I’ve got a real problem on my hands; Isabelle wants to play
with me ALL the time. Now some people might think, “Oh, how sweet. How nice.
How special.” Let me tell you, it is none of these things. I’ve written before
about how I enjoy some “alone” time while Daniel naps. The problem is it doesn’t
matter if Daniel is awake or asleep, she wants to play. On the weekends, I at least get a bit of a
break since she also hounds Tim to play with her. Lately, it’s become out of
control. She’s stopped watching a TV
show before bed (this used to be her favorite part of the day!) now because she
wants to have more time to play with us. She and I baked muffins the other day
and while I was putting the dishes in the sink, she said, “When we finish clean
up, can I play with you?” Ummm…does a half hour of cooking together not count
as play? Does she not realize that one of the reasons we had multiple children
would be so she would have built in playmates? Now I don’t mind a game or two
but beyond that I tell her that she needs to go and play on her own. I know
that it’s important that she can entertain herself and not rely on me constantly
to do it. Of course, the first time I tell her it starts off as, “I can’t play
right now, Sweetie. How about you go play with Dolly for a while?” However, by
the eighth time I have to tell her it sounds more like, “I CAN’T PLAY RIGHT
NOW. GO PLAY BY YOURSELF!” She then looks sad and rejected and I feel bad. I
know that when she is grown up, she won’t want to have anything to do with me
most of the time and I should probably treasure these days. However, it’s just
not possible to constantly play with her, hang out with the other kids, cook,
do laundry, run errands, and keep my sanity. So, I’m going to enjoy the times
that I do play with her, try to keep my cool as long as possible while
rejecting her, and hope that she soon realizes (but maybe not too soon) that I
am not the coolest person in the world to play with.
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| Sometimes it's hard to say no to this face. |
