Lifestyle

The hectic job of shopping for different ages

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2020 00:00 | By
Hectic job of shopping for different ages.

I once saw a woman pull out a paper with the drawing of a tiny foot on it. ‘That must have tickled’, I thought as I compared it to the size list I had written on my smaller piece of paper.

I usually check the shoe size of my children’s shoes to estimate their correct size, and unless I have them written or marked somewhere, I forget or confuse them.

I will not deny, though, that once, twice… and maybe three times, I have got it all wrong.

I don’t know how you do it, but until Covid-19 checked in, I used to ask my children and house help what they lacked.

They would know and generally made planning easy. When I go shopping, I write down a to-buy list and focus on those items alone, and unless I have other needs, I stick to my list and head back home. This helps me save time and the pain of buying unnecessary items. 

Buying toys was hardest

But the hardest of all is shopping for toys. We rummaged through the toy store and two hours later, we had picked a set of vehicles and planes for our toddler and a yoyo that we didn’t know who, between Pesh and Raine, would fancy. 

So we went round again, picking and dropping colour books and wondering if they still like stuffed toys. “Girls will take a stuffed toy any day,” I argued. 

My husband, Justin, suggested we get puppets. Raine could like them… but what about Pesh? What do 10-year-olds like?

A ball for the game we call kati perhaps? Naaaa, that one works best when the ball is made from old socks.

A ball that will not roll off or bounce away when you hit someone with it. 

In the end, we picked up puppets, the yoyo and the cars. Pesh was not happy and only gave the yoyo time after she saw Raine, who is seven, master its technique. 

All the stress later, we opted to ask what they wanted. Pesh asked for a phone, Ella a bike, and Raine, anything Pesh asked for.  Such is life.

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