Playing “House” (forgive me if it’s a little rambly…)

Do you remember when we were little girls and we used to play “house?” (well except for the few men that may read my blog, you probably were busy playing G.I. Joe or some crap…but us girls, we played ‘house.’)

Looking back now, I kinda wish I’d played something else more. Like what I’m not sure, but if I’d had ANY idea then that I’d be playing REAL HOUSE for many, many years, later in life, I probably woulda put down my pretend iron and ironing board (yeah, like I’ve touched a REAL one of those in a while. HA!) and picked up a jump rope or something. Okay, maybe not a jump rope because that was probably a little too strenuous for me, but still, you get my point right?

It’s not that I don’t like REAL HOUSE (although some days it would be nice to have to take a ‘personal’ day) it’s just that when I was a kid I could put the baby doll down and she would not cry, like EVER. And my mother cooked. Every. Night. For reals. And it was good. Not that my cooking isn’t good, but I didn’t have to do it back then.

AND! And, I only had one, sweet, non-crying child that ate when I wanted her to and slept all night in her baby bed and never spit up on her beautiful dress that she wore ALL. THE. TIME. And if I ignored her for a little while or didn’t take her somewhere with me, she was cool with it.

Yeah, and there was none of this toddler business when I played house as a kid. No tantrums or constant nose picking (okay, maybe I dug for gold every now and again myself, but certainly NOT my ‘baby’).

Oh and groceries were abundant and free. AND, I didn’t even have to leave the house to buy them. Sweet.

The house was ALWAYS clean too, although I do remember doing a little pretend ‘dusting’. But I could quit when I wanted to and go take a nap. Even sweeter. And I never had to do ANY laundry. It was all magically done and folded and put away. Pure bliss.

Also, my baby NEVER got sick or refused to eat something that I gave her and then proceeded to toss it across the room. She never even learned to crawl and get into things. Yeah, she was an awesome baby doll.

What I’m trying to get at here is, don’t you think that it’s kinda funny that we spent a ton of time ‘playing house’ as little girls only to be catapulted into the REAL thing in our adult life? (not all of us women, but many…)

And have you seen the toys out there now for little girls to play ‘house?’ It’s like they have the doll version of everything I’ve spent HUNDREDS of dollars on to keep my babies happy and secure. Strollers, swings, car seats, pack n’ plays, bassinets, and on and on.

When I got the mail the other day there was an American Girl doll catalog and because I do have a girl now I thought I’d flip through and have a little preview. That is until I almost choked on my piece of Halloween candy as I saw the dollar signs. Let’s just say I hope my girl doesn’t want to play ‘house’ with those dolls or this REAL house will end up in the POOR house. Get me?

And who knows, maybe girls don’t play ‘house’ these days as much as I did when I was kid. I wouldn’t really know since this is my first foray into girl stuff, “the next generation.” And being that she’s only a month old, obviously we have a ways to go until we know what her pretend play interests will eventually consist of. But I must ask, would I be a bad mother if I tried to steer her in a different direction? G.I. Joe perhaps?Hey, he’s kinda cute…