Monday Management: Couple Time

In any size household, finding time to spend together as a couple can be difficult. Among child care, household duties, employment, volunteering and service time alone together as a couple can easily fall by the wayside.

I believe couple time is the most important part of family life. Children need their parents to have a good relationship and parents cannot have a good relationship without regular time alone together.

When John and I were first married, I was working full time and John was working two jobs to pay off some debt. Once the honeymoon ended, we hardly saw each other. I think we were both disappointed. We didn't get married to never have time to talk to each other again. After about a month, we decided that no matter what, we needed to spend an hour together everyday.  And we have.

Early on, we always ate dinner together and played a game. As children started coming, we would spend an hour talking, reading, or playing games after we put the kids to bed. Once our children started growing and taking up more of our time, we added a date night every single week. (I LOVE date night).

Date night is essential. We both need that time together to detox from regular life. Our wise Stake President in Wichita, KS declared Friday night Stake Date Night. There were to be no church meetings, youth activities (except for the occasional scout camp out) or ward parties on Friday night. The Stake President even went as far as to tell the youth that they needed to leave Friday night available to babysit for the parents of young children.

These are my suggestions to make sure you have daily time alone with your spouse.

• Don't go to bed alone. Get in bed together and talk before falling asleep each night.
• Find things you like to do together that can be done without much cost in your own home like a certain game or books or a fun TV show.
• If you have older children, consider waking up early and starting your day with a walk or jog together. 
• Either label one specific day 'Date Night' and have a date on that night every week, or at the beginning of each week, talk about your schedule and choose the night that works best for your date. If you cannot afford to go out, do something special alone together at home. 
• If your husband has to travel for work, do not go to bed until you have spent time together on the phone or messaging on the internet. Be sure to communicate everyday. 

A good marriage relationship takes time and it can be most lovely of all the time you have.