I went to this very busy mall with my family. Tons of people were shopping, including tons of other families.
Some people were enjoying themselves, and others were stressed out. The usual.
My wife and I went to one of the baby stores on our list and had some trouble getting in the front door with the stroller, so I hung outside the store with my baby Victoria while my wife went inside on a mission to find some winter clothes.
Victoria’s of the age where she finds the outside world utterly fascinating, so she was just looking around at the chaos with this stunned look on her face, kind of like this:
While waiting, I saw an interchange among three people: a 4-year-old girl, her young mother, and her grandmother. This is kind of how it went:
Little girl: [Bawling her head off]
Mom: “You stop this right now! If you don’t come with me right now I’ll leave you here and some other parents can start taking care of you!”
Little girl: [Bawls even louder]
Grandma arrives and addresses the mom: “Are you actually buying this? This isn’t your money that you are spending. Quit wasting my money, you don’t appreciate anything.”
Mom: “You always do this!”
This goes on for another few minutes with the mom and grandma bitching at each other all while the little girl is going nuclear. The store staff eventually had to ask them to leave.
This was three generations yelling their heads off at each other. Sheesh.
My wife and I really want to avoid that kind of crazy environment right now. Our goal is to raise our daughter in a calm, peaceful environment. Even in a busy shopping mall, I want her to feel like the space immediately around her is under control.
I think it is working because our five-month-old baby girl is, relatively speaking, a very calm baby. We always get comments on what a well-behaved baby she is.
I think it really pays off for me and my wife. It is a cinch to take care of Victoria.
When Victoria and I hang out at our house, go for a walk, or head to public places, she behaves herself quite well. Since the baby-rearing is going pretty smoothly so far, my wife and I are never stressed out and our new family on the whole is quite happy. And I think that baby picks up on that.
I just hope that this continues on into the teenage years! I just keep drilling into my daughter’s head, “Always love and respect your parents. Always love and respect your parents…”