Dick's Supermarket ( Another KC Vanity Post)

As I walked through the Supermarket today, I passed through the isle that was full of children's toys of all kinds. Little racing cars, coloring books, transformers, Barbie dolls and baby dolls, stuffed bears, plastic airplanes, little ponies, bouncing balls, basketballs and something called slime.

There were several children there, taking full advantage of the bounty as if it were provided for free. One opened a package of baubles that I could not identify while the other drooled on a basketball before throwing it in the general direction of the other child.

And my old mind could not help but drift back to my time as a child going to Dicks Supermarket with my mother.

Back then, the supermarket was a place where mothers bought food for the family. It was not Disneyland - not a place to play. But Dicks Supermarket did have toys! They were on a carousel, at the end of an aisle that was always a great discovery (toys!)

They were all "Chinese toys" little puzzles, backscratchers - junk, mostly. But my brother and I, always respectfully asked our mother, " may we go look at the toys?" She always said we could look, of course.

We were expected to view - not touch. You did not partake of that which you did not own. If we found something we could not live without, we grasped it in our hands and presented it to her for approval, hoping we had behaved well enough to deserve such a treat.

There is a difference between the toy isle of today and the toy carousel of yesterday. Indeed,, between the children of today and of yesterday.

The carousel of yesterday said " we know you exist, here is a small amusement" and as children, we accepted that - we knew we were children.

The aisle of today says " your existence is important, therefore we must amuse you". The children of today say "damn straight, we are the end all be all, after all".

The parent of yesterday said " if you behave properly, I may buy you a treat. And we did our best to live up to that expectation.

The parent of today says " I do not expect you to behave, go play in the children's aisle and give me a break, break things if need be, but leave me alone." And the children of today...live up to that expectation.

Oh, man...so you have noticed it, too!

I went shopping for one of my nieces at a Toys-R-Us that is located in a neighborhood outside of DC that celebrates its ethnic diversity. There were groups of “adults” standing at the ends of the aisles talking, while their kids were riding the bikes through the store and opening the packages to play with the toys. One of the workers told me that these families come every Saturday and Sunday. They get together for a gabfest while the kids run amok in the store. She said they never bought anything - they just hung out for a couple hours and then took the kids and headed home. I did notice that there were many customers in the store, but very few at the checkout lines. Also, it was difficult to find a boxed toy that wasn’t damaged or shopworn.

I don’t know if that Toys-R-Us is still in business. I can’t imagine that running a free Chuck E. Cheese is a business model that spells success.

The aggression I see in stores appalls me, true, but it’s the parents attacking the children. In front of a Wal Mart, a little 2 year old falls on the sidewalk and his drug addict father yells “folk you!” at him. I wanted to deck him but since I am small female, couldn’t. Starving babies (babies at the grocery store smell food and get hungry) are routinely ignored to howl as they ride around in their carseats in the grocery carts. Hungry kids asking for things and their “mothers” snarl “you better shut up” and other ugly things. What do you think will be the result?

It is the parents’ faults, they are all too interested in getting over, having daily sex, dressing like a “star” as you can tell by all the people teetering around on those incredibly stupid looking platform heels, sticking it to the man and other stupid, ridiculous motivations, rather than following the straight and narrow pathway of God. No wonder the kids are livid.

I recall going to the grocery store with my parents one time when I was little (early-mid 60’s) – I always went with them BTW, as my mother didn’t drive and they certainly weren’t going to leave me home all alone.

Not always but often my mother would let me pick out a “Little Golden Book” that were displayed on a rack near the check out – overtime I collected quite a few – wish I still had them.

But on this particular trip, I spied a toy I wanted and this grocery store did have a small “toy” section in one aisle and as you said, “Chinese toys" little puzzles, backscratchers - junk, mostly”, but there was something I very much wanted although I can’t now for the life of me remember what it was. Anyway, when I was told “no”, I threw a royal temper tantrum at the checkout. And that didn’t go so well with my dad.

I don’t recall my father spanking but maybe once or twice, but knew it was always a possibility if I really misbehaved. My temper tantrum didn’t last very long as all it took was a stern look from my dad and being told to knock it off or there would be a spanking when I got home. As it was, I did get sent to my room, told that there would be no more “Little Golden Books” or any other toys or desert or treats of any kind or TV for that matter until I understood why what I did was wrong, how my actions had consequences and after being banished to my room until dinner, had to apologize to my mother and on our next trip to that grocery store, had to apologize to the cashier who had witnessed my temper tantrum the previous week.

But even as a little kid, I understood it was wrong to open a package without paying for it first – that that was theft. And my parents would have never allowed such behavior and I understood this without having to be explicitly told so mostly because they didn’t behave that way themselves.

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