Shopping is always good...

for reminding you of your Bad Mother status. With the struggles to get everyone ready to go and the discussions of what those staying home want, you're already on a bad foot. Then you get to the store and have: 1) a near-miss with a car backing out of a space you didn't notice, 2) a child who is ready to run up to the store before another is out of the car, 3) a shopping cart pile-up in the entrance while you allow your pre-schooler to get a cart for you.

And you've only just arrived at the store! There's so much more! There are tempting end-cap items at every stop for little hands to grab, your usual products are moved from their usual places to cause you to spend more time looking around, other products you want have disappeared from the store entirely and they've changed the packaging on anything else you wanted just to make sure a half hour shopping trip turns into two hours.

But wait! We're not done there! Your pre-schooler will hide in clothing racks causing a momentary panic attack, your toddler will become whiny and clingy and you will not have the mei tai, every stray toy in the store will find its way into your cart and when the cart is impossibly heavy your toddler will fall *asleep* on you.

Now you're ready for the check out lane (that's five miles long)! Woot! That entails more struggles over shiny end-cap displays, sneaky efforts to pull unwanted items from the cart in such a way as to avoid any meltdowns and the joy of trying to unload and reload things one-handed while still keeping the toddler asleep (because you know he'll cry and be even harder to handle if he's awake at this point).

At the end of this two hour adventure, you will tell yourself, "NEVER AGAIN!" until the next time you need to go shopping and have little people at your feet asking, "Can I go, too?" And you melt from the puppy dog gaze...