Dating when you have children is not easy. Somehow you have to juggle work, taking care of your home and still set aside enough time for your child(ren) and your significant other.
It doesn’t matter if you’re married, divorced, or a single parent, everyone is faced with the same problem. How do I make time for the special adult person in my life without feeling guilty?
Delving Into One of the Saddest Challenges of Motherhood
This is one of the saddest problems I’ve heard from my parent friends. I’ve lost count how many times someone has told me that their spouse has nearly forgotten about them as a partner and only knows how to function as parents. My answer to them has always been the same, they need a date night.
Give yourself a chance to escape!
1. Get a Babysitter
Date night doesn’t always have to be something big and extravagant, especially if you’re on a budget. It could be something as small as getting a babysitter to watch the kids and eating dinner while it’s still warm and finishing up the evening watching a movie that doesn’t need to be paused a million times and is outside the cartoon universe.
2. Get Your Parents to do a Sleepover
If you happen to be one of the lucky few that have your parents nearby, see if you can set up a schedule with them. Maybe once a month they can take the kids for a sleepover, and you and your significant other can finish a project that you’ve been avoiding.
Maybe you will finally be able to go check out that new restaurant or just simply go for a walk and talk about things that you may not have wanted little ears to hear. But either way, give yourself a chance to escape.
3. Try Something New Every Time
Another thing that you have to make sure you don’t do is fall into the trap of being repetitive.
If you did a Friday night dinner and movie one month, the next plan to do something during the day. Take in nature and go for a walk and explore gardens or parks nearby. Maybe before you can get coffee and breakfast and then grab lunch before picking up the kids.
You could try something new like paddle boarding, it doesn’t have to be in the ocean either, many places with lakes and rivers have this as an option.
If you’re landlocked or have no balance maybe you two can spend the day challenging each other to a round of mini-golf, there are even some courses now that have servers that will bring drinks to whatever hole you’re at.
Let’s say you aren’t the outdoors type. You can find a video arcade and challenge your partner to see who can get the most tickets by the end of the night.
4. Take Time to Focus on One-Another, Not on the Activity
No matter where your destination may be, it really doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you are truly taking the time out to focus on one another. That means putting the phone away while in the car and talk to each other. Talk to your partner about your new dreams and outlooks on life.
Maybe you are one of those people who say they’ve changed once they became a parent. You could have been carefree and a bit wild before your little one came into this world and your spouse may not be used to the new you. Take this time without any pressure to show them who you are.
5. Rediscover Your Significant Other
Or maybe you are on the other side of the coin and you’re the parent who is watching their loved one change into a new person. Re-establishing your partnership is probably the hardest skill that a parent has to master.
I’ve had a few friends try this and tell me later that it felt like it was almost as if they were going on a first date with their significant others. They either have forgotten how funny their spouse is or how amazing of a cook they are once they don’t have a little one hanging on their leg begging to be picked up.
The Best Present You Can Give Yourself – Time Away from Your Kids!
The time away from your children matters. It helps you build a stronger relationship with your significant other. And that stronger relationship brings in more love and stability into the home. No matter what way you look at it it’s a win-win.
I’m Alexandra, a full time mom/stepmom and morning news editor. I work the mommy shift, which means I’m into the newsroom at 3am and out before noon. I consider myself to be a true Florida mom. I encourage my little ones to spend as much time as they can out on the water, and in nature, before the summer melting time hits. I started as a creative writer and have been slowly transitioning into a blogger, mostly discussing my health and my experiences as a new mom.