Is your marriage teenager proof?

When your child was a toddler there was MOPS or various play groups that provided a place to connect and find support among fellow mothers. Years down the road many parents are blindsided by the reality of how their world can be turned upside down with teenagers just as much as having a toddler.

Where do parents of teenagers turn to for support?

If parents of teens are not careful it is very easy to wake up the next morning and discover your marriage is on the rocks.

• There is less time for sexual intimacy
• There is tension that comes with enforcing family rules
• Before they can drive you are spending much of your time taking your teen place to place
• When they do drive you are worrying about when they will return.

Add the count down to the financial strain of college and thoughts of affording your own retirement in the not to distant future. Before you know it you have a marriage destined for counseling.

There are several ways to be proactive in protecting your marriage:

1. Have God the center of your marriage. Think of your marriage as a triangle, you and your husband are equal and God is the apex. He is the glue that will bind you together during the hardest of times.
2. Parent together. Don’t hide things from your spouse and face your teen as a united front. Disagreements about punishment or how things will be handled should be done behind closed doors.
3. Pick and chose your battles with both your spouse and your teen. What difference does something make in the long run?
4. Make time for each other. THIS IS A MUST!! No matter what craziness is going on around you, make a date for just you and your spouse almost every week.
5. Keep the lines of communication open! Keep the lines of communication OPEN! (yes, I repeated myself because this is an absolute must).

Most importantly, keep your sense of humor alive. Having teenagers is fun, it is exciting to watch them become their own person and make their own decisions. This can also be a time that is scary for parents as we are in the process of learning to let go. I wish I could say I am on the flip side of things and I have raised healthy teens and my marriage survived the force of teenagers, but I am in the beginning phase of it. I am excited to be writing here at Wedded Bliss and share with you my journey of the good, bad and ugly of raising teens and their effect on the marriage relationship.

Extraordinary Wives, if you are raising teenagers or have raised teenagers what is one thing that has worked for you?

Not a member of The League of Extraordinary Wives? E-mail us at wedblissfully@gmail.com for an invitation.

Laurel is the author of the blog Laurel’s Reflections. Laurel and her husband of 15 years are currently raising two teenage sons and one elementary son.