Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Shopping spree with my son

Yes it was long overdue. Because, we shopped for the school uniform once a year and for casuals, football freaks that they were, the dress code after school hours was the football jersey as I have mentioned in my earlier blog. A couple of times when we had gone shopping, we came back empty handed as they were at that stage where their size was not available.

Finally the day arrived when we simply had to go shopping for my elder son as he told us that his wardrobe had now reached a pitiable state. After some enquiries, one of our cousins recommended one particular shop highly for its range. So that is how we set out on a shopping spree with my son. It was quite late when we started but then I told myself "well how long would it take for us to shop, especially for boys?" The idea was to pick up a couple of T-shirts, couple of pairs of trousers and following the current trend of typical teenagers  couple of shirts which otherwise was never on his list before. 

We finally reached the shop after juggling through the peak hour traffic. Once I stepped into the shop I was quite amazed to see the range that was on offer. There was so much of choice, not only for teenagers but for all age groups. Added to this the outfits were reasonably priced. It was sheer bliss to see different coloured T-shirts, shirts and jeans which actually fit him perfectly.

After the salesman showed us where his size T-shirts were stacked we started the process of selection. I asked my son to pick up some brighter shades as most of his T-shirts were black. I picked up a few  T-shirts which I thought he would like, but he told me that it had too much writing on it. So I picked up something with motif which was rejected. Some T-shirts he did not like as he did not like the feel of it. To my utter dismay I found the endless choice before me dwindling. Finally and not quite surprisingly he picked up his all time favourite black T-shirt and a green one. 

Next we went to the shirts section. My son was looking for checked, half sleeve shirts. I found many such shirts with nice colourful stripes and checks. To make his work easier and since we had spent considerable time in the previous section, I decided to help him and started showing him shirts which I thought would look good on him. An emphatic NO each time either because he felt the checks were too big or too small or the colour was not to his liking, or the one which he liked had a thin orange stripe in between instead of blue (which I noticed only after he told me) and so on and so forth. Phew! I was left panting and my head reeling. Exasperated I told him maybe in future he could design his own wear! Finally he managed to pick up one shirt. Imagine out of hundreds he could find only one to his liking but here I cannot deny the fact that so far whatever he had chosen was definitely good. 

Finally we were down to one last item - the pair of jeans. Even here he asked to be shown different varieties as he did not like something with stitched motiffs, some of the stone washed pattern and so on and so forth. By this time I was totally drained out of energy and just sat down on the sofa. I left my son with the harried salesman. Finally he had chosen one. We paid the bill and left thanking the poor salesman for being so patient. 

We had spent almost two and half to three hours in the shop to buy four items. For a person who does not like to spend much time on shopping, this was quite an eyeopener. The general perception is that girls are more choosy and take longer time. Boy! was I wrong. When talking to some of  my friends with teenage boys I realised that my son was not an exception. This was another phase I got to see of my teenaged boy - must say it sure was a memorable shopping experience.

4 comments:

kinishail said...

Nice one Shobhana. My lil one who is yet to complete 7 doesnt like what I pick for her. Skirts have to be swaying, there needs to be a barbie/dora on the top/t-shirt, no frocks, etc etc.. Kids grow up faster than we realize :-)

Shailaja

shobhana shenoy said...

Thanks Shailaja,
I remember we just used to wear what was bought by our parents. Times sure have changed.

Vasantha said...

Hi Shobhana,
I have been having the same experiences since five years with my elder son. But surprisingly he selected clothes within half an hour this year for his birthday.It was a great relief for me!!! However the sequel has started with my second son!!!!!!!
-Vasantha

shobhana shenoy said...

Hi Vasantha,
After the first experience you now know what to expect, and hence you are better prepared.