In the words of Luther Vandross…”Can I take you out tonight?” I figured since my last post was on divorce it seems very appropriate to veer into the opposite side of that with one way to keep your relationship sizzling… Date Night. Now it doesn’t matter if you are just dating you are newly engaged which if you are by the way congratulations, a newlywed or you’ve been married for 50 plus years. Having date nights for couples can help them sustain a successful, vibrant relationship.
I was recently at my local YMCA and as I was coming down the stairs I noticed one of their advertisements was for a kid’s night in, as I stepped forward to get a closer view of what the text said I became more intrigued.
But it’s such an amazing idea for the local YMCA, well at least the ones in my area, too offer such an opportunity for parents. Now, before you go just dropping your kids off at the their front door, check your local listings. And after checking your YMCA go ahead and take each other out. Notice I said each other.
The fun thing about date night is the versatility of it, your date night can be outside the house. Maybe there’s a new local fancy restaurant you’ve been wanting to try, maybe you want to get out of town for a little bit and date night turns into a date afternoon. Or maybe you want to try a date night in, where you turn on some mood music, light a few candles and make dinner together. The whole point of date night is connection, having the space for a check in, asking each other, how are you? No, how are you really doing? Open up the safe space, create the connection and do the work! This is why there’s a saying of, marriage takes work. Remember, as with anything, what you invest into your marriage is what you will get out of it.
So what do you do during this special time, don’t talk about your careers, the house or even the kids, these topics are part of your day to day conversations. You can and should go one night, at least where the focus is on you as a couple. Talk about your dreams, your aspirations and your individual goals. Play 50+ questions, board games if your staying in such as Scrabble, ok that’s my favorite. Paint with each other or on each other, even working out together, all of these helps strengthen your bond, helps keep the spark alive or reignite that spark. And when it comes to having a date night with your partner, remember it doesn’t really matter what your doing as long as your doing it together.
