Surviving Your Kid’s Target Meltdown

Who among us hasn’t had her child lose his or her ever-loving-mind in a Target?

It’s more universal than liking leggings or tolerating kale in smoothies. We’ve all been there.

The one and only reason I don’t have 13 stories about Target meltdowns is that the closest Target is 25 minutes away from my home. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

A Case of the Gimmies

But our day came. Oh, it came. And both of my kids were on the “gimme that, I wanna, cheese with that whine” town express. There were tears, there were terse words. My 4-year-old had to ask me what “Mommy is going to completely UNLEASH when we get in the car” means.

“Unleash,” for those unfamiliar, is to detail loudly all of the ways your children brought shame to your family name in the bathroom accessories aisle. Also, a detailed outline of the punishments you plan to dole out once you are back home. No movies, definite naps. Fruit snacks? NOT happening.

But this isn’t new to you. You get it. You have surfboard-style carried your kid out of Target before. You’ve put the soccer ball back on the shelf while Janet VonMindyourbusiness gives you the stink eye. And to you I say, carry on my friend.

Carry On, My Friend

Carry on when you begin to question your own judgment in aisle three.

Carry on when you wish more than anything that Amazon hadn’t been out of Pull-Ups as you almost cry in aisle seven.

Carry on when you are quite sure you’re the worst mother in the history of mothers because your kids are acting a complete and utter fool.

Carry on.

Because all I know for sure is that today my kids made some mistakes. And I made some mistakes. And Janet made some mistakes. But we’re okay. We’ll figure it out. And tomorrow someone else is going to be dealing with level-five meltdowns in the cleaning supplies department and will go home questioning everything too. And then she’ll be okay.

You’re Doing Great

So, carry on. Eat some ice cream alone in the dark, write a diatribe about your misadventures, and renew your Amazon Prime Membership. And then carry on.

Sometimes kids are sleepy, hungry, angry, or slungry. Sometimes they are just being VERY uncool for no reason.

But tomorrow is another day. You’re doing great. You’ve got this.

Do you feel like a bad mom sometimes? Me too.