ROOKIE af twin mom moment

[u/Twinmama0919]

I went to Publix with my almost 3 year old twin boys. I had them contained in the double cart and everything was good there. When returning the cart, I said F it. Let's walk next door to the dollar tree cause mama wants to look at fall/halloween decorations. I've had them loose in stores plenty of times by myself and its gone okay so what could go wrong. It's just a lot of redirecting and telling them to walk/ putting back everything they touch.

So, I briefly looked at the decorations till they wanted to look at the toys. That's fine. I said you know what, it's Labor Day. I'll get them a toy. They choose these squishy balls. We walk to the check stand. Multiple people ask are they twins? How old are they? You know, the usual comments. They are playing with the balls in the line together laughing. I usually don't do this but I'm being spontaneous. The lady behind is commenting on cute they are, that she has a 3.5 grandson, she's buying him play doh yadada. She makes a comment on how happy and cute they are. I say thank you and I jinx myself by saying yeah its always fun till its not.

Literally right after I say that, twin b smacks his forehead on the corner of the cashier counter crying bloody murder. I pick him up, a knot is already forming. So now I'm holding him, comforting him and making sure the other boy now doesn't get hurt. We are next in line. I proceed to buy the balls cause twin A is still having the time of his life while twin B is crying in my arms. I tell the cashier and lady to have a nice day as I walk out to our truck with twin B in my arms crying and holding the twin As hand. Finally, twin B simmered down once we got the truck and is fine now but I just feel so stupid.

One because that wouldn't have happened if I had them contained in the stroller or cart and two because I shouldn't have let them be playing in line. I was just trying to go with the flow and get my boys some toys.

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[u/Pristine-Bison3198]

Eh, these things happen. Nobody was seriously hurt and they had an overall positive experience. It also sounds like you handled it well when it did happen. No major harm done, and they've learned a little bit about being in stores!

[u/Andromeda321 → u/Pristine-Bison3198]

Yeah honestly a single kid could also smack into something- mine sure does! Doesn’t mean we don’t go anywhere with our crew.

[u/cat-a-fact]

Honestly, this sounds like a success story to me. No one cried or got into a fight until you were leaving the store? What a win. Sounds like they had fun! The actual store browsing part went well, and that's the hardest part. 

[u/chaos__coordinator]

I mean… I just DIDN’T GO TO STORES until my girls were like 5. My husband went, or I went after they were in bed, or I ordered online. I was too scared. YOU are a brave warrior woman!

[u/salwesab]

I kept reading expecting some disastrous thing happening! I dont see whats wrong with any of this!

[u/Twinmama0919 → u/salwesab]

Was way more dramatic in the moment. Just needed to vent I guess 😅 I can feel so alone on this twin mom journey 

[u/salwesab → u/Twinmama0919]

Totally valid! Im glad you’ve got the outlet to vent and I wasn’t trying to invalidate your feelings, just pointing out that all was really good! You really did good and handled all very well

[u/pashapook]

You're so brave. I don't think my boys feet touched the floor of a store until they were almost 5. Strapped in or we're not going in lol.

[u/snax_and_bird]

My twins are 4, I still try to contain them while shopping because it’s just easier.. but every so often I will do something like what you did just to gauge if they can be out walking next to me like that more often. Usually it doesn’t go so well, but sometimes it’s fine. I don’t care about anyone observing us though, they can make any judgement they want and I literally couldn’t care less, regardless of their positive or negative comments about my kids and parenting. You just have to stop caring about other peoples judgement, because at some point as your twins get older they will definitely have to walk, and it’s best if they have some experience and know your expectations. It’s hard though. I’m right there with you.

[u/WhileTime5770]

Sounds like you did great! Kids get hurt. It happens. Around this age it seems like they’re searching whatever hurts them the most (seriously my nephew could find the most dangerous thing in every room for 2 years around that age, my friends kid would try to do flips off the couch onto the tile floor at 4). We can’t protect them from everything. It’s how they learn not to do things for better or worse. You were able to immediately address the hurt and keep the other twin in check. That’s awesome.

[u/tarotdryrub]

This is what success looks like. Great job today :)

[u/wilsonhammer]

This sounds like a win! Nicely done

[u/megalowmart]

I know this felt like a Rookie moment and I'm sure you felt as though all eyes were on you, but honestly, I would have just felt sympathetic! And maybe commiseratedly laughed because you had just made that comment.

[u/tinyglowingbeams]

Nah dude, that was a success! Give yourself (and your boys) some credit, it sounds like you all did great! My boys just turned three and it is hard, take the win ☺️

[u/bobert_the_wise]

I kept waiting to read that while you were soothing twin B, that twin A used that time to knock down an entire display case of mason jars that smashed all over the floor. Or that once you got twin B in the car, you realized you’d left twin A in the store. Neither of those things happened, that sounds like a successful day of twin parenting. I think the kids say take the W? Idk, my twin boys are 7, they say these things. I also still try to avoid taking them to the store.

[u/Twinmama0919 → u/bobert_the_wise]

Honestly once I finished typing it out it sounded so silly but that’s the funny thing. It seems so dramatic and embarrassing in the moment. Just needed some reassurance from other parents I guess that it wasn’t that bad but man was I sweaty after literally 5 minutes  😅

[u/MortimerCanon]

You're braver than me. Dollar tree is AMAZING and has so much cool kid stuff, especially the crafts. Mine would go bat shit crazy if I let them roam free.

But honestly the fact that you trusted them enough to not burn the literal store down and they felt confident enough and knew the appropriate boundaries to not rip everything down probably means you're doing an excellent job teaching them.