There are days when I feel like a really pathetic mom. Around 6:30 in the evening, the boys start asking, “When is Dad coming home?” When he walks in the door, they race down the stairs calling, “Dad! Dad! Want to shoot some hoops? Want to play the Wii? Want to play Guitar Hero or build Legos?”

I’m trying to remember the last time one of my kids asked me to shoot some hoops …I really can’t recall. It’s not that they wouldn’t want me to play; it’s that over the years, Mom and Dad have established certain roles. If they are hungry or thirsty or they can’t find their shoes, Mom is the “go-to” gal!

If they need help with their homework or scrape their knee, it’s all about Mom. But if it’s something fun – tossing a football or riding bikes or rockin’ out to the Rolling Stones on Guitar Hero – it’s always Dad, Dad, DAD!!!

Well, I want to be part of the fun, too! I don’t only want to be known as “Mother the cook, the homework Nazi, the chauffer, the finder of lost things.” Where is the fun in that?

But to be honest, I played Guitar Hero once and it gave me a headache. I’m terrible at basketball, and I worry about my manicure. What can I say? I’m a girl! And it seems that I am always cooking or busy with mother duties when the kids come calling for a playmate.

But there is one thing I have found that my boys and I love to do together: fishing. We just love to fish! There is nothing I enjoy more than being out in South Padre Bay, chunking and winding under a blue sky with my boys.

There is no greater thrill than reeling in a 26-inch redfish, but we get excited over a piggy perch or the infamous fighting seaweed salad! We laugh and talk and watch for porpoise and skeet.

Hours pass, and we hardly notice. A mullet jumps, and we scream and laugh and run for the side of the boat, all casting our lines at the inedible jumping fish. We spend more time getting knots out of our line than anything else, but it’s our special time together. And I don’t even worry about my manicure!

I may not be their first choice when it comes to playing video games – but that’s okay. We have discovered a mutual love that will carry us throughout our lives, long after they put their joysticks away.

Moms, if you haven’t found that special bond with your child, then keep looking. It’s out there, just waiting for you. And the memories you create doing fun things together will last much longer than the memory of how well you folded their clothes!