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I sat in the church nursery, rocking cute babies, and hated every moment of it.
At the time, our son was an infant, and my wife and I thought if someone at church was going to watch our kid, we should volunteer and watch other kids, too.
Wrong.
After about 6-months, I found myself not wanting to go to church.
Faking an illness.
Unplugging the alarm.
Anything to not have to herd cats, I mean, babies.
I wasn’t serving in my strength. I was serving where I felt guilty.
The same goes with our parenting.
Yes, we have to do things we don’t want to sometimes, but not always.
The Overlapping Circles
I’m sure I’m not the first person to think of this, but here’s an exercise I want you to do.
1. Draw a Circle
In that circle, write down all the things you like to do. Hunting, fishing, playing video games, hiking, going to movies, going out to eat, football. Try and write in 10-15 things you like to do. And, don’t cheat. If you don’t like camping don’t put it in there. These are things that give you life.
2. Draw Another Circle
In that circle, write down all the things your kids like to do. Playing with legos, Nerf guns, going to movies, playing board games, camping. If you want go ahead and ask them. They’ll tell you, for the most part.
Now, here’s the magic.
Find where the circles overlap.
That’s your shared interest. The things you both like to do.
Now, step 3. Do those things in the overlapping circles.
It’s that simple.
I like to fish. I found out the hard way that my kids hate fishing.
It only took three miserable fishing experiences to realize this.
And, we’ll fish together one day, but not for a while.
Here is a list of things my kids and I overlap on:
- Playing with Legos
- Watching football
- Going out to eat
- Going to a movie
- Playing video games
- Watching TV
- Costco runs
- Paddle-boarding
- Riding bikes
- Going to the zoo
All of these bring me joy, and they bring my kid’s joy.
Here’s a free Overlapping Circles template on Canva you can use. LINK
