Shopping with A Girl

I took my daughter shopping today. It’s such a different experience from shopping with my boys. When the boys shop, they play “who can toss the best insult” game, calling insults across the store until I have no choice but to pretend that their mother abandoned the boys and they just happen to be standing near me. My youngest always loses interest very quickly—especially this time of year when there’s shiny Christmas trees and toys stacked stories high next to the relatively boring racks of jeans. He won’t try anything on, but I also refuse to buy clothing until I’ve seen it on their actual bodies. And no, mannequins don’t count—he already tried that argument. I spend most of my shopping time pulling him back to the clothing department and locking him into the changing rooms, tossing clothing over the top so that he can’t escape.


My daughter, in stark contrast, twirls around the racks pulling out beautiful dresses and holding them up to her. The goal is simple in her mind—everything that makes her look like a princess is a winner. The goal is more complicated for me because sending her to Kindergarten wearing tulle and lace is a recipe for a jungle gym disaster. So I find myself trying to convince her that skirts with built in shorts were worn by Snow White so that she could ride on the Prince’s horse comfortably. It doesn’t always work. Although I finally convinced her to buy a pair of athletic shoes (pink with sparkly Velcro straps), it took thirty minutes of tears to convince her to strap them on with a boring set of shorts so that she could participate in gym.

A friend and I went to a jewelry show and I picked up some headbands with acrylic flowers in my daughters favorite colors—pink and purple (as if you had to ask.) When I revealed them to her, she began to sing the mermaid song. “Oh! They come with a song! I love it when clothes come with a song,” my friend exclaimed. I do too. It sure beats the insult game although, and you’d better never tell my boys this, some of those insults are stinking funny! Sometimes it’s hard to keep a straight face.