How I play with my 3-year-old when I’m too busy to play

“Mommy…will you play with me?”

As a mother, I adore hearing those sweet words come out of my three year old’s mouth. But as a busy mother who is trying to get everything she needs to get done in a day, those words always tug at my heart strings because as much as I’d love to, the fact is that there are many times in my day that I cannot stop what I’m doing to play.

Lucky for me, Aria is very into playing “house” lately. I can hear her playing house with her older sisters. The scene always goes something like this:

ARIA: Okay, I’m the baby and you’re the mommy, kay? And you are going shopping, kay? And then you feed me, kay?

And then after the scene is set, the dialog starts up between the “mommy” and the “baby” … and the house play begins. It’s so darn cute.

So lately whenever Aria comes up to me and asks me to play with her when I’m doing housework or making lunches or cooking dinner, I’ve been telling her “Yes, I can play with you. Let’s play house…and YOU’RE the mommy and I’M the daughter…and you tell me to do my chores or I can’t go to the dance with the handsome prince, okay?”

And then a huge smile beams across her little face. I’ve entered her world and she gets so excited about that.

“Honey, do your work or you can’t go to the dance…” she says, in her best high-pitched mommy voice.

And I say, “Ugh. Okay, mom! I will. Ugh!!”

And then I go about doing the laundry, vacuuming, washing dishes (whatever it is I’m doing) and every now and then I call out to her, “Mom? Do I still have to clean?”

And she answers, “Yes, honey…you’re not done yet. Remember, you want to go to the dance.”