There is nothing more heartwarming than pictures of moms and dads playing with their kids. Dad helping to build a Lego tower, mom roaring like a dinosaur. This is not the scene in my house.
I credit the fact that we had twins right off the hop that we never really had to entertain our kiddos. Phoenix and Declan always had each other and even as babies we would put them in their high chairs or car seats and face them towards each other so they could ooo and ahh at each other. Sure we played with them but they never really needed us to. When mason came along 21 months later the boys were happy to entertain him. We supervised but Mason loved watching his older brothers dance around him and act silly.
The phrase “Mommy will you play with me?” is still common and yes, every once in a while I will sit down for a minute or two to oblige the likes of my boys. But usually after a good five minutes they have moved on, or my butt falls asleep or duty calls.
Do I feel bad about this? Should I be shamed for not “leaving the dishes till later”? Heck no! If I sat down and played with toys all day who would do the laundry, who would make supper? Who in the heck would do any of the adult work needed to sustain a working household? I tell my kids, this is why we had so many of you, you will always have someone to play with!
But I will tell you one thing, family trips to laser tag, a trampoline park or any actually activity not involving dinky cars or video games and I’m in! Take me away from the list of chores that is never-ending in my head and I’ll play for hours! I don’t apologize for not choosing to be the only girl character in their wildly imaginative games. They know I love them, even if it does take them a week to talk me into a quick game of Minecraft! (Which they usually kick me out of anyway because I am the absolute worst video gamer, the controllers are impossible!)
Balancing Chaos 