MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
:: 
Child rearing
•
Things you and your spouse can
do for practically nothing
• Hold hands and walk around the neighborhood.
• Read a book together aloud.
• Go to a park and cook out or picnic.
• Have a TV date at home.
• Go to the beach. Park where it’s free.
• Take a long walk at the mall.
• Go on the hiking trails.
• Take a bike ride.
• Go to a section of the city that is littered and clean it
up together.
• At your local grocery store volunteer to bag groceries.
• Fly a kite.
• Go fishing.
• Swim at the local public swimming pool and get a tan together.
How to invest in your children
• Every day read to your children.
• Every day pray with your children.
• Once a week spend an hour of quality time with each child
alone. You don’t have to do anything really special –
just be with them alone and let them know that they are special.
• Once a month spend the better part of a day with each child
doing the same thing as long as they will allow you to do this.
Before too long it won’t be “cool” for them do
to do this with you and you will have a hard time selling this to
them. Keep doing the day together routine as long as you can. Again,
it doesn’t have to be anything earth shattering – just
time spent together.
• Once a year get away for a weekend with just the two of
you to do something special – as special as you can afford
financially. This will be time that they will treasure in the years
to come.
Ways to insure you’ll celebrate
your 50th wedding anniversary
• Say “I love you multiple times each day” even
if you are not a verbal person. You can learn new tricks even if
you are an old dog. Wives need that verbal affirmation and most
men don’t understand that dynamic.
• Say, “Thank you” often for the small things
and common courtesies that transpire between the two of you each
day.
• Go out on a date on a regular basis. I would recommend once
a week, but I realize that is too frequent to be a reality for most.
Twice a month should be workable by even the busiest.
Things to do before you leave
your spouse
This is if you are thinking of leaving your spouse. If your spouse
is thinking of leaving you this would not be an appropriate list.
In that case, you may well have some issues that need to be addressed
by a professional counselor and outside intervention may well need
to take place in either case.
But before you leave your spouse consider this:
• Sit back and realize that you are in a spiritual battle.
This is especially exacerbated in the atmosphere that is created
around church planting.
• Determine to fight the spiritual forces
that are at work in your marriage together in the same direction
instead of fighting one another.
|
