I come from a back-rub loving family. When I was young I remember my mom constantly hounding me or one of my four other siblings to rub her back. Sometimes we’d happily oblige. Other times we’d pretend we didn’t hear her and hope she’d move on to someone else. And even other times, we’d work out a back-rub exchange with her.

Well I’m here to tell you the apple did not fall far from the tree with me. I have a severe back-rub addiction, and I blame only my mother for it. Here I am in my mid-thirties doing exactly as my mother did, begging my children for back-rubs. I’m a little embarrassed to say that I don’t stop the begging at my children. I’ll stop in front of just about anyone and wiggle my shoulders in hopes that they’ll start massaging my shoulders and back. Okay, so I don’t ask strangers, but siblings, coworkers and acquaintances are not off the hook.

Sometimes my children do oblige and give me a back-rub. Other times they completely ignore me. If I’m being honest though, their back-rubbing skills leave much to be desired. They have about a 30 second to 1 minute attention span on the back-rubbing. I know, I know, they are only 3 and 6. I can’t really blame them if they’d rather play with action figures than rub my back. So sometimes I have to get clever. I’ll lie down on my stomach and put a couple of matchbox cars next to me, and invite them to race their cars on my back. Voila! Instant back massage. Those little wheels can hit just the right spots at times. The matchbox races usually give me about 5 minutes of back activity. And I’ll happily take it!

Other times I’ll just lie down on my stomach and see what happens. I’ve learned in my 6 years as a parent that you WILL get climbed on, walked on and jumped on if you are on your stomach. Considering the lengths I’ll go to get a little pressure applied to my back, that’s not a bad thing.