I had my first official mommy fail a week ago today... Not proud of it but I felt I needed to share because most of us mothers do this and think its perfectly ok.
Rhya has been bugging to go swing dancing with her Aunt Anita for the past few weeks so we finally made a trip to Walmart to pick out a "fancy" dancing dress and sparkly shoes. The excitement of picking out this pink frilly dress and shoes were almost to much for this little farm girl to handle!
When we go shopping Rhya is given the option to sit in the front of the cart or in the child seat that they provide... sometimes she picks the front others the seat. Not a big deal! Most mommas do this, especially if she has more than one child. There were at least 3-4 other parents in the various lines that had their children in the front. Some were even horsing around! Rhya loves to help put the goodies on the belt at the check out line, thats her job! As the cashier rung the things up I let Rhya pick a nice lolli-pop since she was being such a big help!
I asked her to sit and she did. Not a big deal! The cashier offered Rhya a sticker so Rhya stood up to get it. I was standing at the front of the cart as usual, nothing out of the ordinary.
(You probably already know where this is heading!)
Little miss Rhya decided to lean back while I was reaching for a bag... so out of the cart she went... head first... backwards...
She half caught herself on the way down and with my scrambling to catch her, she bumped her head but not as bad as it could have been.
During this the dear very pregnant lady behind me in line screamed which drew more attention. The cashier, manager and a few other Walmart employees came running... I was told right away that I shouldn't have picked Rhya up... Which they were right, you always assess the scene before moving the "victim"...except the fact that she was trying to get up... I wasn't going to leave her on the ground. All the excitement made Rhya even more upset. I heard these questions in the background as I'm trying to sooth a very scared little girl.
"Should I get her a bag of candy?"
( Me: No I am getting a lolli-pop I'm not paying for another bag of candy! I didn't say it out loud)
"Do we need to call an ambulance?"
"Do you want an ice pack?"
Over and over I heard these questions.... I could feel myself getting a "hot flash". Rhya was worked up more from the attention and the scare that the bump on her head!
I asked Rhya if she would like her lolli-pop she picked out and she whimpered a pathetic yes. The cashier rang it up and as soon as Rhya had the lolli-pop she was fine. Thank goodness!
We were both very glad to be out of the store and headed to the car!
This was a teaching lesson for both Rhya and I. Anything can happen in the blink of an eye (I knew this but sometimes we don't think it will ever happen to us!). Poor Rhya had to learn the hard way that you can't fool around in the cart!
So all mamma's out there... They put the safety belts in the front of the cart for a reason! Ha Ha! Even though I will still let Rhya choose where she wants to sit I will be keeping a much closer eye from now on!
