Chapter Nine - Time with your spouse

"If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!" This is true for Dads too. Let's try to help!

Don't you hate it when you have had a long, frazzled day and you feel like a wrung out dishrag? You just don't want to do anything! Maybe you have been running around taking care of a dozen different projects. All you feel like you have been doing for weeks is just saying "Hi" and "Bye" to your spouse. That is so easy to do when children come along.. you have PTA, soccer practice, gymnastics, the baby's sick, the washer stopped working, etc., etc.

Jan Blaustone said in her book, "The Joy of Parenthood, "Quality time" begins with your marriage. What's good for your marriage is good for your children."
It is time for some quality time alone with your spouse. Time to talk, to just enjoy each other's company. Call your Mom, call the teenage girl down the street, call anyone you can trust and get away for awhile. It doesn't have to mean you spend a lot of money, it just means time together. Go window shopping at the mall,  go to the local library, have a drink at Starbucks or stroll through the park together. If you like fishing, bowling, ice skating or tennis, it doesn't cost much to indulge in any of these once in a while.

The important thing is to get away and spend time together without your children. They will be fine and you are not depriving the them of a thing. In fact, if you come back refreshed and relaxed, you have done yourself and your children a favor! You are showing your spouse that you think they are very important to you and that will only strengthen your marriage.

A happy couple is a happy home!