I swear my son is going to be a lobbyist. Our shopping trips lately have been filled with persuasion tactics… It. Does. NOT. Matter. Where. No store is safe.
“Mommy! I want this toy…Mom! We need to buy this outdoor pillow AND this shovel…Mommy! We HAVE to buy these seven artichokes! Mommyyyy, you know I LOVE mummies! Mom, I NEED this glass hedgehog! Bruh, we have to get this video game!”
One day, I introduced the concept of ‘window shopping’ to my 6 year old. At first I asked, “What do you think ‘window shopping’ is?” His reply: “A very rare store where you buy windows”. Okay… no.
I then realized he probably has not seen a store front window since not many modern day stores – if any – have the grand “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” store front windows for admiring diamonds and eating croissants.
I explained to him how stores once had a front window with items you could buy. You could ALSO walk by and admire them WITHOUT buying them. He was intrigued!
As quick as a flash, “admiration shopping” was born.
I quickly said, “Since there are no front windows, we can go ‘admiration shopping.’ We can go about our shopping and when we find something we like, we share it with each other acknowledging what we admire or love about the item. Then we carefully place it back on the shelf for someone else to admire and love it just as much.”
I will let him pick out one thing, but the rest of the time we are ‘admiration shopping’. I honestly do cherish seeing which items he admires and hearing the reasons he feels they deserved admiration and love.
Sometimes the color is his favorite, or he likes the crunchy sound or funny texture of the desired object. There are also many he selects because they make him think of someone special. Someone that has shown him love, brightened his spirit, and encouraged his little heart in one way or another.
We are now able to see the joy in our shopping experiences together. We encourage joy in each other.
I 10/10 recommend.
