Given the low energy and sickness I have I really did want to go into the supermarket, dragging all three children in for just one item! Low and behold K piped up that he would go!
We talked through what he would do when he got the dip. Filled in the step between getting it and coming back to the car (you know, the paying for it part ;) ) and he decided that he wasn't confident to use the self serve and so he would go to the register that the person was at. I told him that the person would say, "How are you today?" and asked how he would reply? K has an aversion to social chit chat with people he knows, he really has an aversion to it when it is with strangers. When we go shopping I try to encourage him as much as possible to speak to strangers, to ask for things or place the order..putting him in situations where he has no choice but to socialise and interact in conversations with strangers.
He attempted to do just this for me last week when ordering his sister a happy meal while I ordered his and his brothers KFC while the two other children sat at a nearby table (eating at a food court). Off he ran (despite being asked to walk...he barely ever walks anywhere!) to McDonalds and a little while later he returned...but without the happy meal box. He had been given the McBites and the choc drink but no box, chips or toy. AS I had just finished at KFC I walked back with him. Two factors had prevented him from having a successful transaction on this day. Number one was the fact that a trainee served him and upon K using a very soft voice when ordering she did not push him to speak louder or read back the menu to him. No fault of hers or his...it was just an oversight. Upon being given the wrong order he was too shy to say anything and so instead came back to the table.
To the worker at McDonalds credit she praised him for trying and that meant I had an incredibly happy boy who came back to eat his dinner.
Tonights venture of buying dip in a supermarket all by himself was incredibly huge for him with many things to remember. Firstly having limited funds he needed to find the dips and then read the price tag to make sure he had enough money. He then needed to find the register, answer the social niceities and pay for the product, wait for the change and then come back out to the car.
So off he went....we chatted about things while we waited and it seemed that in no time at all he was bolting back to the car. He was beaming with pride and I looked at the dip and my smile did the same (dip). "K," I said, "You accidently bought Spring Onion dip instead of Tzatziki". He looked at the dip in his hands and then at me. This situation could have gone two ways...it could have all been ok or it could have triggered a massive meltdown. As K was quietly and sullenly looking at me I said, "You can take it back to the register and just tell them you accidently got the wrong one and ask to change it". I waited on baited breath for his reply.......He smiled and said, "ok". Then around he turned, slamming the door and bolting off back to the entrance.
A little while later he returned with an even bigger smile on his face if possible. He had gone to the exchange desk, said what he needed to and then changed the dip.
I cannot explain to you how incredibly fantastic and big this is of an achievement for K. He knows it too. I am SO insanely proud of him! But I cannot show him the full level of my pride, instead I praise him a little...and then we head home as though nothing really out of the ordinary has occured. But deep down both K and I know that that is far from the truth.
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