Most useful shopping tool for Mums

Today I decided to do something really ambitious. Shop without a pram.

My daughter is nearly two; she has legs and loves to walk. I just needed milk and nappies. The shop is only a bus ride away.

What was I thinking!? Leaving home without the most useful shopping tool for Mum?

So we set off and I was soon to discover that today, of all days, so happened to be one when my precious child had woken up in one of her psychotic ‘dart hither and thither with reckless abandon’ moods.

As soon as Amelia set foot out of our front door she took on the persona of a caged animal that has been set free after years of captivity. I sighed and persevered.

Amelia was brilliant on the bus, brilliant in the shop (within the confines of a trolley) and brilliant on the way back… until we dismounted the bus.

To cut the trauma of a long story short – getting a toddler to obey your commands whilst encumbered with 46 nappies, 4 pints of milk, Halloween paraphernalia (it could not be helped) and no pram is not all that easy. It’s like she knew my powers were limited and took full advantage!

Darting into shops and driveways, through gates and up staircases… sigh.

The expedition ended with a screaming child sitting on the pavement refusing to budge and an infuriated mummy calling on every possible reserve of patience. And a great deal of sighing.

It was not fun.

I am not quite sure what the moral of my woeful story is? Some suggestions: when you think you have a good idea, you probably don’t; an outing with heavy shopping and a pramless toddler is just stupid; gauge your toddler’s mood before going anywhere… ever – or just stay at home, it’s much easier!  A tad extreme perhaps… or perhaps not.

Chin up, tomorrow’s another day!