Today was one of those hard-lessons-to-learn kind of days. While I was at the grocery store, I told the kids that if they were really good, I would let them get a little chocolate from the check-out lane. I hadn't ever let them get those before, even though they look at them every time I go to the store, so I thought they would be excited and grateful and all those emotions we parents want to assume our children will feel. Because my transaction was a bit more complicated than usual (but worth it to get lots of cereal for cheap!), I wasn't paying as much attention to what my should-be angelic children were doing. As I was balancing coupons and keys and credit card, I noticed that Emilie was working on her second piece of chocolate (arg!), so I was able to pay for that one. It's hard to teach an almost 3-year-old about self control. We left the store and I piled my groceries in the car when I noticed Isaac was *still* chewing on chocolate and was shoving a wrapper between the car's bench and the side of the car. I eventually got it out of him that he was just finishing his
3rd piece of chocolate!! I only paid for the first piece, and by now the kids and groceries were loaded into the car, Audrey was crying, and I was done, so I huffed and puffed and lectured Isaac about stealing. I was not in a good mood.
After dinner, we went out to get some frozen yogurt, but before we could have dessert, I told Isaac that we needed to go back to the store so he could apologize and pay for the chocolates he ate. We made him use some of his coveted tooth money. Before we left, he even wrote a little "I'm sorry for stealing your chocolate" letter. Jarom and the girls waiting in the car while I took Isaac in. We walked over to the Customer Service desk, and I could tell Isaac was really nervous. The lady looked at me and asked what I needed, and I looked at Isaac, and she got a very kind look on her face and asked him if there was something he needed to tell her. (From her reaction, I got the feeling that she had to do this often!) Isaac was very quiet, but he handed her the note, apologized, and handed over the money. She was very nice about it, but reminded him that taking things like that was shop-lifting and could actually get Mom or Dad in trouble with the police! He was pretty worried about that part.
While it was only a matter of $.66, I wanted to make sure that Isaac understood the severity of his actions. It was hard as a mother to watch him be uncomfortable and to have to take responsibility in such a mature way, but I'm very proud of him, he was so brave! I thought it was especially kind of him to write a little note to try to smooth things over with the store. I just hope that he remembers this experience and will think twice before letting his appetite dictate his actions.
