Shopping for School

By now we're all finished with our "school" shopping (supplies, clothes, backpacks). I've discovered that the older my son gets, shopping for the supplies becomes easier. Last weekend, with list in hand, I joined the other moms in the school supply aisle, reaching over small children's heads, and around moms with babies on their hips, grabbing the necessary pens, pencils, notebooks, and binders. I was in and out of the store in just a few minutes. I can remember when my son was younger, school supply shopping took longer because it seems there was always that one item I could never find (like that aqua colored folder with pockets).

Although school supply shopping has become easier, school CLOTHES shopping has become quite an adventure. The jeans HAVE to be that certain brand, from that certain store at the mall. So my teenage son and I headed out to the mall a couple of days ago. As we entered the "store", my first thought was "they need to turn on the lights". Well, then I realized the lights WERE on but they were very dim. I told my son that I was glad his dad wasn't with us, because his response would have been "Son, if I'm going to spend this much money on a pair of jeans, I at least want to see what I'm buying."

So, after "feeling" my way through the "store", we found the jeans. As I'm following my son back to the fitting room, he turns around and gives me this look. "What?", I ask. "Mom, you don't have to go back with me." "Well, of course, I'm not going INSIDE with you", I replied, "I'll just stand out by the door to see how they fit." So this conversation goes back and forth (it seems that I embarrass him . . . I can't imagine why. I mean, when we've gone shopping in the past, I usually just tug at the waste-band a few times, make him show me a front view, side view, rear view, front view again, etc. Now, why would that embarrass him?) So, we ended up compromising this time . . . I stood outside of the dressing area (with the other moms), and then my son just gave me a very quick look once he had on the jeans.

So, we leave the dark dungeon, and head down the mall to another store with much better light. We went through the same routine as before, and finally decided on our purchases. We were standing in line waiting to pay, and there was a display of really cute thongs on a table next to where we were standing. I was so tempted to browse through them for myself, but I could only imagine the horror that my son would have experienced being there with his mom looking at thongs! So, I decided against doing that.

Overall, our clothes shopping experience went well. We ended our day with lunch at the food court. We had such a fun time, we've decided to have a mall shopping day at least once a month.