Little people
July 24, 2009If your marriage brings forth children, how do you expect it to impact the marriage?
This week’s question is very easy to answer. Children in a family impact anything and everything from finances to personal time. Financially, children are very expensive. Just outfitting the home with essentials such as a crib, bottle, diapers, rash creams, etc adds up very quickly. And since, most children like to eat, the grocery bill skyrocket immediately.
Another challenge is the fact the one’s life is never hers again. Babies and children demand time, attention and love. Not only will a couple have less time for the outside world, they have less time to focus on just each other.
That said, every parent I know says that he/she didn’t know that he/she could love anyone as much as he or she loves his/her children. So the biggest impact is the complicated feelings of loving a child while knowing and feeling overwhelmed with the responsibility of protecting, teaching, and providing for that child.
A good friend commented once that she was very happy that she had no questions regarding her love for her husband and that they had a solid foundation in their marriage because the first year of having a child left them very little time for themselves. Another friend told me that joint decision making regarding children is very difficult. She encouraged having good communication techniques in place because emotions will run very high when making decisions on everything from childcare to schools and what sports children will play.
Having no children, I can only imagine the impact children bring to a marriage. How ever I also imagine that ideas reality are very different.
