KEYS TO FAMILY HAPPINESS- How Children Change a Marriage

CHALLENGE 2: Your relationship as a couple weakens.

Exhausted by fragmented sleep and unexpected crises, many new parents struggle to remain close.  Vivianne, a French mother of two infants, admits:  "At first, I was so focused on my duty as a mother that I almost forgot my role as a wife." 

On the other hand, a husband may fail to recognize that pregnancy has taken a toil on  his wife-both physically and emotionally.  A new baby can consume time and energy that both of you formerly used to remain emotionally and sexually intimate.  How, then, can a couple ensure that their helpless, lovable baby does  not become a wedge that drives them apart?

*A key to success: Reaffirm your love for each other.  Describing marriage, the Bible states:  "A man will leave his father and his mother and he must  stick to his wife and they must become as one flesh."  (Genesis 2:24) Jehovah God intended that children eventually leave their parents.  By contrast, God expects the one flesh bond between a  husband and his wife to last a lifetime.    (Matthew19:3-9) How can appreciating that fact help a couple with a new baby to maintain proper priorities?

Vivianne, quoted earlier, says:  "I thought about the words  at Genesis 2:24, and that verse helped me realize that I had become 'one flesh' with my husband-not with my child.  I saw the need to strengthen our marriage."  Theresa, the mother of a two-year-old girl, says:  "If I start to feel distant from my husband, I make immediate efforts to give him my full attention, even if only for a little while each day.

Next time: Conclusion of  CHALLENGE 2:  Your relationship as  a couple weakens

Watchtower, 2011