A Day at the Ballpark or A Day of Ball in the Park?

I’m not sure if you feel it but it’s there for me. The feeling that doing more is better. It’s always been there, even before fatherhood.

A fellow pre-school parent seems to be packing in the weekends like she may be on her deathbed and her only goal is to check off the boxes next to the must-experience list she’s made for her kids.

So now fatherhood, and I want to compete for the title of most adventurous family. But some days, we don’t get beyond the backyard.

This past weekend was a mix of either extreme. Saturday was a complete play day while Sunday was packed from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

I brought the family to a baseball game on Sunday after attending a fall festival, and as anyone who has spent the day with two kids under five, that could be compared to a day-long trek through the woods wearing a 30 lb. pack. Maybe it energizes you full of life, or maybe the life is sucked out of you.

Saturday was a day of various jobs around the house, getting rid of the excess and hanging out with the kids. And honestly, I’m not quite sure which day the kids enjoyed more. The stay-home leasure day and the tour of events seems to be an deadpan tie.

My point is don’t run around for the kids’ sake. Sure, I do believe that opening them up to a variety of experiences is beneficial and healthy but so is the simple and mundane tasks of a few house chores, a run to the grocery store and some backyard baseball.

I swear at the ages of one and five, my kids are in the present moment so much that if you ask them what their favorite food is, they’ll respond with whatever is on the plate in front of them. The question is where are you?

Is your focus on the plate in front of you? Or is your focus on getting the next plate while you’re currently enjoying the one in front of you?

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:31-34)