Does it still take a village to raise a child?

I think it does.

There have been a million and one times when I could have used an extra set of hands, or another voice of encouragement (maybe even a loud one), to help me corral my brood in a public place. It's not that they're always acting up either. One such example would be a few months back, when I went into Boston Store to stop by the Origins counter. I only had one thing to pick up, no shopping there or anything. I had The Little Man with me, and it was mid afternoon, so he was rambunctious (imagine that!). I had pulled out my credit card, and no sooner had I handed it over to the lady, when the kid is climbing out of his stroller and running away at full speed.

Now, I can barely walk most days, and I NEVER run because I simply can't. What The Little Man did here, was my worst nightmare! So I'm snatching my card and receipt from the saleswoman, who's finding it all sickly amusing, grab the bag and my stroller, and start off as fast as I possibly can after him. He's repeatedly looking behind him, to see if I'm still following him and how much space is between us, laughing yet still running away. I pass NO LESS than 8 adults in my chase, most of whom are employed there. They all witness a woman in tears, dragging an empty stroller, as she desperately tries to gimp along at a half-run pace whilst calling to her child, who's clearly outrunning her. If you were there, what would you do?

By the time I'm getting close to catching up to him, the only thing slowing him down is the double doors that lead out to the parking lot! There's an elderly saleswoman nearby, whom he's already run directly past, who makes the mistake of saying to me, "You had better catch that child before he runs into the street and gets run over by a car!" I blew a gasket at this point. I yelled, in her general direction (because I was busy running after someone), "WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M DOING?! MIGHT HAVE BEEN NICE IF YOU'D HAVE HELPED ME OUT HERE!" She had the nerve to be offended.... ha. She's lucky that's all I said, AND she's extra lucky that I didn't gather myself and my child and double back to give her an additional piece of my mind, AND find her manager to let them know what a bang-up job she was doing in customer service that day. ;)

Even after all that, I didn't bawl The Little Man out. After all, he's too young to understand that Mommy can't run after him because her back's no good. He was just having a good time! If he was with Daddy, it would have been fine, and many times, it has been OK for him to run ahead a bit. He hates having to sit in a stroller because Mommy can't manage him otherwise on some days, which is how this got started in the first place. It's not his fault, and it's not mine either- I do what I have to, to keep him safe and still accomplish things. On this particular day, things just went a bit haywire. :( If anyone with common sense would have taken a look at this situation, they'd have headed him off and stopped him, or at least slowed him down a bit, in order for me to catch up with him. Old Lady Rude certainly had no concept....she wasn't helping at all here. I'm sure she and her other elderly cohort there had a heyday, gossipping about what an awful parent I was to let my kid run around like that or some other foolishness. LMAO!

I came across www.onekindword.org, and I thought that a number of Boston Store patrons and employees might have benefited from its mission on this particular day. My child, luckily, didn't suffer any ill-effects from his little jaunt (and possibly worked out some energy), but had he have made it out the second double door, I don't even want to think about what might have happened. He was already through the first when I finally caught him. I freak out inside just thinking about it right now. My heart's no good for close calls anymore! :O