Before having kids of my own, I took my Black Friday shopping VERY seriously. It was like the nonexistent marathon I had been training for all year. My mom and I spent a few years waiting in line on Thanksgiving night for the stores to open after midnight … this was way back when Black Friday was actually on Friday and not the whole week of Thanksgiving. We would map out our store route, even make a middle of the night Starbucks run, and then finish off with pancakes at IHOP.
I distinctly remember one Black Friday when we were at Target in the middle of the night, and we saw a pregnant mom there with her toddler. I thought to myself that she must be nuts. Now, after becoming a mom, I pretty much still feel the same way. There are just so many roadblocks! The crowds, potty breaks, the SUPER fun (being sarcastic) game where your kid likes to hide from you in the clothing racks … something I used to do and now apologize to my mom for.
Y’all, if you bring your kids Black Friday shopping with you, MORE POWER TO YA. I know the whole never say never saying, but I feel in my soul that I would never take my kids with me for such a task. I used to enjoy Black Friday shopping. It was like an adrenaline rush to stand in line at the stores and get the best deals … can you tell I really love to shop? Shop all night long, score the best prices on things I had been eyeing for a while. Oh, what a night!
But the beautiful thing about Black Friday now is that you can get all the same deals online from the comfort of your own home! I never thought that I wouldn’t venture out to shop on Black Friday, but nothing about battling those crowds all night long and having to parent the next day is that appealing to me.
I guess what I’m getting at is that my Black Friday shopping changed/evolved when I had kids, and that’s okay. A part of me misses the all-night shopping trip that my mom and I would take together, but I could always find good deals online now. If it’s cold outside, I’m not freezing my butt off for said good deals. I still really enjoy Black Friday, just differently now after having kids. So many things change about your life when you become a parent, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop doing all the things you enjoyed doing before kids. Something like Black Friday, just find a way to enjoy it differently.
