Sometimes Mom needs the lesson....

I am not a fan of grocery shopping. I am definitely not a fan of grocery shopping with the boys by myself. In fact, since Hunter was born, Matt and I have made it a family sport. It works for us.

But, sometimes we find ourselves short of certain items that can't wait...Milk, bread, cereal. Items that don't require a family trip. And so, I go. I venture out into the great unknown of Food Lion. Just me and my boys.

I'm not going to lie. I bribe them. Animal crackers, juice boxes. Skittles. I'm not above it. And usually we do pretty well. But, the other day I had to make a quick grocery run and I had an epic fail. Things were going smoothly, until we came upon...(insert Twilight Zone music) The Cereal Aisle. Every Mother's worst nightmare. Boxes upon boxes of sugary goodness promising trinkets in every box. That is where we came upon the Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

The box boasted a Shrek water squirting tox inside just waiting to be claimed. I gave in and said we could get a box. Then came the kicker. They each wanted one. Of course, two children, two toys. The only problem was we didn't need two boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Lord knows we didn't need one. So, I decided they could share the toy inside the box. I decided I would teach them a lesson. The lesson that sharing is not the worst thing that can happen to two brothers. That we can take something and make the best of it.

Here is the problem with that...When we got home they opened the box. And of course, the toy was ridiculous. Tiny and half working. And of course, they had to battle over it. Our box contained "Donkey" the character made famous by Eddie Murphy. And I stood there watching them. Take turns squirting each other with water, exemplifing the lesson that I had wanted them to get. That's when it hit me. Maybe sometimes I need the lesson. The lesson needs to be that sometimes it's okay to be silly, okay to buy two boxes because that means twice the toy.

Wouldn't it have been wonderful to watch them tear into their respective boxes and watch them squeal with joy over which character they got? Then enjoy having a front row seat to their water fight? Maybe sometimes the lesson is Mom says yes. The lesson is even if we don't need two boxes of cereal, we do need two toys for two very special little boys.

I hope that in the future I can see the moments when these little boys have more to teach me than I have to teach them. That is my prayer.