Mutual Dependence Bingo, Week 1

Messy houses and asking to give a house key

The first week of the Mutual Dependence Bingo Challenge is in the books! Remember, you can generate your own bingo board here to play along. At the end of the month, everyone who scored a bingo will get a secret pdf of the first chapter of The Dignity of Dependence. And I’ll do a drawing to send two of you an early copy of the whole book. (Full rules/announcement here).

I’m playing along myself, and I’m off to a boffo start. When two of your kids come down with croup, you’re kind of playing Mutual Dependence Bingo on easy mode.

Two of the notable squares for me this week:

Invite Someone to Your Messy House

While my husband was visiting a new baby nephew, I invited friends over (going from one adult:three kids to three adults:five kids is a big improvement!). I asked them to come over early so I could be making dinner with other people running interference for our 1yo.

It worked out great! The details came together at the last minute, so I threw two different pastas into my pot and just staggered them to synch up their different al dente times. The combo of penne and rigatoni meant they sometimes nested together and looked like tiny pesto pigs in a blanket.

The other family did the dishes, very graciously, and I accepted the help instead of “Oh no, you are guests!”-ing them.

Watch Someone’s Kids 🔄

I make the rules, and I say you can apply an Uno Reverse to any of the squares, especially if you are going from giver to asker. (If you’re switching too many to take yourself out of the position of asker, think about why)

When the second child got croup-y, I asked another family in our neighborhood to take my older kids to Mass while I took the baby to PM Pediatrics. I’m really grateful to them!

Priority squares for me for the week ahead:

Ask A Neighbor to Keep a Spare Key

I’m aiming to do this this week, and specifically to ask in person, not just to text. I don’t knock on doors as much as I’d like to (partially because I have to carry at least one child with me, but only partially)

Start a Regular Call with a Friend

I have two in mind I could ask, where I’d love to have a monthly standing call to catch up without a reason that merits it. I want a little more storge to go with our philia.

Now, over to you!

What did you take on this week?

What would you like to try this week?

What did you do that’s not on the board but ought to be?