Picture thanks to WikiClipArt
My daughter is heading back to school and she went shopping with her mother a few weeks ago, but it looks like mom got tired of walking around and my daughter still needs a few things for school, such as a backpack, shoes, and some t-shirts. So, the routine for our family was to go shopping at some outlets and it was the mom with son and dad with a daughter. I really enjoyed shopping with her, she would come out and ask me how she looked and it was just very cool. About two years ago, my wife told her that she would take her shopping; I guess it was time for mom to step in for certain things that may be a dad did not know – my son went with me. The following year was the same thing, but my son wanted to confirm that I was taking him, I said yes. It seems that I was more casual about him buying things and I had a little more expensive sweet tooth, which he really like so he wanted to make sure I was the one taking him shopping – now understand my son was 17 years old. My daughter told me if I was taking her this year, of course, I told her mom told me she was taking you again, she looked a little sad, but I did not think much of it. It turns out that my daughter really enjoyed going shopping with me because she said I was really open to clothing ideas and never tried to push something on her. I guess mom has her thoughts about how her daughter should dress, of course, my daughter did not mind, but inside she was a little unhappy. Now, don’t get me wrong, mom is cool, but sometimes she can be pushy, but she means well.
So a few days ago me and my daughter went shopping at Target for a few things mostly school supplies and a few personal items, but we had fun. While we were at the deodorant aisle and while she was looking at some deodorant some lady just moved right in front of her, and she moved back. That’s is when I noticed that my daughter does not like confrontations. I then said to her what she was doing by me aloud, and that she could not see the brands from here. I moved forward and started to grab a few brands, the lady looked at me and apologized for jumping in front of my daughter, I said no problem – thank you. I don’t want my daughter to be rude or disrespectful but I told her to stand her ground if she is looking at something, she needs to not feel intimidated by other people – she looked at me and rolled her eyes and smiled. While we were coming out of Target she told me that she has been looking forward to going shopping with me which made me feel good. So we hit a few shoe stores and clothing stores.
So, our day was to go grab some food for her Snake, head home and let her feed her snake. Then we would go grab some lunch and head to the store. My son ended up coming with us, it seemed he was trying to get a few more shirts. We headed to the shoe store and I was trying to get my daughter to walk around and look, but she clung to me like a toddler, my son finally stepped in and pointed out a few shoes, she tried them on and was happy with the first choice. My son did try a few shoes, but he kept talking about an online store where he could get some cool shoes or something like that, I am not sure, but he gets a little pricey when it comes to shoes. Anyhow, after we bought my daughter’s shoes we headed to Forever 21, because I guess while she was shopping with her mom she happen to like some of the clothing from that store, but her mom got tired before she got a chance to look. Once we entered the store, again my daughter clung to me like a toddler. I was trying to walk around showing her shirts and stuff, but she was like a toddler, after a bit, she loosened up and found four shirts she liked, of course, I made her try them on, just in case, and even then she did not want to, but I insisted. Another thing I noticed about my kids is that they still act like children, getting into each other’s faces, pushing one another, saying funny things to one another. I had to stop them a few times because it looked weird a 19 year old and 12 years old going at it like children – it was funny though.
We then headed over to Red Robin, which is a burger joint restaurant. It had been quite a while since I have been to one, due to the pandemic and other things. My son ordered a rooter beer float, my daughter a chocolate milkshake and I got myself a long island, delish. They order burgers, and I got the fish and chips, I have to say it was pretty good. Anyhow, after lunch we headed to Nordstrom because it seemed that my son got his mom’s gift card, and well he wanted to check out the place. He did find a jacket but had to put in some cash apart from the gift card. All in all, shopping went well, it was a beautiful day and we headed back home. Of all this, I was thinking about how I can get my daughter to be more confident when it comes to interacting with others, and shopping because she gets really shy, and sometimes it is a pain to shop with her because you really don’t know what she is thinking or what she wants. It’s sort of a guessing game, but I still have time to work with her and I believe I will get her confidence level up.
Anyhow, thank you for stopping by and I leave you with this thought, “ no matter how big your kids get, they will always be your babies. I remember never stop teaching them, because after each roll of their eyes, they are actually listening”.