Taking 4 Boys Grocery Shopping

Amateurs: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME OR ANYWHERE ELSE, UNTIL YOU ARE PROPERLY TRAINED!!!



Now that I got that out....



OK, I do not have much experience with girls. Though I must note that I AM ONE (my husband signs in relief...) and I am also the oldest in a family of 3 other girls and one boy. So I pretty much helped care for 2 of the girls and the one boy. But my experience, as a mother, has been in the boy category.



So, I am surmising that people who would be walking around a grocery store with 4 girls would probably not face as much scrutiny as, let's say... ME walking around a grocery store with 4 boys. This is just a guess, I do not want to offend any of the mothers of 4 or more girls out there...



So, when I go to the grocery store and I have to take all 4 boys with me (which happens about 65% of the time, give or take 10% ), I get a wide range of reactions from people. Now, mind you, my boys can be very well behaved at the store (unless daddy is with us). They hang on to the cart and don't usually run off, unless we see the lobster tank!



So the reactions I get are:



The Look of "oh, look at the poor woman. She must really have her hands full." And then they say to me, as they look in the car seat and see another little fella sittin' in it, "You gonna go for that girl?". I then reply, no. Then their look even gets sadder. Or they say "Four boys, huh?". "Yep", I reply.



The next look is "that woman MUST be a LUNATIC! Bringing all of those boys out in public. Doesn't she know about birth control?" These people, do not say a word to me. They do not have too, I feel their piercing stares....



And then, there are the few, the very, very few, who actually know, what a blessing these 4 boys really are. They smile and say, "Nice family" or "You have some very handsome boys".



I used to get very nervous about taking all of the boys with me, because of all of the looks. But those very few people who actually gave a positive remark, also gave me a more positive outlook on my shopping time! My boys ARE well behaved! (Most the time!) So I now, instead of saying "yep" to the people pitying me, when they say "4 boys, huh?", I said "Yes, we are blessed". They may then join the group of people who think I am a lunatic, BUT I don't care. I am blessed. My children are not being a nuisance. Even on our bad days, they are children. They should be allowed to have imaginations, and have fun (not being BAD, but have fun!).



Now days, children are being forced to grow up too fast. There are horrible things on T.V., there are horrible magazines sitting in the grocery store lines, songs on most radio stations are too graphic, they all have a cell phone when they are like 9... kids at school tell them about things their parents allow them to see... Kids don't have a chance to be naive and just be kids.



So just let people walk through the grocery stores with the children that God has blessed them with! If you see a poor struggling mother, encourage her. Maybe, normally her kids are pretty good kids also. But today is just a bad day.



Maybe you are struggling with keeping your kids under control... Don't give up! Keep with it. My kids are just as happy hanging onto the cart and having nice conversation than running up and down the aisles. They WANT to be good, because then they know they can get a treat (that I bribe them with the entire time!).



Here are a few verses from the Bible for anyone who needs encouragement or if you need to GIVE encouragement.... Also if you have any encouraging verses, please add them to the comments!



An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up. Proverbs 12:25



Blessed is a man who has a quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed... Psalms 127:5



Children are an inheritance of the Lord... Psalms 127:3