookies and the sand painting kit you guys picked up. Who wants to try both, first thing after reaching home?", a quick cover up from my end.

Still not sensing them to be convinced, "Ok, before that, lets have a race till the donut shop", I tried another distraction.

I spent the next couple of hours advocating about not buying all 'that' stuff in that day's and the previous two shopping trips in front of my toddler jury.

"Alas, they have uncovered my strategy this time. It is like picking up one of the lesser evils. Either have mini counselling sessions on the aisles every ten minutes in front of total strangers (to nip ideas like me having a totally out of league hair colour in the bud) or to prove to them that I am not a bad mom after all, after the trip ends", I retrospected.

Time to devise a new plan for the next supermarket trip.. ;). Got any ideas?

 Pic Courtesy : Photo by Eduardo Soares on Unsplash