Ashley Willis
3. Go on a weekly date night.
When Dave and I were going through our pre-marital counseling, our “mentor couple” encouraged us to try and do this “….especially once you have kids.” And, so we’ve tried our best to keep a weekly date night with the help of some reliable and trustworthy sitters, since we live far away from our families.
Date nights definitely take some planning and budgeting, but this special time together will serve your marriage well especially in the midst of raising children. And, date nights don’t have to be super expensive. If things are especially tight, put the kids to bed extra early one night, make a nice dinner at home, and watch a new movie on Netflix together. Turn off the phone and laptop and spend some uninterrupted time together.
If you don’t have a sitter network, you can check out websites like Care.com or even your neighborhood website for local babysitters. There are also great programs at places like your local YMCA that offer “Parent’s Night Out” programs where certified and background-checked sitters watch your kids for three to four hours while you go out on the town. It is usually affordably-priced, and they even feed your kiddos too!
Even if you can’t swing a date night every week, that’s okay. Start with a date night a month and try to increase it from there. Be creative with how you use that time, and you’ll find that date nights are a great way to reconnect and lighten up some of the tension that you might be feeling at home.
Bottom line–date nights give the two of you the chance to be just the two of you for a little while. And, that’s a beautiful thing.
Not convinced that you and your spouse would benefit from a regular date night? Then, check out the blog below.
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