My wife and have been married for one year as of march 27, 2009. like any other first year of marriage, we've had our ups and downs. Unlike most marriages, I'm twenty years old and she's 19. we've had our fair share of fights, and out good share of fun times. neither of us went to college, though we both want to. another thing with our marriage, is we also have a six month old daughter named Sophie Elyse. so you have to factors to look at our marriage and go,"wow, they are both young, have a kid, and are still married after one year". Amazing i know.
there are a few things that make our marriage work, and possibly yours to.
- in an argument, end it as soon as possible.
the longer an argument is, the more harsh words, or past wrongs can be pulled out and repeated, which normally makes the situation worse. in my experience, the arguing can go on forever, from five min to days. and something is always said that is either irrelevant to the matter, or just plain harsh. no matter what your arguing about, consider this: one person is right, while the other is partially right. if neither of you are wrong, then how do you end the fight? you can either give up and apologies, stating that you are wrong and the other is right. or take in what the other is saying and incorporate that into your reasoning on your side. this says that yes the other is right, but because of this, your right as well. both apologies, and move on. don't forget about it completely, but go on with your day without holding a grudge
2. take some time to yourself, get out of each others hairs
everyone needs some space. the younger you are, the more important this is. when your dating, its much easier to have space. you can go on a date, drop them off, and go do what ever it is that you want. when you move in together, this is somewhat restricted because you not only sleep together, you do everything together. once your married, you do everything but work together. a guys night out once in a while is not the end of the world. neither is a woman's night out. with a child, this complicates it more, due to babysitter, or your significant other watching her/him. best advice on that, set aside one thing that you can do by yourself, same for your partner, and smooth the scheduling out. makes for less arguments and far more interesting conversation.
3. trust
this is a simple topic, but most people have a hard time with it. either one of you has a very lengthy history, or you might just have few skeletons in your closet. now, you can either ask for step by step account of your partners day. or get a few highlights. whether or not this happens is up to the other. don't push the matter, or it just goes into another argument. when Sarah does that with me, i simply say "yes mother" which is what it makes me feel like, way back before the curfew came into effect. this doesn't help the matter, it still happens, but its a work in progress. we live together so much of our lives are wrapped into each others. if your suspicious of something, ask. but don't be a mother or father to your significant other.
4. have fun and do stuff to entertain each other
yes a dinner and a movie does get old after a while. mix it up with a long drive to no where(be wary of gas prices), a long walk, or go outside and enjoy each others company. card games are a possibility here, but remember, in poker you probably are losing your own money. with a daughter, we tend to play with her a lot. bonding time for us is normally then. we go for walks with our daughter, and the occasional drive(works for sleeping babies). take a vacation to somewhere you either never been before, or you both want to visit.
so basically, in one year, we have had a few bumps in our road together. we have worked through all of our problems. the main thing is to understand that love is a big part of a relationship.
hope these ideas can help with any of your problems, they certainly helped me.
