When my kids started going with us to the malls, they were 2 years old. With that age, it is still easy handling them. We just let them see what we knew children would love to see inside the malls, buy clothes, dine and go the the playroom. When they turned 3, things started to change. They wanted more time in the playroom and have always been demanding to go there whenever we are in the mall. It’s as if mall equates to playroom for them. There was even a time when Elysia threw a tantrum and cried out loud while rolling on the granite tile floor of SM. I was really devastated over how she acted that day. I felt like I was the worst mom in the world with all the people looking at her and at me.
Handling things and discussions with the kids was always difficult for most of us parents. Kids can’t easily understand and we have to find a way to make them understand what we are trying to convey. In my case, there has always been a bias. My mom would always want the kids to let them have what they want – just so they won’t cry. I pretty much understand how she wanted them not to cry at all but it has became their habit to cry whenever they want something. And I have to act. As their mom, it is my responsibility to teach them how to behave, especially in public places.
We had our share of hard times too. It was more than a year before they started to recognize our authority as parents. And that they have to respect us, listen to what we say. We don’t normally dominate the conversation, we try to let them talk so they’d learn how to speak for themselves. After over a year, the kids can already control themselves whenever we are in the mall. There’d be times when they still want to do the things they want, buy items they like but if it’s not in the plan, we talk to them. They’d react naturally and they will be sad but after the conversation is over, they will feel ok and tantrums will no longer be a problem. And because they behaved well, they deserve to be rewarded. We will bring them to Fun Ranch next week. I’m sure they will have tons of fun.
