First Life Lesson

Last night, Nathan and I went to the grocery, to, you know...get groceries. ;) Nathan really likes to ride in the carts with the cars in the front ("the blue one mama!"), which I am not a huge fan of because the car makes the cart so large, and I am not at all experienced in driving a semi! Anyways, it was later in the evening, around 7pm or so. Nathan hadn't eaten dinner yet (bad mother, I know), I hadn't eaten dinner yet (again, bad mother of child in womb, I know), so I was tired, hungry and just not really wanting to be at the Grocery right then. Regardless, we got through it (Nathan was a very good boy, until he started screaming because he wanted Cheetos and I told him he had to eat some dinner first). We checked out, and were getting in the car, when I noticed that Nathan had grabbed a bag of Skittles from the checkout isle while I was paying for the groceries.

Now, I am pretty sure that the only candy that Nathan really knows the packaging of are Reece's P-butter cups (and MAYBE M&Ms), the mini ones. I really try to stay away from commercial TV so that he doesn't learn a whole lot about packaging and get sucked in to the marketing of it all (call me crazy, I know...he will learn it all through other kids, I am sure). SO, for him to pick up the Skittles bag, was him just being curious as to what this shiney red bag was all about (and I am sure he wondered what must be in it). I know he really didn't KNOW they were Skittles/candy...he is pretty innocent about the checkout isle and that there is candy at all of them (and I would like to keep it that way). BUT, he did take the Skittles...

SO...being tired and hungry, I was faced with a very simple decision: Do I take the time to take the candy back into the store and return it because we didn't pay for it? It was a bag of Skittles...they would never miss it. He didn't INTENTIONALLY mean to "steal" it, he has no idea what that means. We are tired, hungry, and going back in the store, means unloading all the groceries and walking back in...or pushing the semi of a cart all the way back into the store, through the crowds of people...blah, blah, blah...OR do we just go home, with the bag of Skittles?

As tired and as hungry as we both were, I decided that this could be Nathan's first lesson in integrity and honesty (two very BIG human qualities that I deem as very important in a personality). So, we unloaded the groceries into the car, put the car cart away, and went back into the store. I told Nathan he needed to give the Skittles back to the store because we don't just take things without paying for them, regardless of how small they are. He carried the bag, and handed it over to the cashier. (No, I did not get angry at him, nor yell at him, nor even seem flustered...so don't worry that I freaked out and scarred him for life. That isn't my style!)

The cashier looked a little baffled and even started to ring them up, but I told her that we actually didn't even want them. She looked even more baffled.

On the way out Nathan hugged me and said:
Nathan: Have to pay for things, right Mama?
Me: That's right Natey, we don't just take stuff without paying for them.
Nathan: I sorry Mama...

It was THE sweetest moment, and as simple as it was, and as young as he is...he got it!