How about an early Valentine’s Day date to focus on the two of you? Maureen Campion, director of Parenting Oasis is holding a marriage seminar on Monday evening. She shares more about it below.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, February 7-14 is Marriage Week USA. For parents of little ones, focusing on marriage seems nearly impossible. When you have no time, energy or privacy, how are you supposed to even argue? Marriages suffer through the baby years. When you cut down a really old tree and look at the rings; you can see the droughts by the small rings. These are the drought years. Hopefully you got a good start and planted in a really good spot before the kids came along, and hopefully nothing horrible happens during the drought. Once you can get away a bit, get enough sleep and maybe wean or get the kids out of your bed for a few hours, you look around to see if your partner is still breathing.

For all the child development parents read, it is amazing that most people know little about marriage development. There is some great stuff out there about creating powerful relationships or decreasing the risk of divorce. There are books, classes, marriage counseling. There are even online marriage education courses. What could matter more to our children than the environment they are raised in?

What matters in marriage? “Please” and “thank you’s” makes a huge difference. Partners who treat each other like good friends have more powerful relationships. “I’m sorry” is worth a boatload of roses and “you might have a point” is priceless. Your dentist taught you a long time ago that if you want you teeth to last a lifetime, you need to take care of them every day. Marriages require the same attention.
 
smartmarriage.com
marriagefriendlytherapists.com

Monday, February 11 from 6:30-8 pm Maureen Campion, psychologist, marriage counselor and director of Parenting Oasis shares her passion for marriage and some practical advice for building a relationship for a lifetime in a positive, entertaining seminar. $25/person $40/couple
 
The Parenting Oasis is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit human service agency dedicated to strengthening, educating and supporting parents in the Twin Cities, from conception through the toddler years by providing community space, educational programs, and resources.

Parenting Oasis 3901 Chicago Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55407
To register email parentingoasis@gmail.com or call 612-205-7050

This entry was posted on Friday, February 8th, 2008 at 10:13 am and is filed under Family Life, Main, Things to Do. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.