94 The Explosive Childhis mother brought him to the supermarket. Eduardo
exploded in other situations as well, of course, but none
as predictably as the supermarket. Maybe it was the
overstimulation, maybe it was the fact that he had very
inflexible ideas about the foods he wanted his mother to
buy (most of which were not at the top of his mother’s
list). Whatever the reason, no matter what the mother
tried—preparing him in advance for trips, rewarding him
for good behavior and punishing him for inappropriate
behavior, making shorter trips, having Grandma accom-
pany them, trying to steer him around the aisles where
meltdowns seemed to occur most often, agreeing that he
could select one or two of the foods on his list—he still
routinely exploded when she brought him to the super-
market. The mother finally came to the conclusion that
mastery of the demands of the supermarket—staying
next to the shopping cart, not demanding the purchase
of every high-sugar cereal on the shelves, being patient in
the checkout line—simply wasn’t going to improve at
that point in her son’s development. She decided he’d be
much better off if she eliminated the expectation that
her son accompany her to the supermarket (Plan C).
Mother: But he can’t avoid supermarkets forever,
right?
Therapist: Right. Luckily, going to the supermarket is
not critical to Eduardo’s existence right now.