Routine and the Game of Shopkeeper Shopkeeper

I usually have the same routine every weekday. I get up at the crack of dawn, in the morning I catch the same bus at the same bus stop with the same few ladies. We will smile and exchange awkward hellos with one another. Similarly glum faces already inside the bus will greet me as I board, I’m sure all with the similar thought to me “are we really doing this again today?”  Work will pass by and I will be back on another bus travelling home this time with slightly cheerful passengers inside, I’m sure all with the similar happy thought to me “this day is over we are finally going home”. There is a spring in my step as I walk home for what follows is a routine that is my most exciting part of the day.

Ask any working parent of a young toddler or what is their favourite part of the day and they will usually reply it’s when they get home to their children.

It’s no different for me, I am not sure who is more excited me or my 3 year old daughter. We usually do the same routine the past few months, I will get home – she will hide away in a spot clearly visible making lots of noise. I will “not see her” and look for her and she will surprise me with a “here I am” when I get close. She will then run to the end of the passage while I wait at the beginning of the passage. She will say “On your marks ready steady go” and run towards me and give me the biggest hug. We will exchange greetings and ask each other “how was your day”, her reply always being “fine”. What follows then is one of her current favourite games “Shopkeeper Shopkeeper”.

Shopkeeper Shopkeeper" is a game where we play a role game where the one of us will be the shopkeeper who sells goods while the other is the customer buying the goods. Whatever is lying on the table will be used as props to sell. I will be the stern shopkeeper who never has what you looking for, who will give you incorrect change or tell you to go buy somewhere else. She will be the sweet customer always with a smile who will come to support you even though you not the greatest with service. I will be the customer who wants impossible stuff like pizza , she will be the sweet shopkeeper who will help you no matter what and even bake you the pizza – sometimes for free. It might sound the silliest game but for her it is the most exciting game, that 15 to 30 minutes we get to bond and play which every kid loves. Her eyes seem to glisten more as we play out our roles – her laugh infectious as we make silly jokes with 1 another. In that few minutes I have managed to unwind, forget what ever troubles or stress I might have had during the day. We all need that unwinding moment during a day be it reading a book, watching a soapie, a nice hot shower – a routine that gives us a mental break from the rat race we seem to find ourselves in. In a few years she might not want to play with me or the game might be to boring for her, I have to make the most of it.

This past weekend my daughter was playing with her grandfather and explaining to him how the game of “Shopkeeper Shopkeeper” works even though he has been a real life shopkeeper for the best past 30 odd years or so. I observed from a distance as this time she was a stern shopkeeper telling him “you listen to me this how we play and if I don’t have the chips it’s not my problem”.  My father in law was laughing and playing along – he was getting to unwind.  Later my daughter was selling flowers that she had picked (more like destroyed) from her grandmother’s garden, oops now that will be 1 person not happy or unwinding with the game “Shopkeeper Shopkeeper”.