Surely that’s the first time in the history of email that subject line has been used, right?? 😂

Anyway, my husband and I had just finished cleaning the house the other day (okay, mostly him — I was upstairs recording the first bonus episode of Activate Play Mode… APM fam, it’s live now if you missed it!).

Anyway, not long after, the house was trashed again. Because… kids.

Steve asked our son to pick up his dirty laundry, and he was just in his own 3.5-year-old world.

We were trying to run vacuum (why does there have to be so much dog hair) but couldn’t with stuff everywhere.

So, while unloading the dishwasher and blocking my baby girl from crawling into it, I became the voice of the hamper from the other room.

“HEY! I’m hungry over here!” I growled in a Brooklyn-ish accent. “I’m hungry for dirty laundry!”

“Who said that?” I added in my normal voice.

“My laundry hamper,” said my son — immediately in on the game.

That’s how often we use this strategy: Personification. Giving inanimate objects life as a buffer to create playful cooperation.

Then, just to amuse myself (and my husband), I added, “Yeah, and if you’re wondering why I sound like this — it’s ‘cause I was a smoker for 50 years.”

Steve goes, “You haven’t even existed for 50 years.”

Me: “Yeeah, but it’s in hampah years. Like dog years. It’s different!"

We were cracking up. So instead of this little game being just to “get” our son to do something — it brought us some much-needed lightness as partners. A little levity.

We’d had a stressful week, and honestly, moments of laughing together like that are what help get us through more than anything else.

And yes — eventually our son did run around "feeding" the hamper his laundry — and hunting for more!

But that wasn’t the main win.

The win was connection. Laughter. A reset.

That’s the part of playfulness in parenting that often gets overlooked:

We think something “worked” if it got the result we wanted — cooperation, compliance, quiet.

But the true spirit of play is freedom. Joy. Lightness.

That’s what I teach in Activate Play Mode.

Yes, there are concrete, doable strategies (Personification, Make it a Musical, and plenty more). But it’s also a mindset shift — a reimagining of what “success” even looks like in parenting.

Speaking of which… Activate Play Mode is open again starting today!

We just wrapped our first round last week and I was so honored to connect with parents from all over the world.

Here’s what one participant said:

That takes courage to say, because it’s not always talked about openly.

We’re expected to “enjoy every moment,” yet joy can feel out of reach in this season.

But this season is also flying by!

So here’s my invitation for you this week:

Be the voice of something random in your house this week — and make sure it amuses you!

Curious about joining this next round of Activate Play Mode? Here’s everything that’s included, including a sneak peek into the course itself.

Cheering you on always,

Mia

P.S. I’ll be sending a few more reminders about the Activate Play Mode relaunch. (Already have APM? You’re not on that list, so no need to opt out.) If you’d like to opt out of the relaunch emails, just click here.​

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