I was in the grocery store this morning, picking up some items for a shoot this afternoon, and was bombarded by screaming toddlers.

It seems 9:30 a.m. is when stay-at-home moms decide to get groceries, and when tots get super-cranky.

There was a boy whining and struggling to be put down in front of me, and in the next aisle, there was a little girl screaming to get out of the cart, and a boy crying because his sister was crying.

My mom said that when I threw tantrums in the grocery store, she would abandon the cart and take me home immediately — to teach my bratty self a lesson.

But these moms and tots were already in line. Would you really leave without getting the milk/bread/Cheerios you need, when you were THAT CLOSE??? Or would you suck it up and try to ignore the shrieking until you reached the car?

I wondered how I would handle it if it had been my child freaking out in the 10-items-or-less line. My first instinct would probably be to cup my hand over their screaming mouth, but that’s bad parenting, for sure.

I will most likely be the kind of parent who shoves a lollipop in their mouth to keep them quiet.

I always loved bribes, and really, aren’t they just a nice mutual agreement? Candy for silence, everyone wins?