Adulting is hard! It leaves us constantly juggling our priorities in order to establish some semblance of a sustainable routine.
If you choose to get married and start a family, the balancing act becomes even more delicate. Suddenly, not only are you managing your own time, you also have other schedules to take into consideration. Your life becomes consumed – in a good way – with caring for your children and providing an environment for them to grow and flourish in. But your relationship with your spouse also requires nurturing. Here, these three local ladies fill us in on how they try to balance marriage and family time with their own busy schedules.
My key to balancing couple and family time is simple ... a lot of prayer, endurance, and time management. I simply make time for the ones I love amongst my professional and political obligations. It’s a lot! Most days, I don’t know if I am coming or going. However, one thing is for sure: I make time to be present for those who are most important to me, and that is my husband and family. I plan everything else around them. My secret weapons are my Google calendar and my planner; they provide guidance for my daily schedule. As for couple time, we make it a point to keep our weekly date night, and we have our evening couple check-ins with one another. Being in tune as a couple is important to us.”
My husband and I embrace that in this stage of our life, with a 3- and 10-year-old and two full-time jobs, time with each other is most often also time with our children. We have a lot of thriving younger and older couples in our church who are tangible reminders of more adventurous years we had before children, as well as wonderful years we can hope to have together after our children are grown. In the meantime, enjoying coffee together in the mornings and evenings together on our screened-in porch, with a mix of intentional conversation and wasted time together, are peaceful bookends to our busy days.”
My husband and I have a newfound appreciation for exercising with our children and teaching them the importance of staying active. This daily exercise routine allows us all to stay connected in the morning, clear our minds, and communicate with each other – it is amazing what a 4-year-old has insights on! Furthermore, we are in the process of opening a daycare/preschool in downtown Chattanooga. The project of building and opening a state-of-the-art school with my husband has been a fulfilling endeavor that’s brought us closer together. We have found a new normal that incorporates a way to continue things we love doing with our children, while also finding time for each other.”
