so confused and frustrated!

[queen-of-harts]

Dh and I take all six boys shopping and to restaraunts more often than not and they are well behaved 90% of the time.If we do have issues its usually them being too loud for my liking or play fighting by squeezing someones neck with their arm.We have always demanded good behavior or we go home or dad takes them to the truck and so i think thats what keeps them inline since they know we will follow through with our threats.We always get compliments on how well behaved our kids are because im sure the sight of seeing a family with 6 boys come into a restaraunt must seem scary to people lol I think my whole personality sways blue since its my goal when we are in public that my kids are behaving and respectable and when they veer off that path that i have in my mind it really stresses me out and my whole body feels prickly if that makes sense.I see moms all the time and their kids are running around in the store aisle chasing each other,laughing loudly and touching the store items and the mom is just all mellow looking at what she is shopping for.Sometimes i wish i could be like that but there is no chance lol

[swish]

Me too, queen, I wish I was more mellow about that sort of stuff but it really stresses me out, I'm always worrying about what everyone else thinks!

[zanacal]

Me too! One Christmas I took the two eldest boys to choose a new decoration for the tree because I thought it would be a lovely thing to do but it was hideous! I can't remember exactly what happened, I think they just got over excited and wanted to run around and also wanted to touch all the delicate decorations (of course they did!). That episode made me realise that it was unfair of me to take them places for my benefit without considering how being there would make them feel and how that might make them behave. Likewise, we don't often take them out for a meal and when we do we try to go to somewhere there are lots of other children or where we can sit outside - eating out is what DH and I enjoy doing together, it's not actually something a 1 year old, 4 year old and 6 year old with energy to burn want to do. They'd much rather take a picnic to a field where it's ok for them to be kids and that's much more relaxing and enjoyable for us too!

[DoulaMama]

OMG some of these posts made me LOL! I take my kids grocery shopping about once per week but only because I HAVE to. I try to tell myself that it helps getting them used to shopping with me....LOL But I really hate it. My 5yo wants to ride the cart the whole time and climb stuff, my 3yo wants to stand in the front of the cart and try to kill himself numerous times before we leave, and thank goodness I wear the little one on my back....he's the only one that stays out of trouble! Most people look at me like I have 3 heads Who on Earth brings 3 boys to a grocery store!? LOL I DO! I'll most likely pack the whole lot to the store once this new little one comes along. I'm not really looking forward to it but I have to say that my 5.5yo is getting increasingly easy as the months go by....Thank GOD! Oh and I homeschool...so I never get a chance to shop by myself unless it's 9pm or a weekend when I can pawn my kids off on my mom or husband! LOL Oh the joy!!

[zanacal]

Funnily enough, my boys actually like food shopping and are usually well behaved in there! The only problem at the moment is DS3 who doesn't understand that he can't immediately eat everything I put in the trolley and because he can't explain himself with words he screams instead! I had an awful experience in a supermarket a few months ago when DS3 was screaming and I had given up with him and was just going very fast and ignoring him so we could get out there (they were not running wild - DS3 and DS2 were in the trolley and DS1 was walking nicely beside me). A mean old man shouted at my 18 month old to 'stop screaming' and I was so incredibly cross that I marched the boys over and asked him to show me how it was done. When I told him he was only 18 months old and didn't understand he told me I obviously wasn't doing good enough job bringing him up and I was inflicting him on everybody else by taking him to a supermarket! I was so upset I can't tell you. There were some lovely, lovely people in the shop who came to my rescue and tried their best to make me feel better though.

[swish]

Oh z, that's horrible, good for you for sticking up for yourself, I think I would have abandoned my shopping even though you were in the right, some people have no consideration for others!

[zanacal]

It was a long time before I went back to Waitrose swish

[swish]

I had a woman be rude to me in waitrose when ds1 was a baby, must be the customers that shop there!!

[zanacal]

I reckon so, perhaps I should defect to Lidl ...

I've actually been meaning to try Lidl for ages so I'm not even joking!!

[swish]

I'm a tescos gal!