AsthmaMan had an EPIC tantrum at the store today.

He pulled out all his best tricks, he was screaming at the top of his lungs, hitting me, attempting to run away, and telling the cashier I was the “worst mom ever!!!!!”

It was a thing of beauty, one of the those tantrums made for the movies, or at least for YouTube.

It was so bad that Harry Potter  told me “Mom he’s bothering the other people make him stop!” Funny the he would notice a tantrum could be disruptive to other shoppers…

Our morning started off ok, some people woke up a bit too early, there was some fighting over a stupid toy, and then there were some issues going potty and finding our shoes.

We eventually loaded up in the sweet minivan and were on our way.

The boys are at camp this week, but I thought since we were ready about an hour before camp drop-off that instead of sitting around at home fighting we should go do our errands on the way, in retrospect this was a terrible plan. So we pull into the Sprouts parking lot (it is double ad Wednesday after all) around 9:03am.

Things looked pretty empty, and I figured it would be a relatively fast and pain-free experience because I wanted things like cherries, grapes, and rice, plus the store is tiny so how much time can really be spent there.

We also had a little chat “the Sprouts deal”, if everyone keeps their crap together and listens for the 12 minutes we are in the store they can buy a $.0.25 lollipop at the end.

As I was collecting our limited items AsthmaMan decided to take off running through the wine aka breakable section. We had a quick and firm talk about keeping your hand on the cart if you want to earn a lollipop at the end.

We proceeded to the bulk grains section. I needed two scoops each of brown and white rice, this should have taken 2 minutes tops… but AsthmaMan let go of the cart and attempted to stick his hand in every single bin… egged on by Harry Potter. He didn’t touch anything but he was not so gently reminded to keep his hand on the cart, and then because he didn’t listen he was informed he would not be purchasing a lollipop. He lost it. Luckily the bulk section is right near the checkout.

We proceeded to the line, put our items on the conveyor belt, and by this point he had lost all sense of reality. He was screaming, kicking, and hitting. The cashier was looking at me like “take your kid out”.

The person in front of me in line was trying to hurry, Harry Potter looked worried, and me… I was calm as the cucumbers I’m attempting to buy.

Normally in these situations I try and shut the tantrum down as quickly as possible. I can’t handle the screaming, it makes me want to scream back. But occasionally I find myself in a good place mentally and I just let the kid scream. I know the people around me hate this, I realize I am ruining the shopping experience for everyone, but sometimes a kid just needs to have their fit and get it over with.

As AsthmaMan would scream that I was the worst mother ever, I would politely ask him to keep his voice down and inform him that we couldn’t talk until he was under control. This did nothing to keep his voice down, but it make me feel better.

Instead of escalating with him, I mostly ignored him. It was great, the tantrum eventually fizzled out, I didn’t leave frustrated, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to be better next time so he earns his lollipop. Isn’t letting the small stuff go great, whew!