You try everything to avoid it. You plan ahead and stock up on groceries. In an emergency situation you may even ask the neighbor to watch them for you; but sooner or later it happens - you have to take the children with you on a busy day of errands. You know what will happen, but you're powerless. No matter how well they’ve been trained, or how well they understand the rules …Kids will be kids.

I've known from prior experience that the grocery store with four children can be treacherous, so I patiently laid down the ground rules as we walked in. Did I say walk? Okay- maybe I was walking, the children however, were running circles around me.
“Didn’t we go over this not more then ten minutes ago?" I pleaded. "You stay in the cart. Don’t run. Don’t touch anything!” To make sure the lobes on the side of their head were used for hearing, I asked them again - “Do you understand?”

After having them repeat my every word to make sure the lobes were working, we attempted to move on.

A few moments later, as I left the meat counter, I realized a minor, but terrifying fact - I had not picked up a package of hamburger I needed. Despite the risks, I went back to retrieve it. After all, it was only a few steps away. Big Mistake!

As I turned from the counter, I was greeted with this scene: my two-year-old son pushing the cart around in circles. Doesn't sound that bad huh? It wouldn't have been if not for the pair of senior citizens he had managed to trap helplessly between the cornbread and beer nuts.

All I could envision was canes and walkers flying as the elderly couple cried out- "Help, we’ve fallen and we can’t get up!”
Grocery stores pose so many hazards with kids; it's hard to keep track of them all. As mothers know, small children see the world much differently than adults.

Walking backwards and in circles while staring at the ceiling might seem like loony behavior when practiced by adults, but it’s a common kid activity. Unfortunately, that fact did not enlighten the store manager, as his meticulously stacked pyramid of chips came crashing down like so many dominoes.

Finally, the moment had arrived. I placed the last item in my overflowing cart and herded the brood up to the checkout counters.
Amazingly, there was not one, but two lanes open as I approached. No waiting!

I chose lane number four, and to my astonishment, the children were immediately helpful, unloading the groceries and waiting patiently by the bags after everything had been loaded. Things were finally falling into place. Was this too good to be true? Of course it was!

I looked up expecting to find a smiling face in front of the register. Instead, I got nothing. I mean literally nothing. The cashier that had once been standing there was now four isles away, trying to avoid my penetrating gaze. As I searched for answers, I noticed that the lane light that had once shined so brightly as a beacon of hope in my dark day had been cruelly shut off.

As I hurried to reload my groceries and move to the next isle, it became apparent that the children's few moments of calm had ended. "Why in the world do they have to put the candy right next to the counter?"

While slowly backing my newly re-stuffed cart out, I noticed a woman walking towards the check out. Upon seeing me, she hurried from 25 FEET AWAY to get into the lane I was headed for.
As far as I was concerned, my claim had been staked out. Besides, my daughter was already in the isle waiting for us. To add insult to injury, the wheels on my cart jammed as I tried to pull out, and this woman squeezed right in the lane behind my five -year-old daughter and in front of me!

“Excuse me," I said, drawing her attention. “ I was in this lane and they asked me to move over. In fact my daughter is already in line." She cut me off. “That’s right, you were in that lane.” I could hardly believe me ears. After all I’d gone through…with four children. Didn’t she have any compassion?

Okay, Okay - after the children and I stared at her in disbelief, the wicked witch eventually did move to another lane, but by that time my disgust and frustration had hit a fever pitch.

Things were looking up however, the chores were over and in the long run I was proud of the kids for hanging in there and of myself for surviving. I couldn't help thinking back to the lady in line however.
There were plenty of people who could have been upset with us that day - from the old couple dodging my son's shopping cart to the poor stock boy who had to clean up the chips, yet they seemed to understand life and the fact that they were once kids themselves.
Why was this woman so blatantly malicious?