A Lesson in Target

Remember here when I vented about the punk kid and his rude commments about my kid at Costco?

I had another similar situation today!

Now I know we, as mommies, can be very quick to pass judgement on other mommies. It's so sad, but true. Sometimes we judge the mom who has her kids in the grocery store at 2:00pm, in their pajamas (or she's in her pajamas!).

We judge moms for how their kids behave in public, only to have our own children act the same way the next day!

I used to be one of those moms. When Chloe was younger she was always an angel in public. Now, she's learned. If she acts up in public, I may give in to avoid a scene.

But I've definetly had my share of Target meltdowns, grocery store tantrums, parking lot fits and kiddie park screaming matches. Oh, and my kids have made some trouble as well!

This morning we were in the check out line at Target. And my children were very well behaved. Of course it was because they were stuffing themselves with Target popcorn at 9:00am (which Ava later threw in the car and got popcorn kernels all over the backseat!).

The lady in front of me? Her kids didn't have popcorn. And it showed. Bless her heart.

The lady next to me turned and made a snarky comment to me about how some children just don't know how to behave in public, and look at my kids, they were angels!

Oh no you didn't.

How dare you attack your own kind?! She looked a bit past normal child bearing age, but could she have forgotten the plight of a young mommy with multiple young children already??!! I was astonished.

I politely pointed out that my children were gorging themselves on popcorn, keeping them happy and quiet. This other lady's children were probably done with being in Target and she was doing her best to entertain them while trying to pay and get the heck out of the store! And I said that sans popcorn, my children often act the same way! It's the nature of the beast. I told her I would be the last one to pass judgement on that other mommy today.

She didn't answer. In fact, she didn't look at me.

It was a needed reminder that we've all been that mommy, and will likely be her again someday. The judgy one and the one with the cranky kids. Show grace when you are either. Grace to your kids, and grace to that other mommy.