I managed to get my children dressed and out the door for story time at the library this morning. Except there is not story time this month. So, we just looked for books instead. The girls were good, they picked out some books, read them quietly at the tables, and we did just fine. I decided that it was a beautiful day, so we should then go to the park.
I announced we were going, and started to walk out of the children's section. At this moment, Babs changed her mind about being good, turned around and started running and laughing loudly through the stacks. I used echo-location to track her down, intercepted her on row 2, and started looking for Kiddo.
I quickly found her, but not quickly enough to stop her from pushing open the clearly marked (if you can read) emergency exit, and tripping the incredibly loud emergency alarm.
***
I now had one kid firmly grasped in each hand, and herded them out quickly. I passed the librarian who was going to disable the alarm on my way out. I told her I was sorry. Should I have done any more?
Perhaps the hardest part of the experience was trying to control my frustration at Kiddo. Her actions were at least motivated by trying to do as I asked, as opposed to Babs, who was just being willfully loud and obnoxious. (Oh, her laugh when she is running away from me in stores. Pure joy at the thrill of the chase!) Kiddo didn't know any better. I told her we were leaving, so she headed to a door. I was mad for the sole reason that I was embarrassed. That is not grounds for yelling at your child. I'm grateful that I remembered that before I yelled.
(Lest I misrepresent myself, I did sigh heavily, snap at her a few times, and take multiple deep breaths once we were all belted into the car before I was ready to be nice again.)
