Shopping

In the beginning, Aiden would freak out everywhere we went.  Crying, screaming, meltdowns, it was bad.  Really bad.  I always tried to save shopping trips for later in the evening or on the weekends when I could go by myself but sometimes it was unavoidable and I’d have to take him with me.  In those early days, packing snacks was a major help, along with going when the stores were least busy, taking a list of what I needed, even going over the layout of the store in my mind so that I could grab things in order according to the most efficient route. This was serious business.  At around 3 - 4 years old I made a picture book for him.  Just a cheapy little $1.00 photo album that I put pictures in with labels that I had taken from around the house.  Like a picture of his sippy cup, jacket, my car, stores, shopping carts, etc.  Once we’d get in the car I’d show him the picture of the store and the shopping cart and tell him that’s where we were going and when we’d arrive at the store I would show him the pictures again.  It took a little while but he picked up on it.  Didn’t mean he liked it, but now it wasn’t such a shocking experience for him anymore.  When he knew what was coming next it would help to alleviate some fear. Thankfully things are very different now.  Aiden is older now, and he has come a really long way in so many respects.  Shopping with him now is more like shopping with any neurotypical child.  He still doesn’t enjoy it, and I still have to prepare him for wherever we are going before we leave the house, but now I can just verbally tell him and he’s usually pretty agreeable. He always has something rolling around in that beautiful little head of his that keeps him entertained for awhile.