Watch the commercial and see for yourself.

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wOk3/office-depot-officemax-mom-song-by-bachman-turner-overdrive

Who is doing all the work for what are clearly grown able young people who could shop for themselves?

You got it…Mom. She even carries the bags.

While tempting to shrug this off as no big deal, this commercial is unintentionally defining “good parenting” – a mom running around doing everything while her passive children follow impotently along. The problem is, while this is efficient for mom, it is one of the few opportunities she has to get her children ready to stand on their own two feet.

What could they have learned?

• How to interpret the shopping list
• How to figure out the layout and organization of a store
• How to ask a clerk for help
• How to shop within a budget that you set
• How to handle money and count for correct change
• How to carry your own bags

So what would a “good parent” do?

☐ Leave her children at home and do the shopping for them.

☐ Review the list with her children, show them around the store and then let them shop on their own.

× Give her children the list, some money, and wait in the car while enjoying some kid-free time on her Kindle.

If you want your children to be RTFW, you’re going to have to take them out of the shopping cart.