Speaking of mall, I was there last Wednesday and a mom was there with her 2 kids ages 3 and 9 months. She was walking around holding the younger one's hands when the older one started getting a little bored. The mom played a genius game that I'm sure I've seen before but had forgotten. She played the listening game. She would give the child a few simple directions (go touch the bench, the turtle, and then come back) and off the little girl went.
I was reminded of this today when a mom was trying to get her 2 little kids to listen while in line to checkout. How nice would it be to say, "go touch the ___ and ____ and then come back." I am in no way judging this mom today but hopefully I'll remember the listening game when MJ gets older and doesn't want to wait patiently in line.