M&M's and Swimming Pools

I love my children...I really do. However, today I have come to the sad realization that in order to be a good parent I'm going to have to resign myself to the fact that I will most likely have to look like a raving lunatic 70% of the time I am out in public with my 2 angels. This realization has been entering my mind for awhile, but today I fully embraced the situation.

I first noticed how other parents act, I mean really noticed, when I was pregnant with my first child. I remember seeing a mom singing to her little baby - Old MacDonald Had a Farm - throughout the produce section. The little guy could have cared less and was staring off to the bakery quite content, but mom was just singing away like no one else was in the store. "How sad", I though, "mommy needs a night out". I also noticed the chasing after, yelling after gait of parents of older children who would be trying in vain to control the little tykes. Sometimes I thought they were over reacting and wondered why they were getting so upset. I thought in my superior childless brain that if only they just left the child alone, they would surely return once they realized that mom and dad weren't chasing them. And of course, there is the other end of the spectrum. The parents who don't want to deal with it and pretty much let their children run amok. That is plenty of fodder for another post, but needless to say something that is also noticable in society today.

Admittedly I have sung to my children in the store, parking lot, restaurant...anywhere needed to prevent crying, however as of late, the lunacy has gone to a new level. No longer can I just hum a tune, perhaps slightly off key, and prevent a melt down. No, now I have to have discussions with my 4 year about whatever her current obsession and also try to reign in the 2 year old who is that child racing across the store...and really doesn't care if I never came to get her so the chase is a must.

Today at the local Y, I made the brilliant decision to take the two of them swimming. Actually it started out ok, and if they didn't offer candy treats in vending machines it would have been fine. Whoever it was that decided to put vending machines in these locations was brilliant...countless children find them to be so tempting that they too will drive their parents insane in order to buy a bag of M&M's for a mere $.85. And, as it was, I was hungry when we got there so I paid the $.85 to get a bag of M&M cookies. To my mind this seemed like a perfect solution. Candy...kids like candy and cookies...a little more substance than just the candy so it would be a better snack. The 2 year old was totally cool with that thought process. Ok she pitched a little fit when she didn't get her own bag, but it quickly subsided once she had a cookie. The 4 year old did not buy for a second that this was the same as having candy so throughout the entire swim experience she kept saying "can we have candy after this?" - "No, I don't have any more money" was my response. I had used all of my change for our first purchase and really, really did not have any more change to buy another goody...and we already had one. The answer was 'no.

We played in the water and survived the splashing and water toys being thrown throughout the pool without incident. The kids even sort of stayed together so I didn't have to chase after one worrying about the other one going for the deep end. All was good, but then we got out of the pool and we were back to the candy. "Can't I please have some candy? Pulleezz?" ok she wasn't screaming or pitching a true fit, I should be happy about that however the questions just kept coming and my response stayed the same. I was seriously tired of the situation and trying to stay cool, but it continued...and continued...and continued...until I was done! And then I lost it. "I said no!" I bellowed in the family locker room. I was trying, really, but the louder I had to explain the "NO" the more I felt as though everyone in the room was staring at us. And then to add insult to injury my 2 year old was determined that she must carry the bag with the swimsuits. A task she was slightly too small to do, but I was already dealing with one issue so I thought perhaps I would be able to fend off another by simply letting her do this. I was wrong. She kept dropping the bag and then getting upset when I would pick it up and try to carry it myself and really upset if her bigger sister tried to do the same.

Finally, when all hope was lost of being a cool and together parent I picked up the 2 year old...kicking and screaming all the way and yelled at the other to follow me "WE ARE LEAVING!" So much for a nice day at the Y. In my previous life I would have been mortified to be a part of such a scene...but once you are a parent your world changes, and suddenly singing Old MacDonald just to keep the peace or chase after your child because you never know who may be lurking down the aisles, makes perfect sense. And although I know there was probably some person thinking I was in desperate need of a "mommy night out", I finally got my point across...and sometimes that is the best we can do.