Last night, I took eleven 5 & 6-year-olds to the grocery store.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

You see, my Sparks group couldn't meet at our usual meeting place, and our other ideas for field trips (fire station, Home Depot, Humane Society) didn't pan out. We've been talking about healthy food choices, so I said, "Let's go to the grocery store and let each girl choose $5 worth of healthy food for the food bank."

It probably would have gone more smoothly if one of my fellow leaders hadn't gotten stuck in traffic. If she'd been there, we would have divided into 3 group instead of 2. That would have made it easier - because, you see, kids that age look with their hands, not their eyes. If you have one or two, it's not bad. Three is manageable. Six is crazy-making.

Having said that, they were quite good (within the bounds of what is age-appropriate). Several parents stayed, so we had multiple adults with each group. The girls excitedly picked out canned fruits and vegetables, rice, pasta, tuna, juice boxes, rice crackers, and beans. They passed up cookies (albeit reluctantly). Each girl could point to the items in the cart and tell me exactly what she had chosen. And our total came to less than $47, so we didn't spend the camp money.

I didn't even see any other customers run screaming from the store.

Well, not personally.