What are some fun ways you and your spouse bond?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Crew wrote:Date night, every Saturday, almost without fail.
We go alone or it's not a "date". We have a cocktail at the bar then get a table for dinner.
The entire night is spent talking about whatever. It builds our relationship and connection.
My favorite night of the week!

What do your date nights cost, including childcare?

I have to be honest I think lots of people on this thread either have a live in nanny or older kids. Take a walk together??? How on earth would I do that with three kids under 8?

Same with happy hour at 4. GREAT in theory. With kids and activities, never gonna happen.

HH poster here. We do have an AuPair, but two boys with crazy sports schedules. Even though we have a 3rd driver, we only do HH on nights there are no activities. I will say though, we've not always had an AP, but going out at least once a week has always been a priority and was a financial consideration in getting an AP, it's one less extra expense having the AP price rolled into that night.

I simply do not understand people who don't go out with their spouse on the regular, unless of course if they are dead broke and have no help from friends or family. For our relationship, it is critical to keeping the romance alive that we still hang out and actually have fun together, without children or distractions.

On this forum, an AP is usually an Affair Partner....so...what you wrote sounds kind of funny.

And many people manage to keep their relationship together despite being broke and having no nearby family.

[Anonymous]

We both take an occasional day off and spend it together while kids are in school. This helps us reconnect. We might take a walk, go to lunch, talk, have sex...and in a lot less tired during the day than at night.

[Anonymous]

I love the couple who learns dances together.

A positive, thread, such a breath of fresh air.

We both work from home, and our kids are older, so we have tons of time together. We don't have any money, so we have to keep it simple. Our bonding thing is talking--all the time, about everything. We do all the usual homey things together--watch streaming stuff, lie in bed and talk, cook together. We run errands together, too. We're very different in our interests and hobbies, though.

My ex and I used to write silly stories together, alternating paragraphs. That was a blast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Crew wrote:Date night, every Saturday, almost without fail.
We go alone or it's not a "date". We have a cocktail at the bar then get a table for dinner.
The entire night is spent talking about whatever. It builds our relationship and connection.
My favorite night of the week!

What do your date nights cost, including childcare?

I have to be honest I think lots of people on this thread either have a live in nanny or older kids. Take a walk together??? How on earth would I do that with three kids under 8?

Same with happy hour at 4. GREAT in theory. With kids and activities, never gonna happen.

HH poster here. We do have an AuPair, but two boys with crazy sports schedules. Even though we have a 3rd driver, we only do HH on nights there are no activities. I will say though, we've not always had an AP, but going out at least once a week has always been a priority and was a financial consideration in getting an AP, it's one less extra expense having the AP price rolled into that night.

I simply do not understand people who don't go out with their spouse on the regular, unless of course if they are dead broke and have no help from friends or family. For our relationship, it is critical to keeping the romance alive that we still hang out and actually have fun together, without children or distractions.

On this forum, an AP is usually an Affair Partner....so...what you wrote sounds kind of funny.

And many people manage to keep their relationship together despite being broke and having no nearby family.

Well, duh, of course. I was answering the question, not stating that marriages don't stay together unless couples go out. It is what works for MY marriage and what helps to keep MY romance alive. We continue to date each other, make time for each other,and once a week recreate our life we had without kids. We like the reminder that we still have fun together.

I realize what AP means, but I'm sure since I spelled out AuPair at the beginning, people are smart enough to be able to read between the lines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love the couple who learns dances together.

A positive, thread, such a breath of fresh air.

We both work from home, and our kids are older, so we have tons of time together. We don't have any money, so we have to keep it simple. Our bonding thing is talking--all the time, about everything. We do all the usual homey things together--watch streaming stuff, lie in bed and talk, cook together. We run errands together, too. We're very different in our interests and hobbies, though.

My ex and I used to write silly stories together, alternating paragraphs. That was a blast.

Aww, you sound like me and my DH, but we have 1 young child. We like cooking together, making our home up together, having a friend/couple over for dinner, watching TV and movies together, getting outside to swim, bike, take our DC to various activities. We both like music and occasionally see a show together. We also don't have money!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Crew wrote:Date night, every Saturday, almost without fail.
We go alone or it's not a "date". We have a cocktail at the bar then get a table for dinner.
The entire night is spent talking about whatever. It builds our relationship and connection.
My favorite night of the week!

What do your date nights cost, including childcare?

