At some point in a weekend, errands have to be completed. Normally it’s easier to do these errands all at once so you can go home and get other things done… like take a nap. So when it’s time to go on the errands and your kids whine and cry about going, what are you supposed to do? Research shows that if you ask the children if they want to go, and the children say yes, those children will always behave better in the stores. Children that still say no, and are dragged out of the house to run errands, normally end up being part of the family that you wonder to yourself, ‘what the hell is wrong with them’. Trust me, I have the statistics to back this up.

So in an effort to get children to be more accepting of going on errands, do the following steps:

1. Layout the expectation that anything could happen on an errand. This may incline some of the more trusting kids to go along right away.

2. On a random weekend, say we have to do an errand and then go someplace totally unexpected and fun. Remind the kids how fun ‘errands’ can be.

3. The next time you have run some errands, remind the kids of time you did step #2. If that doesn’t work, reinforce step #1.

4. In the event that doesn’t work, proceed on your errand alone and text back pictures like these to your spouse. Then have your spouse show them to our kids.

5. When you get home, remind them that anything can happen when you run errands.

6. Repeat.

BTW, step #4 drove Sam and Evan nuts today.