Don’t you just want to jump into that painting?!?! Man I do!
Hello my fellow Tired Troopers!
Let’s talk date night ❤️
One of our priorities as a couple is date nights… do they happen often, no, not hardly! But, we try for it, so they do happen sometimes! We made this a priority when we decided to start trying for kids. We didn’t want to lose the “us” in our relationship after kids. You need to work to keep the strong foundation you built together before kids. I feel like you and your partners relationship is the foundation and your kids are the skyscrapers being built above your relationship. It needs upkeep and maybe an extension to travel even deeper into the earth… corny, but i bet u keep that visual in your head! Which is my goal!
Now, not excluding my single Tired Troopers here – your foundations are just as strong whether it be you and a divorced/former partner or just you. But you have to work at it, and if you’re working on yourself, that is all you need! Take some “me time” instead, treat yo’ self and use some of that time to check in with where you feel you are and run through the exact same steps.
My family has this tradition of saying our favorite, funniest, or most meaningful memories at birthday dinners of whoever’s birthday it is! You should try this, it’s really fun! So, in keeping with that theme, I started asking my hubby what his favorite thing about our relationship is, what he thought needed work, if there was anything he would change of he could, etc. when we went out on our anniversary dinner. It’s a nice/fun way to make sure you’re on the same page with your relationship.
Now that we are parents, IF we make the time and IF we get to go on a date we inevitably talk about our kids. It’s going to happen! Shoot, the first couple dates we took when the kids were a few months old we both grabbed our phones and went through every single picture we had of them, showing each other, the whole, “Remember this?!”, thing. It was hilarious! Our first few nights off and that is all we wanted to do!
Now, when one or both of us bring up the kids on our date night, we ask each other parental questions to make sure we are still on the same page. Our short term goals, long term goals, anything we need to change up? What’s your favorite thing about being a parent? What’s your least favorite? Actually that last question prompted an awesome upgrade to our household early on! The kids were only a few months old and i asked Hubby what his least favorite thing was and he didn’t hesitate, he said, “Bottles, washing bottles, hands down!” I had no idea! Hubby washed the majority of the bottles, but he was fast, efficient and never complained, so I thought it wasn’t that big of a deal. Good thing I asked! The next day I ordered a fancy bottle washer (which I NEVER would have otherwise) and it ended up being a complete game changer for us! It’s honestly one of the most important baby related items in our home! For more info pop over to my Affiliates & Product Reviews Page and search Bottle Washer.
Anyways, I wouldn’t have ever known what a big deal this was for him OR it would have quietly built up and turned into resentment, which no one wants! So, yes, this is a fun dorky “game” to play at dinner on your precious time “off”, but it has become a very important part of our relationship and it’s even more important now as new parents! You don’t have to do this on every date night, honestly you shouldn’t! But, every now and then pick a date to play the “questions game” to check in with each other. Or if you take yourself out or finally have some ME TIME, use it to check in with yourself, you’ll be glad you did and your kids will only benefit from it!
It might feel weird, or stupid, or nerve wracking at first, so here are a few downloadable questionnaires to get you started! You can use these questions as discussion points, or each fill one out while you’re waiting for your appitizer and swap them to see how each of you answered! These are just suggestions to get the ball rolling, feel free to make them your own!
