We had family in town visiting from Iowa this week and after a few days of craziness, my father-in-law suggested taking my wife out on a date – the grandparents would watch the boys.
I started to think about all of the things I could get done with a few hours of kid-free time. I’m sure my wife, Missy, was doing the same. That’s usually what we do whenever someone watches the boys for us. Errands. It’s just so hard to get anything done with two maniacal boys tugging on you all of the time, constantly asking for snacks, never-ending chocolate milk refills, or piggyback rides.
But we decided to go out… dinner and a movie. Our first real date in a long time.
Marriages, like any relationship, are always growing or dying. They never stay in the exact same place that they were yesterday.
The thing is, you have to pay attention to your relationships. My kids need to see a strong bond between their parents. They need to see us in love and spending time together, intentionally.
Once we say our wedding vows, we tend to slowly stop the pursuit. We get distracted by life. We can finally sit back and focus on other things. Like salsa. But our wives need to be pursued.
We may not be able to go out on a date all of the time, but I can still date my wife and pursue her heart by doing things to show her that I love her.
I can:
-Call her during the day to see how she’s doing and if she needs anything from me.
-Change a disgusting poopy diaper without waiting for her to give me the look.
-Sit on the couch and watch The Bachelor with her and pretend that I like it.
-Take the kids to Chick-fil-A on Saturday mornings to give her a break with some kid-free time.
-Take previously mentioned poopy diaper to the trash outside because it’s still so disgusting inside.
The problem with waiting for a date night is that they come so infrequently. As much as we need to take care of and protect our kids, we also need to do the same for our marriages.
Never pass up an offer for someone to watch the kids.
Never stop dating your wife.