bowling and lots of errands

I took SJ to his bowling league on Saturday. He prefers to go with Daddy, but my husband was doing some painting in our house. SJ was a little crabby at first. He wasn't bowling as well as he usually does. He was getting a lot of splits and he would get mad when he couldn't pick up the spares. It wasn't a full blown tantrum, but I could see it building. Then someone offered him pizza. SJ LOVES PIZZA, but he isn't supposed to have dairy. (His specialist believes that it isn't good for some kids on the spectrum.) I allow him to have a slice of pizza at school every other week. He had pizza at school on Friday, so he was already at his dairy limit. I told the mom that offered it thank you, but SJ can't have any. I explained to her about the dairy limitations. SJ was so mad at me that I wouldn't let him have a slice. This anger added to the building rage that he was accumulating from not getting spares. I thought he was going to blow, but I couldn't give in about the pizza. Finally, he got a spare. I was able to see the anger melt away from him. Thank goodness that was over! For the remainder of the game, he was in a fairly good mood. I bought him some tokens and he played a few games.

After bowling, we went through the drive through for McDonald's. SJ now orders two hamburgers without pickles, medium fries and a small Hi-C orange. Normally, I don't get any food. However, I knew we would be stopping a few more times, so I would be starving by the time I got home. I ordered myself a southern fried chicken sandwich. So delicious, but I would be paying for it later. We went to "the Circle Store" (Target) to get a few things. An hour and more than a few dollars later, we were headed to the grocery store.

SJ wanted nothing to do with the grocery store, but I explained that we needed to get things for our Thanksgiving dinner. He wasn't getting out of the car (or so he said!). I told him if he was good he could get some gum. He was mostly well behaved in the store, so I got him a pack of gum. We had one more stop. We were donating some old toys to Goodwill. SJ was able to stay in the car while I unloaded our beloved toys to the donation center.

After we got home, SJ said that he was done. I asked him, "Done with what?" He said, "Stores." Little did he know we were going to have to head out in the evening to go to Lowe's. Cue the crying, yelling, refusing to go attitude. My husband bribed him with donuts and all the drama went away. I know we shouldn't bribe, but sometimes you just have to get a kid a donut to get what you need. Does that make us bad parents or just typical parents?