Yup, I'm THAT Mom

When you become a parent for the first time, you establish a mental list of things that you will never, ever do or say to your child. Years of observation have made you confident that you will make the correct parenting choices when it is your turn to raise a little one. In my case, I had accumulated a "list" of what not to do not only from being around other parents at the mall/grocery store/amusement park, but from spending 7 years as an elementary school teacher. I vowed to be a better parent because of my teaching experience. As a teacher, I encountered examples of good and bad parenting on a daily basis. I promised myself that I would learn from others' mistakes and practice the most effective and constructive parenting techniques when it came to raising my child. Well, all of those good intentions flew out the window yesterday.

The plan was to stop by Whole Foods to pick up a couple of items on the way to Little Gym with Daniel. I was hoping to pop in and out in a matter of 20 minutes. But my darling 2-year-old had other plans. His new "thing" is to refuse to sit in the shopping cart. Instead, he wants to "Push! Push!" I let him do just that at Giant earlier in the week, and we spent 45 excruciating minutes weaving up and down aisles trying not to take out any elderly shoppers. I wasn't about to suffer the same fate twice in one week, so I had to come up with a Plan B. If Daniel didn't want to sit in the cart, how could I entice him to cooperate? And that's when it happened. I became THAT mom.

As I struggled to lift Daniel's wriggling body into the shopping cart, I said, "They have cake inside. Do you want some cake?" Those must have been the magic words, because my defiant toddler became putty in my hands. Cake samples. That's all it would take to coax him into cooperating with me. We were at Whole Foods, land of free samples, so I thought this would be an easy transaction. Unfortunately, it was 10:00 in the morning and the only samples available were apple slices. After going back 3 times for more apples, Daniel expected me to hold up my end of the bargain. "Cake," he demanded. Heading back to the prepared foods section, the bakery shelves caught my eye. I spotted the one thing that would allow me to finish my shopping without encountering a tantrum from Daniel. Cookies.

I picked out a chocolate chip cookie and handed it to Daniel. His eyes lit up and he began to munch on the sweet treat. In an instant, I had done one of the things that I vowed NEVER to do: to placate/shut my child up by giving him candy or sweets. In the moment, I panicked. It seemed like the best option. I'm sure parenting "experts" would disagree and be able to come up with much more creative options. Screw 'em. It worked like a charm. Of course, now that I've opened Pandora's Box, there's no going back.