John’s series 10 _ Sometimes John does not hate shopping

Sometimes I wish I could have a girl, who could understand women’s behavior and thinking, as well as understand women’s shopping habits. But John is my only child, who seems never to understand that lots of women like shopping and why women like shopping.

One day I told him that we needed to do some shopping that night. I would have liked to purchase a pair of new shoes for him due to his feet having outgrown his current shoes. In addition, I would have liked do a bit of shopping for myself as my facial cleanser and perfume were almost used up. On the way to the shopping mall, I had explained to him that we would go to the mall and stay in the mall for probably 45 minutes because we needed to purchase those. I also told him that I would buy him a Papa Beard cream puff as a reward if he behaved well. As his mother, I know he is not always patient while shopping so I communicated with him and set his expectations beforehand.

After we arrived at the shopping mall, we headed to the shoe shop. I was hoping we could purchase his shoes, my facial cleanser and the perfume as planned. After we arrived at the mall, I quite enjoyed the window-shopping. I haven’t done any shopping in a mall in the last 2-3 months except in the grocery store. I always think shopping can give me a sense of relaxation and pleasure. After we arrived at the shoe shop, in less than 3 minutes, John bowed down; then he said he was not feeling well. I was worried about him. I thought he might have caught the flu as I heard that some kids had caught the flu in his school recently. It might be flu season.

We quickly left the shop. I found a chair nearby. I asked him to take a sit and have a rest. After two minutes, he behaved normally. Then he noticed there was a Toys R Us at the left corner of the mall, his face suddenly glowed with excitement. He asked me: “Mom, can we go to the Toys R Us?”

I had a big question mark in my mind and I asked: “John, are you feeling OK now?” John said: “Yes, Mom, I am very good.”

During the 30 minutes’ shopping in the Toys R Us, he behaved very patiently. He was excited and interested in lots of toys. We finished purchasing a small Lego and then we went back home. We did not go back to the mall to purchase his shoes and my stuff that night.

Eventually I did online shopping and purchased the stuff from Amazon.ca.

This May, our family went to Hawaii to have a vacation. My husband and I were celebrating our wedding anniversary, as well as my upcoming birthday. After we spent lots of time sightseeing, swimming, taking tours and enjoying the delicious local food, I said I would like to go to a mall to do some shopping.

John looked at me and said: “Can you finish shopping in 5 minutes?” I shook my head and said:” John, five minutes is too short. I even cannot walk from the entrance to the shop I want to browse.”

He then said: “How about 10 minutes, Mom?”

I shook my head again, he said:” 15 minutes?”

I shook my head again; he thought about it seriously and spoke with a determined voice:” OK, Mom. You can shop there for 30 minutes.”

I asked my husband and John to have some ice-cream nearby; then I went into the shopping mall, I hoped they could eat the ice-cream slowly, or purchase more ice-creams.

After around 20 minutes, I received a text message. It was my boy.  He said: “Mom, we finished eating the ice-cream. Where are you? Can we go swimming now?”

Another time, we went to Bellingham. We planned to pick up a parcel, have a buffet, fill up with gas and do a bit of shopping. After we stepped into a shopping mall, I asked my husband and John to go to the boy’s and men’s section as my husband wanted to purchase something for John and himself.

But to my sadness, John followed me to the women’s section. When I was browsing women’s shoes, he said “Mom, Daddy said you had a lot of shoes already. You are not supposed to purchase any new shoes.”

Then I went to the women’s clothing section. John said again: “Mom, Daddy said you had too many clothes. You are not supposed to purchase any new clothes until you outgrow them; then you need new clothes.”

I told him: “John, you don’t need to accompany me. You should go with your dad and choose your clothes and shoes in the boy’s and men’s section.”

John said: “No Mom, I don’t need any clothes and shoes. I just feel that it’s too boring to shop here. And it is a waste of my time.”

After the 3 stories, I realized that the first time he was not sick in the shopping mall .He was just not interested in shopping for clothing. It seems that he cannot understand how enjoyable it is for me to do some shopping. He is only interested in shopping for toys but nothing else.

However, I changed my mind again after we went to Seattle last weekend.

We went to Seattle to visit our friends with another family and stayed in Seattle one night.

On the second day, after we had dinner in a buffet we were planning to head back to Vancouver. Since it was quite early to go back home, my friend and I thought we still had time to do some shopping. Then we went to a shopping mall nearby with our friend’s family.

It was a big shopping mall with lots of clothes. To my surprise, this time John was very patient in accompanying his best friends – J Y, who is a 9 year old girl. They have been friends for 3 years. Both of them think of each other as their BFF (best-friend-forever).

We spent almost 1 hour in the mall. I noticed that during the hour, John was very patient holding the shopping cart and following JY all the time.

After we finished shopping in this mall, we headed to another mall which was very close. The second mall was another big shopping mall which sold clothing, bedding, gifts and lots of stuff except toys.

The girl JY was quite happy about the continued shopping. How about my John? He behaved like a young gentleman. All the time, he held the shopping cart, followed his friend and assisted his friend to do the shopping.

“John, can you grab me a size 9 for this skirt? This is too small.” JY said to John.

“Sure, I will be there in a minute.” Quickly John ran away to pick the size for his friend.

“John, do you think this T-shirt looks good on me? Or can you pick something else for me?” JY said to John.

“Humph, it looks perfect. I can pick another one for you.” John said immediately.

That day, John was the best shopping companion ever. I could not believe it was John. Did he hate shopping? What a perfect shopping companion John was to his friend. He even had absolutely no complains about shopping that day!

His friend influenced him so much. That day he brought his Qiaohu –his best-stuffed buddy since he was a year old, on the trip, because his friend JY usually brought her Momo- her best stuffed buddy.

When we arrived at home, he woke up from sleep. Suddenly he realized something; he panicked and cried: “I left my Qiaohu in the shopping cart!”

After we calmed him down and asked him which shopping cart his Qiaohu was left in, John said it should be in the 2^nd mall’s shopping cart. He had hoped his Qiaohu could enjoy some shopping as he did!

After, we finally found his Qiaohu in our bag. He became relieved and hugged his Qiaohu just like a little dad, as his friend JY treated his Momo just like a little mom.

See how much John was influenced by his friend?

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