Love is, above all, the gift of oneself. ~Jean Anouilh
Don't you love going on a date with your husband? At my age it's easy--plan the date and go. But when you are in the middle of parenting it's a lot harder to find the time, finances or even someone to babysit when you wish for some alone time with your husband.
I was fortunate when my kids were young. I had built in baby-sitters with our senior pastor's wife, Janet, who claims my girls as grandchildren and Beth (wife of Associate Minister of Outreach). There was rarely a time when I needed another babysitter unless it was for an adult church function we were all involved in. And then I was blessed with a mature teenager, Tracy, who loved the girls and was as trustworthy as they came.
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| Ivan & Katie 2010 |
I see young parents who would benefit from a couple kid-free hours. This in no way reflective on their love of their children, but romance is essential in a couple's life. So I was wondering, how many of you could committ to giving a couple a date?
I'm not talking about steak dinner at the top restaurant or an investment of an entire evening. How about this: Take a basket, a $10.00 Starbucks card (for drinks and a treat), a CD of love songs and a frame from the dollar store. Add coupon for two hours of babysitting (or hire a babysitter) and instant date! The cost? A basket, $12.00, and 2 hours of your time. The rewards? Knowing you made an investment in the marriage of a young couple. A few minutes of holding hands, locking eyes, and talking about dreams, hopes and anything besides the craziness of life--bringing a dead marriage back to life and a good marriage even better.
I found a Dates for Mates: Romancing the One You Love by Lisa Keyes and Debbie Black while in a discount bookstore for $2.99. It's full of stories of ways to connect creatively. There's even a fun idea a wife came up with when a husband was working on his doctorate. I've tucked that one away and plan to use it sometime during this next year. This would be a good book to include in the gift basket.
Thank you for sheltering our couples of parenting age. It's Biblical. As older woman we are to mentor the younger ones. What better way to show the importance of romance and dating than with a date-in-a-basket? Give them time to talk, listen, and yes, laugh together.
Anyone can be passionate,
but it takes real lovers to be silly.
~Rose Franken
10 comments:
This was a lovely post and you have certainly touched upon something that I have been thinking about lately too. Now my kids are of teen/tween age I have been thinking of letting them stay home while my hubby and I go on some dates. They will love the responsibility and we will love the quiet time!
Blessings and best wishes to you and your family at this special time of year. Merry Christmas and Happy 2011!
Natasha.
xo
Definitely need to make more of a point of doing this..
Pamela thanks so much for stopping by my blog, I had to come over to thank you and was so pleasantly greated by your date night post. It is so true, as the mother of 5 its definately needed for a couple to have some time away from home. Thankfully we have a teenager who doesnt mind bartering babysitting for clothing or rides. lol Love that your daughters name is Melanie like me.
What a wonderful idea, when our children were younger we had wonderful grandparents to babysit. But we didn't always have the money or desire to actually go out, so we would feed the children early bundle them off to bed and have a romantic dinner at home. Now the children are older and we have our parents retreat we will on a Saturday hire a DVD and go into our bedroom to watch it with a few special treats and the kids can watch a suitable DVD in the lounge room and then go to bed.
We can now also go out at night on occasion and leave our older ones in charge.
Date nights are definitely a HUGE blessing!
Okay, I so love this post! I have three young children, and sometimes I think people forget how demanding this season of life is.
I love the image of your dress ripping. I hope that I would have the same reaction as you did, and not let a little hole ruin my evening. I tend to take life and myself too seriously, but I'm learning to lighten up and lean on God!
I enjoyed this post! Having 4 children between the ages of 3 and 11, as well as having a relatively small house, doesn't lend itself to much time alone for us! I have always felt kind of guilty for spending money on a sitter, but this year I have decided that a babysitter is a better investment than a 401k...still doing the 401k, but doing babysitters much more frequently, as well!
My parents have started a tradition of including in our Christmas gift money for a hotel and babysitting so that each of us kids can spend a weekend maintaining our marriages. That has been a blessing!
What a sweet gift idea!!! Wanted to share a Stylish Blogger Award with you....since I enjoy your blog so much! If you care to accept you can go to my craft blog for more info http://estherscardcreations.blogspot.com/
What a beautiful post! My husband and are so blessed to have lots of family and friends that are willing to watch our 4 rugrats! I hope we can help other young couples so that they can go out and enjoy that wonderful "quiet" time together! Thank you so much for your sweet comment on my blog...it truly made me smile!! Love your sweet blog!!
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. I too enjoyed and really needed this. I honestly can't remember the last time my husband and I went on a date ALONE. It's hard with to just get away, and when we do have time, we feel they need to have that time with all of us too. We do spend evenings together in the basement by the fire once a week or so, so that feels like a date; but some days, I just want to be TAKEN AWAY!!! :)
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