>Got Kids? Then Stay Home.

>For years, I’ve passed by the shop and felt a nostalgic desire to go inside. It’s a ‘doll cottage’- a little house that sells nothing but dolls and stuffed animals.

So when we were letting Bruiser nap for a few minutes in the car before having lunch the other day, Hubs readily agreed to pull into the nearby doll cottage parking lot so that Punky and I could go inside for a few minutes and look around. We entered through the front door and a woman came out from a back room. “Can I help you find something?” she asked.

“Well, my daughter’s sixth birthday is in a couple of weeks, so we thought we’d look around and get some ideas,” I said. Punky stood beside me and smiled excitedly.

“Oh,” she said shortly, before turning and heading back into the room behind the counter.

Um. Okay.

Punky had brought her highly-prized three dollars with her, all that she’d managed to save since giving the bulk of her allowance to our Compassion International child. We looked at dolls and stuffed animals and finally managed to find a small plastic Dorothy figurine from The Wizard of Oz that was $2.50. I let Punky go to the counter and pay for it herself. It was the first time she’d ever made a purchase without my help.

“Would you like a bag?” the woman said mechanically, holding the figurine out for Punky to take it.

“Yes,” Punky said solemnly. Slightly annoyed, the woman looked at me. I said nothing. This was my daughter’s first transaction and if they offered her a bag and she wanted one, they’d darn well better give it to her.

“Well, I don’t have a small bag,” she said. Punky remained silent. Reluctantly, the woman took a plastic grocery bag out from under the counter and placed the figurine inside. “Here you are.” She held the bag out to Punky, stone faced.

“Thank you!” said Punky politely. We headed out to the car. I didn’t say anything to Punky or my husband, but I was a little ticked. The woman sold dolls and stuffed animals for heaven’s sake. I’m sure she had plenty of adult customers, but wouldn’t little girls and their mothers also be part of the deal if you own a “doll cottage?” From the moment we walked in the door, she made me feel like she had absolutely no desire for our business. GAH.

But! I reminded myself. Maybe the woman was simply having a bad day! Angels sang choruses over my forgiving heart and happy birds tweeted around my head and we moved on.

Next, we stopped by a funky gift shop a few doors down from the doll cottage. It was one of the places where I’d found Silly Bandz before Christmas and along with artsy and hipster gift items, it also had a few dozen bins of cool toys for kids. Punky flitted inside ahead of us and as I entered, I noticed the woman behind the register look hard at her, frowning.

Um. Okay.

When it comes to taking kids out in public, every parent knows about The Frown. You see it appear on the face of a store clerk or a man at the park or a woman at the table beside you in a restaurant and you instinctively, if you’re polite, try to keep your kids even more reined in than usual because you sort of want to prove that frowner wrong.

So that’s what I did. I called Punky over to me, instructed her not to touch anything, and herded her and her brother around the tiny shop, watching them very closely and hoping in the back of my mind to show our Frowner that HEY! NOT ALL SMALL CHILDREN ARE OUT TO RUIN YOUR LIFE!

“Let’s look for Silly Bandz!” I said, and we headed over to the toy bins. The Silly Bandz were nowhere to be found. The woman behind the register was a couple of feet from me and could obviously hear me, but she acted as if I weren’t there.

“Excuse me, do you have any Silly Bandz?” I asked her.

“No.” she said, not looking up. I paused.

“Are you out of stock?” I asked. “Will you be getting more in soon?”

“No,” she said, still not looking up. I paused again.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because they’re not special anymore,” she said, finally glancing at me with a frown before looking back down. “They sell them at grocery stores now.”

“Oh,” I said. Well, okay then! We left.

“If you don’t like kids and you don’t want them in your shop, why on earth are you selling toys?” I muttered to Hubs when we got back in the car.

I don’t know about you, but I am really, really weary of getting attitude from business owners almost every time I take my kids out in public, particularly business owners who sell toys or kids’ accessories. I hardly ever take my children shopping with me, but when I do, how about giving me the benefit of the doubt before you show me your ‘tude? Or at least have the decency to place a sign on your front door that says, NO CHILDREN ALLOWED. Then we’ll know where we stand.

I’m all for supporting local businesses- but lately, I think I’d do better at Toys R Us.