Car Shopping with Kids

Have you ever had the joy of car shopping with kids? 2 kids, ages 2 and 5 running around the showroom floor, 2 possible car choices, 5 test drives (car seat moved into each car for each drive) and Kellie the 5 year old exclaiming after each drive "can we get this one? I really like this one" (so much for hard negotiating) later we made our purchase. It wasn't a bad experience really, but when spending that much money I like to have a moment to actually consider the purchase as opposed to having to answer 4000 questions during the purchase. "What is that sound mommy?"...me:"The blinker". "Why does it make that noise?" "Because it does." "What does this button do?" me: "I don't know, but please don't push it!!!" And it went on and on. So needless to say I know nothing about the car we purchased really, but I'm sure my kids will press all the buttons and let me know.

We came home exhausted from trying to control our children and spending too much money and as I collapsed on the sofa, something the finance manager said came back to me. "I just have to say you have really good kids." Really the ultimate compliment during the chaos that is our life, but I though he was just being nice until he shared his experiences with other children who have sat in his office during the car buying experience. One who kept coming over to the keyboard and pressing on the keys while he was trying to work out the deal. The parents apparently just sat there clueless to what a pain their child was being until the finance manager made the comment that "if he keeps pounding on the keyboard it will make their monthly payments go up". Suddenly they became very aware of their child's actions. Brilliant :)