I’m the mother of a four-year old only child. This can only mean one thing: if I don’t carve some time out of my house-cleaning schedule to play with her, I feel like a total creep for subjecting her to a life of loneliness and solitude. Ugh. Stupid freaking mom guilt.

It’s not that I don’t like playing with my daughter. I do. She gives her Little People incredible voices, makes them say ridiculous things, and totally cracks me up. However, like most four-year olds when playing with their parents, she is bossy and I do EVERYTHING wrong. She’s an absolute control freak when it comes to how we play and what my role is.

But I have a way to rejuvenate play time. And I’ve also found a new way to bond with my daughter. She gets a kick out of hearing stories about when I was little, and playing with these throwbacks to my childhood make me feel like a kid again. Some of these toys came from my Mom’s house, the rest from tag sales and consignment. And there’s nothing like being an adult, when I don’t have to wait for Christmas or a birthday to get that toy I always wanted!

Have you introduced your kids to any of your childhood favorites?