Even from a very young age, my son David (now 11) has been dramatic, empathetic, and entertaining. “He’d make a great preacher, like his dad!” people would tell us after meeting him or seeing him perform on stage in a play without any stage fright. (He doesn’t even get the concept of stage fright—”It’s just people watching me act. What’s the big deal, Mom?”)
But as he’s gotten older, we’ve noticed the flip side to some of these positive attributes. He’s dramatic, which is great for the stage, but harder when you hear, “This is the worst day ever!” at least once a week. He’s empathetic and can sense the moods of others really well, but he also can absorb those emotions and make them his own. If he’s around a loud or aggressive kid, he tends to be louder and more aggressive. And he’s entertaining, but he wants to please other people to the point he can care too much about what they think about him.
All his attributes, good and bad, have shown themselves very clearly since we moved from Pennsylvania (the only place he remembers living) to a suburb of Houston, TX. We wanted to make this transition as smooth as possible for him and for us. Thankfully, God brought us to a church that uses the enneagram personality typing in their counseling and leadership development.
