This time in quarantine can prove to be challenging for many couples. The increased amount of time together, added stresses, etc. have left many couples seeking ways to revitalize their marriage in a healthy way. Below are a few opportunites for you and your spouse to reconnect emotionally and spiritually during this unique time.
Being together with your spouse is a beautiful gift, but being together 24/7 with your spouse, your kids, and your jobs with nowhere to go sometimes looks a little less like a beautiful gift. So let’s all find ways to rekindle the joy that our marriage brings us. While we can’t get out, we need time to unwind!
Reconnect with your spouse, take yourself lightly and laugh, rekindle physical affection in the midst of the mundane.
Do your marriage a favor and set aside your phones, change out of your sweatpants, and date your spouse!
Here are some quarantined date night ideas to try:
Cook dinner with what you’ve got! Get creative and try a new recipe
Can’t stand the thought of cooking another meal? Order carryout or delivery from your favorite local restaurant and eat dinner after the kids are in bed
Make a new dessert and pop open a bottle of wine
Get out of the kitchen for the date! Have a picnic in your living room or bundle up and sit on the patio
Play a game! Grab a deck of cards or your favorite game
Make a cocktail and ask questions you would have asked when you were dating
What was our best date and our worst date before we were married?
What was your most embarrassing moment while we were dating?
If I was an animal, what animal do you think I would be?
If there were pets in Heaven, what would yours be?
If we could go on any adventure, anywhere in the world right now, where would we go?
If there was no danger, what would be one extreme adventure you would do?
During this time of constant flux and lack of daily routine, it can be easy to forget to carve out time to reconnect with your spouse on a deeper level. In addition to taking a date night together, work on ways to carve out intentional time to reconnect as spouses, not just roommates!
Take a night, get your kids down for bed, set aside your phones, and ask each other questions to get to know how each of you are actually doing:
What has been one of the best parts of being quarantined for you? The hardest?
What is one way I could help you feel more whole during this time? Take the kids while you exercise? Take on cooking dinner? Handle bathtime? Fold laundry?
What do you miss most about the routine we had previously?
Set aside time over the weekend to write each other a letter expressing gratitude for how your spouse has stepped up and served during this time of quarantine. Try to see the ways they are trying to help, rather than the things they could be doing better!
End your day in bed together sharing three things you are grateful for from that day. Do this every night of quarantine.
Wake up early and have coffee before the kids wake up
Pray together! Read the Mass readings of the day, say a decade of the rosary, pray in silence or with Scripture
Discuss your goals/hopes for the day
Ask your spouse for one thing you can help take off their plate that day
Disconnect from technology and social media
Instead of scrolling while there’s down time, write a quick note to your spouse or get ahead on the dishes
As soon as the kids are down, set your phones in a different room and unplug
Do the chores that your spouse likes the least
Don’t forget to be physically affectionate with your spouse...steal a kiss in the kitchen, hold hands while watching Netflix...you do you!
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