I'm not going to lie to you - being a spouse and parent at the same time is really hard. It's no wonder that a large percentage of new parents find their relationship with their spouse suffers when the baby comes along.
I think Helen and I are both self-aware enough to know this has happened a bit to us and that it is the classic case of too much to do and not enough time or energy to do it.
Taking care of Kailyn has been a pleasure, but it is also a heckuva lot of work. For Helen more than me since she is currently staying at home with the baby all day.
So recently, we decided to focus on our relationship with each other and do some introspection. We discovered that, like many couples, the root of our problems stem from one side feeling like the other side is not doing enough, and only seeing how much work we are doing on our end.
As someone pointed out to me, "There's not really a winner in the 'who does more' argument because both of you are truly doing more than you ever have before."
Ultimately we decided that communication and appreciation are key and that it's important to stay positive with each other. OK, the therapy session is over.
Parents, did you suffer a little marital strain when your babies were born? How long did it last, and how did you get over the hump?
No comments:
Post a Comment