Life is chaotic – time is short – money a myth. The balancing act of supporting all the important relationships in your life is tricky. As a mom I know I have to focus my time and energy on supporting positive relationships with my children, to foster their friendships with their peers, foster their family relations, and take time to be intentional with them. By the time I put my kids to bed at the end of the night – I am worn out. Physically and emotionally exhausted – relationally burnt out. In all honesty at the end of the day – I love nothing more than cozying up on my couch alone and settling into a solid hour of Netflix. But you guys….I have a husband, who I love dearly, and who I know I need to be just as intentional (if not more) about loving and spending time with him – as I do my children. I want to share with you a few of my favorite date night ideas for parents who may not have the option of hiring a babysitter and enjoying a night out on the town. So here they are – my favorite at home dates for worn out parents.

  • Eat dinner together. Once a month Mike and I wait to have dinner until after the kids are in bed. He will typically put the kids to bed while I get started on the prep work of cooking us a dinner that the kids don’t like – but that we love. Lately it has been humongous plates of Pad Thai. I love cooking, so this is super relaxing to me to be able to cook by myself without kids at my ankles. Once the kids are in bed Mike comes out and helps me finish the meal – then we sit down to eat an uninterrupted dinner together (gasp – without kids!). On these evenings we choose to leave the dishes in the sink to deal with the next day. It is so nice to be able to enjoy food together, eat at a human pace, and just take time to focus on having adult conversations at the dinner table.
  • Play games. When we were dating Mike and I played card games and board games non-stop. After we got married and had kids we have found that playing games has become a rare novelty. So every now and then we will break out the chips, put on an old burnt CD and play some of our old favorites. We love reliving the old days and it’s so fun to let our competitive spirits fly!
  • Laundry Night! I know guys – this may seem crazy – how can chores be a date night? But we do this – and while it may not be traditional “fun” – it relieves the stress of this chore from either of us solely and encourages us to spend time together. Most weeks I will try to do the laundry while Mike is at work and then typically on Sunday nights we will sit together in the living room with our piles of laundry – separate – fold- and put away together. Sometimes we just talk together while we are working, other times we are just together watching a show on Netflix – the important thing is that we are together, taking care of business, and still focusing on each other.

Amidst the chaos of life I don’t want to forget about the love of my life. These are just a few ways that we are intentional about our marriage during this time of busyness and tight wallets. The great thing about a marriage based off of friendship is that you can take normal everyday events like dinner and laundry – and turn them into serious bonding time…

This is motherhood…

Mom’s Corner