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Getting Teens to Talk
Do you have teenagers? Maybe this sounds familiar: Interested Parent: “How was school today sweetheart?” Moping teenager, “Fine.” “Is everything OK?” “Yup.” “Anything you want to talk about?” “Nope.” Good talk.
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What Happened to the Person I Married?
After starting out so in love with my spouse, how is it that I sometimes find him/her so annoying and hard to live with? What happened to the person I married?
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Marriage Magic
Photo Credit: Jared Lind on Unsplash As we become immersed in this holiday season we are drawn to the magic. Recall the wonder and awe of your childhood, reindeers that fly and a Santa who made dreams come true. Fast-forward several decades. Remember the rush of feelings when you knew your spouse was ‘the one‘. You reveled in discovering this person who showered you with love and support.
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Scorekeeping in Marriage
“Scorekeeping” in our marriage can lead to resentment. It starts with an attitude of “I deserve more” where we keep a tally of all the things we do for our spouse. “I did the laundry so he should do the dishes.” This is compounded by the fact that men and women keep score differently.
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Got Money Arguments?
When couples have conversations about money, it often leads to disagreements, defensiveness, and arguments. Why is it so difficult to talk about finances? Conversations about money usually aren’t JUST about money. We all have underlying feelings (some very strong) about money. Fear. Insecurity. Resentment. Our past experiences affect how we deal with money. When we talk with our spouse about how to spend or save, all those memories and feelings start to surface.
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What are you passionate about?
Jen: Passion is defined as an intense desire or enthusiasm for something. In my life, I’m passionate about our children – making sure they are loved and supported, helping them become responsible adults. I’m passionate about my work, helping kids develop a love of reading. I’m also passionate about my hobby of quilting, trying to create art through fabric. All of these things fill me with an intense desire and enthusiasm in varying degrees.
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Affirmations That Will Make Your Heart Soar!
Photo Credit: Peter Boccia on Unsplash In our last post, we shared with you 50 ways to live an Intentional Marriage. This week we want to focus on one — the Power of Affirmation. The effects of self-affirmation and the power of positive thinking are well know in self-help literature. Being affirmed by your spouse elevates this power exponentially. In this post we will talk about what constitutes a good affirmation and why it is so effective, especially in the presence of others.
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Parenting 101 – United We Stand
One of the most challenging things in our marriage was learning to raise responsible, caring, well-adjusted children. Now that our children are adults, we are back to child-rearing mode with our two year old granddaughter who lives with us. Here are 6 lessons we’ve learned.
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Time for a Marriage Getaway? “Here’s Yer Sign”
You proposed. She accepted. White dress, wedding bells. New house, new bills. Kids. Jobs. TV. Internet. Full calendar. What happened? What’s next? Photo by Alyssa Ledesma on Unsplash We thought our marriage was “fine” but we were focused on running from one kid’s sports to the next kid’s music lessons. There wasn’t time for those long talks about our future. Even though we thought the honeymoon would last forever…it didn’t. We were more focused on the kids than on each other. As the romance faded, we gradually became more aware of each others’ flaws. We lost sight of who WE were as a couple.
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Haven’t we had this fight before?
Photo by Vera Arsic from Pexels Jen: Life, kids, work and extra-curricular activities suck up so much of our energy each day, that when it comes to interacting with each other, we are often at the end of our rope. When we are having a disagreement we’ve had more than once, I feel worn down and don’t want to deal with it.
