Tending to the dolls

C: Mama I need to go get Jessie, Peachy, and Alice.

Me: Ok, go get your friends.

C: They are not my friends they are my children, and I am their momma.

At first this conversation had me sad, because I wanted to say, "I am your momma, and I am your friend." But then I thought about it, and so I said to myself, "good job self, you are not blurring the boundaries of parenthood."

I think this is one of the toughest positions of parenthood, and while we do want our children to love us and talk to us like a friend, being a parent is so much more.

Claire, at 4 years old, was able to relay that to me in a single sentence.