“Mommy, can I have some candy?” the child asked politely as his tiny hand grabbed for some Peanut Butter cups.
“Not today, honey” the mom responded without even thinking.
And then it began.
The child, sensing his mother’s distraction and lack of conviction to her “no” began to escalate.
“PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!” he said.
“I said not today,” she said.
“BUT I WANT CANDY!!!” he said.
The mom then glanced around the store, feeling the impending doom of a full meltdown, and changed her tune.
“Okay honey. Since you were good in the store.”
This scene is something we’ve all either been a part of – whether as the parent, the kid, or a bystander thinking about we’re happy we don’t have kids or how much better we would handle the situation if we did have kids ( was the latter before I had kids myself and gained a massive amount of empathy for parents put in that situation).