Photo by Kevin Delvecchio on Unsplash
Have you ever wondered about the connection between your marriage relationship and its effect on your kids? It’s pretty obvious that a connection exists, but the specifics of the correlation may be a mystery. For instance, how do you resolve conflict in your marriage? Or better yet, do you resolve conflict? How does that style influence how our children learn conflict resolution? Their comfort level with conflict is a directly related to ours. In my practice I teach couples conflict resolution strategies that the entire family can learn so that conflict doesn’t have to be so scary and can be successfully resolved.  I’m hopeful that my children have observed successful conflict resolution in my marriage so that they can use these skills in their future relationships. How much affection is shared between mom and dad? It’s important for our kids to see us show affection, love, and caring with our spouse both in physical and emotional ways. Hopefully you make your marriage a priority and carve out time to communicate with your partner and plan activities together. Lastly, be sure to model respect, forgiveness, trust and  responsibility in the marriage if you expect that in return from your children. We are their role-models and influence the type of relationships they choose and the character of the partner they marry. Nurture a great marriage; your kids will thank you!