| Show SWEEPINGS Taking Kids Kid To Shop By IRIS One day in a supermarket I saw a strange sight Midway between canned soup and soda crackers was a woman shopping shopping shop shop- ping all by herself I followed her up and down three aisles i before I was convinced She didn't have a child anywhere in sight IT ISN'T t that hat I Ire really a U y mind taking my own little ones chopping At least I try not to mind since the only alternatives al are to chain them to the bed or hire a babysitter But roaming through a supermarket super super- market with ones one's offspring Isa is isa a little like running an obstacle cle course After youve you've made the run a few tew times you know the hazards but some of them are going to trip you up no no matter how careful you are Is there a mother anywhere who hasn't been clipped in the back of the ankles with a load ed grocery cart What usually happens is the child sees this cunning little cart at the en trance Nothing will do but that he push it aU all by himself So all right The unwary moth er lets him get it half full and then makes the mistake of walking a few feet in front of that kid and his cart He discovers dis covers overs about then that it will go faster if he gets gets' behind it and shoves This ho he does docs The obstacle that stops his headlong charge is as mother And her ankles AFTER getti getting clobbered that way a few times I got so shy battle that I heard a grocery cart behind me I screamed I scared a alot lot lotof of innocent elderly gentlemen that way or or a long time even en passing a supermarket caused me to limp But the cart Isn't the only hurdle Its It's just the most dan dan- My own children show a lot of unexpected initiative when they get inside a gro cery store They select things All by their busy little selves These often get get in my cart without my knowing it No matter how casual I try to act when I get to the out check stand I am am always appalled when the clerk st starts rt stacking that loot on the counter counter- things like three boxes of tnt tat poison polson dozen assorted scrubbing brushes a king bottle boUle of shampoo for greying hair which I 1 might really reilly need at any moment and other oth er items f never saw before While I try to explain to the clerk that I really d dont don't nt want all that stuff Im I'm trying to get my smallest daughter to put back ack two dollars worth of 4 P n nickel candy she's piling ng into her pockets WIZEN WilEN TilE groceries are finally paid for I leave the store swearing to plant a garden garden gar gar- den den in my back yard and neer nee nee- er go back After I get home with my City purchases I find ind I still have worth orth orthof of stuff I hadn't planned on getting although I guess I can use one four pound packages of split peas U if I livelong enough and I can always buy a bird I guess Id I'd Id better How else can I use a dozen large pack ages of bird seed and a fancy ladder for parakeets The more I think about it the themore more I think maybe mabe I 1 will start hiring a babysitter so I Ican Ican can go to the store t no Ono One more crack on the tho shinar with witha witha a loaded grocery cast cart und and to heck with the babysitter Mr l little darlings get chained to the bedpost js is c |
