Why Taking My Toddler To the Mall was the biggest mistake of my life?

Excuse the long title but I couldn’t shorten it anyway. The impact of a bad day is getting to me and when all I could think about during the sale season was to shop in peace, I forgot that I had my son along. Kids these days, I am going to rant now, are not the usual ones. They want to be entertained, to be cuddled and to buy as much as you want. My son has seen us shopping and he thinks he can pick up three to four toys together, like I buy dresses in a mall. Not only does this turn into an ugly cry-affair where I try to convice him that this is not a great choice for him or for his age, he just throws a tantrum. There are tears, people stare like I am really bad mother, He doesn’t let go of that big box of hot wheels and want more like a greedy tiny person. Inside I am in tears, I am wailing and believe me, I just want to go home without taking a thing home. But I really live far from the city and I gotta to buckle up and be brave.

I thought the icecream would quiten him but he giving those sad teary looks because I just don’t buy him anything. He is unhappy but takes the icecream, sulky but eats it all while I go to one shop and decide to pick up whatever I like first and just get the hell out of there. He keeps wailing in between- “I want a car, Hot Wheels big Box’ which means I need to shell out more money this month and since I already spent more than I should have for the month, I just don’t give in. I tell him that he needs to buy a smaller one or else no more toys.

Lucky for me the play park at the Mall is huge and has sand and jungle gym with kids like him are tearing in, oh I mean Playing. Parents are sitting and watching them in distance. They all looked dissastisfied with their shopping plan gone haywired like mine. But my son was happy then, not once did he ask for the toy. The moment it was time to go home, he remembered the toy he had to buy. He cries again and people look. I stare them back. I am getting hyperventialed because I just want to go home now. I somehow put him in the car and decide silently that shopping with him, never ever in life!

What I feel is that kids really do not need a Mall to be happy. The outing in the Mall is just a very wrong concept. Somewhere I read why they behaved in this way because they are put in an unnatural environment, not ready to sit and just wait. Patience is the thing for adults and not for toddlers.  A lesson well learnt but a painful day that I wont be able to forget for sometime.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.