As a small business owner who works mostly from home I have been blessed to be able to keep our son with me during the day instead of sending him to daycare. My son is only just over a year old but having him so much of the time has let me start instilling in him the values that I feel will make him a better person as he grows up. One of the regular events that I use to this end is when we go the store. It’s always a bit of a production trying to make sure his diaper bag has everything we will need and singing silly songs along the way to keep him occupied while we’re in the car. But I find little ways every time we go out to teach him by example what it means to be a responsible and productive person.
We go to Food Lion about twice a week. I could do all the shopping in one trip if we waited for my wife to get home but shopping for groceries is a great time to teach responsibility. We spend the time in the store looking quite silly to the other shoppers as we go by talking to each other and making strange faces. But the lesson for the day starts in the parking lot on the way back to the car. My son sits in the cart as most children do with all the groceries in the main section of the cart. When we get to the car I turn it on to get the AC running and start putting everything in the trunk. Once all the groceries are stored in the trunk my son and I go to the cart rack. I always let him know that responsible people put their cart back. More than once I have done this more loudly than needed when I saw someone doing the wrong thing. And more than once they have acted like they were going to put their cart back the whole time.
Leaving your shopping cart unsecured in the parking lot rather than putting it away when you’re finished with it may seem minor in the scope of things, but it stems from a mentality within our country that says “it is now someone else’s problem and not mine”. This mentality is mirrored within our government every time congress spends money without paying for it, or when they take from social security to pay for their pet projects without thought for those who will need social security in 30 years to survive. When we say “it’s not my problem” or “let someone else deal with it”, we can’t blame our government who is of the people, by the people, for having the same mentality we do. I challenge you to not only put your cart back when you’re finished with it, but to use a cart that was left in the parking lot the next chance you get. I further challenge you to remind your children why you put your cart back every time they are with you, and make sure other people hear you say it so they might think twice when it is their turn. Putting your cart back on a sunny day is easy, but we need to make the right choices on rainy days too. If we all make our choices based on what is right and not what is convenient at the time then soon we will see our government mirroring our behavior in the choices they make.I would love to hear what you think of this post. Please feel free also to share any ideas you have on how we can fit little lessons into everyday life. Our children are counting on us.
