Keeping Your Relationship Healthy When You’ve Got Little Ones To Look After
When you become a parent, your whole life changes. You no longer just have yourself to think about, but also your little ones. Life as you know it changes completely. You can no longer plan a spontaneous day out; every trip requires strategic planning. Once there’s little ones in tow, life will never be quite the same again.
Having kids has a big impact on your relationship with your partner, there’s no doubt about that. Having a child changes the entire dynamic of your relationship. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; it just means that you’ll probably have to work a little harder at it. Because, unlike before, you won’t get that much quality time together. Whereas, pre-baby you probably spent the majority of your time together.
Once you’ve got little ones, that will change. Instead of spending your mornings curled up in bed, you’ll spend them getting your little ones off to school. Instead of spending your weekends relaxing, you’ll spend it taking the kids to sports practices and birthday parties. When you’re a parent, life gets incredibly busy, which can have a big impact on the health of your relationship. Of course, raising kids together can also strengthen your relationship. It just depends on how much time and effort you put into each other.
So, the question is, when you’ve got little ones to look after, how do you ensure that your relationship stays healthy?
Have date nights
It can be far too easy to forget to make time for yourself and your partner. But if you want to keep your relationship healthy, it’s important to do so. Once every couple of weeks, plan a date night. Book a childminder to come and watch the kids – or ask a friend or relative to watch them, and then head out for the evening. Spend a few hours relaxing and having a laugh together over dinner, just like you would have pre-kids.
Going out for dinner might only give you a little break, but it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you get to spend some quality time with your partner, unlike when you’re at home and trying to do 101 things at once. It’s amazing how much happier you will feel after taking a little time out to relax and unwind.
Eat once the kids are in bed
To ensure that your relationship stays healthy, consider eating once the kids are in bed. While it’s nice to eat as a family, it’s also important to eat as a couple. So that you can spend some much-needed quality time together. So, a couple of nights a week – ideally on the weekends, plan to eat dinner once the kids are in bed. Order something fancy, such as scallops off of a site like Citarella.com/shop/mussels-scallops. Then, spend the evening cooking a meal together. You’d be amazed at how much fun cooking together can be.
There’s something incredibly fun and enjoyable about cooking together. By spending some time having a laugh together, you can help to ensure that your relationship stays healthy. As a parent, a lot of your time is taken up by the kids, which can mean that you end up neglecting your partner. So spending quality time together, even if it’s just cooking and eating together is important.
Take advantage of any spare time
Whenever you have free time, be it an hour while the kids are at a birthday party or 20 minutes while they’re playing in the garden, take advantage of it. Life might be significantly different to how it was before having kids, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t make time for your partner. Any spare time that you have, use to spend together.
Out of every two relationships, one ends in divorce. Obviously, breakups happen for all sorts of reasons, but one of the most common ones is not spending enough time together. When you don’t make an effort to spend quality time with your partner, it has an impact on the relationship that the two of you share. Eventually, leading to the two of you growing apart. So, take advantage of every spare minute that you have. For ideas for keeping your relationship healthy, resources like Everydayhealth.com/emotional-health can be useful.
Go on child-free vacations
Obviously, family vacations are an important part of family life. However, that doesn’t mean that every time you go away you have to take the kids with you. Sometimes, it’s nice to get away as a couple, instead of as a family. Don’t feel bad for going away without the little ones; quality time is important.
Once or twice a year, leave the kids with their grandparents or at a friend’s house for the weekend and head off on a romantic weekend away. It doesn’t have to be to anywhere fancy, all that matters is that you get to spend some quality time together. Wherever you choose to go, be it abroad or somewhere a little closer to home, it doesn’t matter. Plan a romantic weekend away together that will allow you to make the most of your time together.
Be intimate with each other
