Patience and Preschooler Shopping

"Star Trek characters never go shopping." -Doug Coupland

I made what in retrospect was an invitation to wandering, loitering, and generally not getting anything done yesterday: I let the child spend $10 of her own money at a big store.  It was really just a patience exercise for me, as a three year old is a bit small to stay focused, even on something as desirable as picking out her own gift.  But I was determined, this money had come from my aunt for her birthday, and I thought she should spend it herself.

So we looked at party supplies, fish, bike equipment, workout equipment, and then finally DVD's and toys.  But she didn't find any toys she really liked except a $50 Imaginext Castle, so we had to keep looking.  Finally, she settled on a pink fluffy pillow and a bag of Skittles, which when you think about it, is just about heaven for a three year old.  But now I know, shopping with a three year old is not by any means fun unless you like chasing small people through aisles and trying to keep them from breaking things, and just generally wandering around a store aimlessly for an hour.