Behavior

It's the funniest thing - as soon as I begin to actually stop and try to do something while shopping, my kids become hyperactive tantrum experts. What is it about my eyes looking at clothing, my hands swiping a credit card, or just any part of me not paying full attention to my kids that makes their sugar levels suddenly soar?

The other day we were all at The Children's Place, where Avery and Ethan were content to be in the double stroller, and Abby happy to walk alongside me and look at clothing. I stop, try to find a size 18 months in boy's jeans (which I never could find in girl's jeans when Abby was that size, either - do all people have that size kid?), and they all start screaming and trying to climb the shelves of jeans! I finally settle them down enough to ask a sales associate if they have any 18 month jeans in the back, and they're at it again! Do shelves full of jeans really look like mountains begging to be climbed? Finally, we headed to the counter to pay for our stuff. The kids are acting great by now - but wait, I stop to pay for it all! Out they climb, running around and around (not Ethan, mind you) the stroller.

As all this is going on, I'm noticing another woman with 2 kids the same ages as my oldest 2. They quietly, perfectly sit in their stroller and watch my kids with huge eyes. I look at my kids performing a Chinese Fire Drill around their stroller. I look at those 2 boys and their mom, who quietly says to the smallest one, "what do you see? Do you see a doggy?"

I understand the concept of "The grass is always greener" - but come on. Did that woman ever have her kids in that stroller fighting over a sucker, pulling tags off the clothes, and knocking shoes off the shelves while she looked at my kids and thought how well-behaved they were? Probably, but that's not my point. Why do my kids seem harder to have than other kids?

While Avery, Ethan, and I wait for Abby to get out of her preschool class, Avery is pulling bulletin board borders down, and Ethan is pulling all of the mailbox trays out of their cubbies. The other mom's kids? They're standing politely next to their moms, quiet as can be, staring at my kids.

Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong?