Grocery stores can be a challenge for some of our kids. It’s loud, bright, and a bit overwhelming at times. Let’s not talk about the long lines. Most of us don’t like those.
If you learn the rules, you can reduce the challenge. Our kids come with a set of rules that are non-negotiable. You may have witnessed it. I worked with a student who would not sit on the red or blue chairs. He would only sit on the white ones. It turned out that the furniture in his house was white, so to him that is where you sit.
Likewise, my son had a few rules of his own. When he was little, around the age of 4 or so, he had to run away from me once in every store. Prior to knowing this rule he could not tolerate going to the store for more than 15 minutes.
One day, he kept pulling toward an aisle. There was no one there, and the store was relatively empty, so I let him go to see what he wanted to do. To my surprise he only ran to the end of the aisle and bounced on his toes for a moment. When he was finished he returned to me. He was calm and ready to shop.
I have never understood this rule, but I knew that I had to follow it if I wanted to get all of our groceries. Each required store aisle was different, but the rule remained the same.
In the store closest to us, he would run to the end of the aisle and face the eye drops. He would bounce for a moment. I would ask him if he was ready to go, and then he would return. I could stay for over an hour after that.
I could not understand the eyedrops, though. Whenever he would see characters on television with large eyes, he would become frightened. Why he chose this aisle, I will never know.
He stopped needing to do it when he got older. At that point, I let him do the shopping for us. I made a grocery list with pictures from the internet, gave him control of the cart, and let him go. My only job was to make sure he did not run over anyone.
He never faltered. He remembered where everything was located. He even cheated on a few items that were displayed on the endcaps. He would get the shopping done with me laughing with pride closely behind.
The only issue he had was the items that would fall over as the belt moved. That took more time, but I have learned to arrange them in a way to prevent that from happening. It’s so adorable to watch him showcase his skills.
It’s funny how much better an outing can be if you learn the quirks. It’s I who has a tough time keeping up. He tries to explain things to me in every way he can. He shows me pictures, finds videos, and points out everything related to what he wants me to know. Our kids are amazing.
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