Christmas shopping, children don't mix well

Retailers recently reported that sales were up 11 percent Thanksgiving weekend over the same time last year. Judging from the crowds at the mall, it's believable. Everyone and their kids were at the mall.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE children. But, there is a time, place and, um . . . certain frame of mind that shoppers have to be in before dealing with children in the mall.

Case in point: While Christmas shopping recently, I wondered where all these adorable, yet unsupervised, children came from.

To go through clothes at a department store and suddenly have a child jump out at you from inside the middle of a circular clothes rack is not my idea of fun.

The child realized his mistake when he saw that I wasn't pleased and quickly pushed me aside, stepped on my foot and ran away. He didn't apologize. I did not see any adult nearby who could be tagged as his parent.

I thought, "Okay. That's just one little boy. And he's only about six, so he probably doesn't know any better."

I went about my business but I did not realize then that the first incident was just a preview of what was to come.

About an hour later, I was once again deep into the shopping mode, admiring semi-formal dresses, when the sound of soft giggling caught my attention.

Two young girls, about eleven or twelve years old, were chasing each other in and around the clothes racks. One girl ran past me and pushed me in the process. No apology. She was certainly old enough to know better. About two minutes later, her playmate knocked over a display and kept right on going. I picked up the display myself and looked around for someone who might be either of the girls' parent.

Moments later, the first girl came around the display and ran into me. Once again no apology, just more giggling. This was no longer cute. I loudly said, "Excuse me," hoping to get the attention of a parent.

No such luck. But I did get the girls' attention. They quickly settled down and walked away (until they reached the next department, that is.)

I decided it was time for a break-an ice cream break. Walking through the food court toward Dairy Queen, a set of twins caught my eye. They were the cutest little girls all dressed up in pink and white matching jumpers.

There was just one thing wrong. They were both screaming bloody murder and their mother was obviously ignoring them. In an otherwise crowded food court, there was a good number of tables in the nearby vicinity that were empty. Need I say more?

Okay, so you say, "My kid(s) are not like that." Ask yourself these questions, honestly. Are you absolutely sure that you're not guilty of ignoring them in a store? Do you really know what they are doing when you let them loose at the mall? Is your toddler really up to several hours of shopping?

Parents who answered yes to all of the above questions are fooling themselves. Here are some suggestions which could create a better shopping experience for you.

A few malls have set up a day care room for their shoppers. The time to leave children is limited and many times they are crowded. So don't count on this as a solution.

Another idea could be that one parent watches the children while the other one does the shopping for a few hours. For those parents forging ahead alone with the shopping could get the grandparents or a neighborhood babysitter to take care of the little ones.

If you absolutely have to take the children on your outing, creative parenting is another alternative. A recent grocery shopping trip renewed my faith. A young boy about 10 years old was helping his mom with the shopping. Another young girl about eight years old was picking items off the shelves.

But, if you can't involve your children in the shopping but are insistent on dragging them along, try to keep it short. Go in, get what is needed and get out...fast!

And by all means, don't let your child run through the stores crazy.