Make The Parent Pact Now

After 7 years of marriage, a mortgage, a van, and 4 kids, one thing is still the same - I still want, love, need, and date my husband; oh yeah, and I still think he's hilarious. An undeniably loving mother reflected on a very popular news site, "Mommy means my husband and I haven't had a real conversation in weeks. Mommy means I put their needs before my own, without a thought. Mommy means that my body is full of aches and my heart is full of love." Well, I agree that this Mommy's heart is full, I agree with the body aches, and I agreed that I put my children's immediate needs before my own... on a regular basis... but I must disagree... because I don't do so always... and I disagree... my husband and I have "real" deep conversations on a regular basis. I don't keep track of how often, but I'd gander to guess that we have a deep conversation at least once if not twice a week... at least. So, here's my plea... parents... newlyweds... to-be-weds...

Make The Parent Pact with me!
If and when God blesses us with children... or.... Now that God has blessed us with child(ren)... their cries will be louder, their diapers will be stinkier, their bellies will be hungrier, and their drawings will be prettier, but the reality is this - we married each other. We said, "I will love you and honor you all the days of my life," and we meant it then, and we live it now. "All the days" means that we especially have to work extra hard on the days when the little cries are louder than the cries of the one to whom we are betrothed. We will work extra hard to invest little, yet purposeful amounts of time that belong to our spouse alone... when the little people and the little devices that are not a part of the sanctity of our vow will be little specs of dust, and the one whom our heart loves will be the center of our attention, even for a few minutes.

What might be either scary or thrilling, but no less true, is that we will, God willing, still have to live with each other when the little cries become big expensive college cries. We will make The Parent Pact to not only show each other that we are exceedingly important now - in the child-rearing years - but also to show our children that in our marriage, we love each other and want to spend time with one another, and that when we make time to put our marriage and our love first; it will give our children great psychological confidence, and it will make us love our children even greater.

May The Parent Pact include a clause that states either spouse will intervene when the other seems to be placing the children in greater importance than the spouse. This is a difficult scenario to assess, especially during the newborn, pre-teen, and teen years, but we each know our own spouse - we know when the wedge is there, and we will cherish our family by nurturing our marriage through all the stages of our married lives.