How Can Newlyweds Spend Quality Time?

A friend just told me about how tough it was for her the first two months of marriage because her hubby started a brand new job the week they got back from their honeymoon.

Sometimes, newlyweds can often think that they will get to spend more time with each other by default because they live together but often time schedules or prior commitments can eat up much of that time. The key to any healthy relationship is communication. In order to communicate effectively, it is important to invest some time into your young marriage. If you think of your marriage compared to the life stages of a child, it gives it a different twist. A baby needs a lot of time and care. Not that a four year old or a ten year old doesn’t, but they don’t need the kind of care that a newborn would.

When you first get married, it is really helpful to give your marriage a lot of time and care and then adjust the type of time and care that you need as time goes on. You two will always need couple time but in these first few years, be sure to give yourself plenty of time to learn about each other as a husband and wife. You might have been together for a long time but either way, both of you are new at this whole “spouse” thing so give yourself time to search it out.

Here are a couple of quality time tips:

1) walk or run together (you get exercise and can debrief your day, kills two birds with one stone!),

2) pray together (connecting with the Lord can bring you closer to Him and to each other),

3) cook and clean-up together(sounds simple but you would be amazed at how a dinner at home can foster good communication plus you are sharing in the house hold work which earns respect for both husband and wife),

4) read with each other (we go to Barnes and Noble and will read and then share what we learned with each other, there’s just something special about being in the same place learning about something new),

5) pick a tv show to watch together (having dedicated time even to snuggle up on the couch and watch a good show will bring you closer), and

6) have a weekly date night (dating your spouse is SO MUCH FUN so take some time and nix the talking about bills and just relax and enjoy your spouse.)

No matter how you decide to spend that quality time, just remember that couple time keeps your marriage strong and growing.