A Royal Wedding: Is Happily Ever After Possible?

1. Let your kids see that marriage takes hard work. Marriage takes work, effort and attention. You need to feed your marriage much like you need to feed your family. So allow your children little glimpses into how hard you work to keep your marriage intact.

   

2. Talk about how you fell in love. Your kids should know your love story. Every once in a while, share with them how you met and fell in love. Talk about why you still love each other, and what character traits you looked for in a spouse when you were single. Discuss any hesitations or concerns, and how you overcame them. This will help to guide your kids when they start making their own decisions about dating, love and marriage.
3. Encourage them to ask other relatives to share their love stories. But they shouldn’t only hear your story—ask relatives to tell their own stories. The more pathways to love your kids are exposed to, the more they will see how their own journey to love could happen. There’s no right or wrong way to love, but there are right and wrong ways to approach love.
4. Promote marriage as forever. It’s important that kids know you view marriage as a lifelong commitment. Does that mean you can never divorce? Not necessarily, as there are legitimate reasons, including spousal abuse. But too many people talk about marriage as if it’s a contract easily broken. By promoting marriage as something that should—and can!—last a lifetime, you are helping shape their views of this God-given institution.

To connect with Sarah and read more about raising kids, visit www.parentcoachnova.com.