I have to be honest I think lots of people on this thread either have a live in nanny or older kids. Take a walk together??? How on earth would I do that with three kids under 8?

Same with happy hour at 4. GREAT in theory. With kids and activities, never gonna happen.

HH poster here. We do have an AuPair, but two boys with crazy sports schedules. Even though we have a 3rd driver, we only do HH on nights there are no activities. I will say though, we've not always had an AP, but going out at least once a week has always been a priority and was a financial consideration in getting an AP, it's one less extra expense having the AP price rolled into that night.

I simply do not understand people who don't go out with their spouse on the regular, unless of course if they are dead broke and have no help from friends or family. For our relationship, it is critical to keeping the romance alive that we still hang out and actually have fun together, without children or distractions.

Come on, stop being smug. Surely you realize there are lots of people who can't afford an au pair to drive the kids around while they go to happy hour? I agree, regular date nights are great, but not every couple has the time or resources to do that. It's just dumb to say you "simply don't understand."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Crew wrote:Date night, every Saturday, almost without fail.
We go alone or it's not a "date". We have a cocktail at the bar then get a table for dinner.
The entire night is spent talking about whatever. It builds our relationship and connection.
My favorite night of the week!

What do your date nights cost, including childcare?

I have to be honest I think lots of people on this thread either have a live in nanny or older kids. Take a walk together??? How on earth would I do that with three kids under 8?

Same with happy hour at 4. GREAT in theory. With kids and activities, never gonna happen.

HH poster here. We do have an AuPair, but two boys with crazy sports schedules. Even though we have a 3rd driver, we only do HH on nights there are no activities. I will say though, we've not always had an AP, but going out at least once a week has always been a priority and was a financial consideration in getting an AP, it's one less extra expense having the AP price rolled into that night.

I simply do not understand people who don't go out with their spouse on the regular, unless of course if they are dead broke and have no help from friends or family. For our relationship, it is critical to keeping the romance alive that we still hang out and actually have fun together, without children or distractions.

On this forum, an AP is usually an Affair Partner....so...what you wrote sounds kind of funny.

And many people manage to keep their relationship together despite being broke and having no nearby family.

Well, duh, of course. I was answering the question, not stating that marriages don't stay together unless couples go out. It is what works for MY marriage and what helps to keep MY romance alive. We continue to date each other, make time for each other,and once a week recreate our life we had without kids. We like the reminder that we still have fun together.

I realize what AP means, but I'm sure since I spelled out AuPair at the beginning, people are smart enough to be able to read between the lines.

You are smug. But maybe I'm the one who should be....I don't seem to need as much effort to have fun and keep the romance alive in my relationship as you do.

[Anonymous]

Our kids are still in daycare, so 2x a month, we do a 4pm happy hour (free babysitting!) near the center. Just an hour together does wonders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We both take an occasional day off and spend it together while kids are in school. This helps us reconnect. We might take a walk, go to lunch, talk, have sex...and in a lot less tired during the day than at night.

I don't get why more people (if they have the vacation days available) don't do this. Our DC is still in daycare. For all that we're paying for daycare, you better believe we're going to do a day date now and again!

Plus, you can get a good 8 hours in instead of maybe the 4 or so you'd have on date night....

[Anonymous]

Get together and judge other people...

Serious answers:

- Board games - we have a scrabble score card that we've kept up for the entirety of our relationship. I'm winning.
- We commute together in the morning and listen to podcasts together. Otherwise, we listen to some of the same podcasts, and discuss those when they are particularly good/a good guest is on
- Take walks/go on hikes
- We text each other cat memes and/or made up names for future pets
- We have a lot of dumb inside jokes
- Our favorite date is a coffee shop/reading date

[Anonymous]

We paint together. Neither of is artistic beyond average doodling skill, but it's relaxing!

[Anonymous]

we don't

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Travel, cooking, game night, taking a bath together, sending each other old photos (birth to age 21/22) with funny captions or stories, long walks

[Anonymous]

We play golf together. Best 4 hours ever, out on a beautiful course enjoying nature and the game…very conducive to talking.

Other than that we have recently gotten into the habit of taking a lunchtime break together, either mountain biking, taking a run, or going out to lunch (with wine!). Its nice to take time out for one another in the middle of the day. We used to do date nights once a week but recently moved so are still building up our sitter arsenal, they have been less frequent. I will say, moving thousands of miles from all of your friends and family is another great way to bond, you really rely on one another in a new and very cool way.