Tonight my son found his little toy laptop in a basket of toys. He pulled it out and started typing “letters” to his daddy. After a few minutes, he prompted me to ask him to play with him.   Me: Will you play with me? Son: I have to work. Me: (stifles a giggle and a sob at the same time) Ok, will you play with me when you’re done? Son: (types furiously for a minute and then closes laptop) Ok, now I am done with my work, I can play with you Mommy. I had such a reaction to this. Being a single, working parent means that sometimes I have to say no to playing because I am (insert activity required for daily existence) and then I have to make myself stop and just play with him, which feels hard, like I’m working at it. So of course the guilt starts in strong when he’s showing what I am modeling as not being available to him… But then I thought that maybe modeling working and then …