This is a phrase I’m hearing a lot lately from Avery. She has always wanted to play with us but now she tells us what she wants. Sometimes I get tired of it because I just can’t summon the energy to “play”. This is followed by a healthy dose of guilt. I promised myself that I wouldn’t be like this when I was a parent. I have never forgotten a conversation I had with a number of junior high aged kids about what they would do differently if they were the parents. Their overwhelming response was that they would spend more time with their kids and not be too busy or too tired to do things with them. What I found amazing is that these particular kids all came from relatively stable, healthy families. It’s not like they were neglected or abused or deprived. But still, what they wanted most from their parents was attention. That has stuck with me.

So I guess I need to brush up on my Fisher-Price etiquette.