You know the days where you have a To Do List as long as your arm? A pile of laundry that could warrant its own zip code? A kitchen that looks like a tornado went through it?

Yeah, today was one of those days.

She came up to me so sweetly and said, "Mommy, how 'bout you paint my nails, and then I paint yours?!"

"How about Mom just paints yours sweetie?"

Her face fell. "OK, because you don't have time for me to paint yours too?"

Yes, that was one reason for my answer.

What if she painted them and the baby woke up? I wouldn't be able to grab him with wet nails.

What if my laundry buzzed and I had to switch loads? Can't do that with wet nails.

What about my hair that needed to be blow dried? Can't do that with wet nails.

The bills I was trying to pay, the calendar I was trying to update, the dishes I needed to wash.

You can't do any of those things with wet nails. Right?

But her little face was so disappointed when I told her I didn't have time for her to paint my nails.

So I changed my mind, and told her she could paint them.

And that little face of hers lit up, and she got right to work painting them.

And do you know what happened?

The baby didn't wake up from his nap.

The laundry sat in the dryer.

My hair dried on its own.

The bills, the calendar, and the dishes----it was all waiting for me when she was done.

It took 10 minutes out of my day. But it was the highlight of hers.

We can be so quick to say, "no" to our children with things that we feel aren't important enough to warrant the extra time. But so often these things that aren't important enough to us, are a big deal in the eyes of a child.

And if we show them now that we value their time, as much as we value our To Do Lists, they just might keep coming back to us, for all the important things.

Credit: The Chronicles of Motherhood