After 18 years and 4 kids (almost) later, my marriage takes a lot of work. If I don’t take the time and do the work to connect with my husband, we are both more irritable, which then gets passed onto our kids.
I firmly believe my marriage should come first, before my kids. My kids will grow up, leave and have their own lives, but me and my husband will always be there with each other. If I don’t have a strong connection with my husband, my marriage is going to be tough when it is just the 2 of us.
Even though we are in the middle of raising our kids and our lives are a little crazy right now, there are things we do to feel more connected:
-play a game (our favorite is Skip-Bo or we play a couple video games together)
-have date nights (either go out somewhere or have a date night at home)
-talk about everything (not just the kids or day-to-day stuff)
-say “I love you” every day and always give each other a kiss in the morning and at night (if possible, or text “I love you” each day if your schedules are opposite)
-flirt with your spouse/partner
-find extra time in your day to spend time together, one thing I am trying to do is stay up later after we put our youngest to bed a couple times a week to spend some time with my husband, just the two of us
-go on walks together
-if you are TV people like us, find a show or movie to watch together (we usually watch a couple episodes of a show to end the day) and try to sit next to each other (without scrolling on your phone)
-spend some time apart, trust me, you need to do your own thing every once in a while. If you spend all your time together you will start to get on each other’s nerves, you need time to yourself, it will make the time you do spend together all the better
Marriage takes work, but with the right person, it is worth it.