… comes only when you plan for it after the children show up. Married couples with children understand that their time together is often dictated by the schedules they have to keep.
The beauty of dating after your married is that you don’t have to worry about whether they will say yes to going out. Instead, it’s just a matter of getting a babysitter and schedules to sync up. We’ve talked about different kinds of date nights here and we’ve talked about couple time and the need to spend the time together.
The important focal point of any evening together is to make the time to spend together. So let’s list a few ways that you can make Some enchanted evening … happen for you. If you need childcare:
- Hire a babysitter if you know one you can trust
- If your child is older, let them have a sleepover at another child’s house, offer to have that child sleepover at yours another night
- Swap childcare with another couple (similar to the sleepover, but usually for younger children)
- Grandparents make great sitters and kids will enjoy spending time at their house or having the grandparents spend time at yours
Sometimes, we don’t live as close to our families as would make it convenient for grandparents to sit with our kids. For years, my husband and I lived in Virginia and our families were in Texas. His mother made regular visits to us and we often made arrangements to have at least one night out to ourselves when she came for a visit. She loved the time spent with our daughter and we loved the freedom having her there gave us.
Even when it is tough to get a babysitter or the time to get away from the home, it’s extremely important to make that time. If you have a young infant, you can do this just by setting aside a few hours in the evening after the baby is settled.
Your relationship needs the time and no matter how busy you are, this is not one of the things you can push off to another time. Your time together matters, relationships whether they are six months, six years or sixty years old need nurturing and tending that time together provides.