This Friday’s Fatherhood Friday post is about sacrificing your own time to strengthen your family relationships.

Twice a year for the past five years I have had to make a tough decision. Should I volunteer to be the soccer coach for my daughter’s rec league soccer team? Every time I’ve elected to not volunteer. Now those who know me understand that I love spending time with my kids and working with other kids, so that’s not the issue. What it’s always come down to is having too much to do and a lack of spare time for extra activities.

Here’s the strange thing though. Although I’ve never volunteered to be the head coach for my daughter’s team, the parks and recreation department has sent me the roster and assigned me to the position almost every season since my daughter started playing. I’ve always accepted the offer, but not without a bit of grumbling to my wife about it.

Now several years and teams later I won’t claim to be the greatest girls soccer coach ever and I won’t say that the practices and games haven’t added to our family’s stress level over the past few years, but when I walk through my kid’s elementary school and have girls from the team run up and give me five or call out “hey coach,” I start to recognize that the sacrifice is worth it. I can assure you that by volunteering my time I’ve grown closer to my daughter, feel better about myself, and have learned a valuable lesson about sacrificing a little to gain a lot.

What are some experiences you’ve had where you’ve been forced into volunteering and it’s changed your your way of thinking?