Small Community Atmosphere -- Not!

I typically do not write on such issues, but this one hit home, as it deals with children and I cannot stand it when people treat children with disregard.

Have you ever gone to the store with your children and they end up eating a couple of grapes or part of an apple? I have not met a parent yet where this is not the case. Stores typically do not mind because they know it will keep the children quiet and it keeps Mom’s in the stores much longer to shop more.

Of course with this there are times when the little rascals put the grapes, apples or other items in the aisles or places to never be found. They do the same thing in their homes, so why would we expect anything any different in stores, though most parents try their hardest to keep it from happening.

A young mother found that in some stores they do not want children to be there, because she was kicked out because her three year old daughter “supposedly” left an apple and some grapes in parts of the store. This is a small community store, Elderton Country Market, where food is not as cheap to buy as it would be at Wal-Mart. This mother shopped here to support her small town community instead of going into town to shop at the larger grocery stores.

Instead of just seeing children as children they asked her not to come back to the store after accusing her child of doing something she did not even do that day, and not in the recent past either. According to this mother, they not only asked her to leave they did it in front of her daughter and with at least six customers watching and listening. Can you imagine your three year old watching as you are berated in front of customers over no more then $2.00 of fruit? Why not just ask for $2.00? Or just ask nicely if you could just watch to make sure it did not happen again?

Sure, her daughter like mine have most likely left stuff in the aisles, and as much as possible we try to clean it as we go, but some things you just miss. The funny thing is the store lost at least $400 a month just from groceries from this mother, and I am guessing her extended family will not shop there anymore either, costing them even more money. Losing $400 a month over $2 of fruit just does not seem worth it, at least to me, but maybe I am wrong.

Who kicks out a family because a three year old girl acts like a three year old girl? What happened to small town community atmosphere? Wal-Mart has proven to be more family friendly then this small town store, as they never say anything to children eating a couple of grapes or an apple. They know parents will buy more, shop longer and return because they treat their children with patience and care. Elderton Country Market could learn a lesson from the larger stores.