Otoharo!
I was wataching the fire burn in my fireplace this morning and letting my memories drift in. I am always intrigued by the sight of and the hearing of a mother with young child in a shopping cart. We did not have shopping carts when I grew up. In fact, we did not have shopping malls and huge groceries. Children were not a part of the shopping scene. We went to town one day a week, only. It was a day for social interaction with everyone we knew because every one was in town the same day, saturday. The women sat in their cars. Kids ran up and down the sidewalks, played games and otherwise intertained themselves. We each got a nickle to spend. There were lots of things one could buy with a nickle. There was of course, ice cream cone which used the whole nickle. Or one could buy a lot of different candies i penny at a time.
eventually we got a dime. That opened a lot more doors. We could go to the movie for a dime. Then a family moved to town who ran the movie house and one of the kids was in my grade and became my best friend. Everytime I got to spend the night with her, we spent the evening at the movies, or the day if this were on the weekend.
As for grocery shopping, this was in the agricultural area of the state. No one had money except at harvest time. The bank allowed famers to buy on credit during the year and pay up at harvest time. There were occassional income from the selling of calves.
So the family grocery shopping was a one time deal weekly, and was done with a older child sitting in the car with the baby so that mother could shop. Great bags full of groceries were put into the trunk of the car. And mother again took over the baby, while we walked up and down the sidewalk. There was only one block long sidewalk for us.
Then when I was the mother, I was also the breadwinner. So children were in a nursey or at a friend's house, and I did the shopping. Still no carts.
So, it is a joy to me to see mothers and children talking the whole time groceries are being bought. And seldom is the cart full. Shopping may be a daily chore, not relegated to just one day a week.
In all the above, mothers did not talk to the child or children except to admonish them. Hearing the ongoing communication of a mother and child is really a beautiful thing!
How times change!
finality
