The Mom, Wife, Dream Life

Being a parent is the most rewarding and exhausting thing ever. I love being a mom, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. Being married to a wonderful man who supports me as an individual and mother is also rewarding as it allows for me to grow in those roles and be able to become the best wife, mom, and dreamer I can be.

How Do We Find Time to Go On Dates?

As parents, it’s hard to find time to be alone, especially as parents to young kids. We can’t be gone too long because I am the food source to our youngest, and we can’t be gone too long because my anxiety tends to skyrocket when I am away from them. I don’t know why, but since becoming a mom, I have felt more anxiety than I did before, or maybe it’s just in different ways. For instance, when I can’t physically see, hear, or be with my kids, I worry about them and worry about what will happen or won’t happen when we are apart. The world is not as safe as it used to be, and I don’t know if that’s because there are more news stories about all the bad things or what, but the fact of the matter is, I don’t trust my kids to be away from me and my husband for very long.

Date Night is hard to come by these days when life gets crazy busy, and we always seem to be running around trying to get the house cleaned up or back in order. We try to plan our date nights for every Friday night. It’s a good time to reflect on the week and be able to give ourselves a little “congratulations, you made it through another week” pick-me-up type of thing. Since we don’t like to be alone from our girls for very long, we usually just end up taking them with us on our dates. Which is fine, because to us, our family deserves a date just as much as our marriage does. Not to mention it’s fun being able to take the girls out and about and be able to create those memories with them.

What Type of Dates Are Good For Busy Parents?

Now, there are times when we want to have a somewhat fancy date night, and those usually land around the time of our birthdays, our anniversary, or national holidays. Those times that we’ve gone on a date without our girls are few and far between. Hopefully, these date night ideas can give you some insight into what you could do when you and your partner can’t seem to catch a break from the business of life, or if you are too tired to plan something out. Don’t worry, these ideas are simple and easy to use on a whim. These ideas are proven to be good, as we have used them ourselves.

Date Nights Staying In:

Movie Marathon with your favorite treat/snack
TV Show Binge-watch with your go-to ice cream tub
“Spa Night” May include taking a bath with a bath bomb/steamy shower (together or separate), face masks, giving and receiving a gentle massage, listening to relaxing music, lighting a candle, etc.
Doing a puzzle together (you can turn on a movie/show/music while piecing it together, or you could simply converse with one another).
Bake a yummy treat together. You could then take it to someone or a family to let them know you were thinking of them, or you could enjoy the treat yourself.
Paint a picture. You could paint a picture separately or together. It could be fun to do a little “no peaking” type of thing where you don’t show your picture until the end to add curiosity.
Karaoke Night. You and your significant other simply turn on music and sing your hearts out. It’s fun, simple, and guaranteed to get you laughing.
Board or Card Game Night. This is exactly how it sounds. Grab your favorite game and let the fun begin. You could also invite another couple(s) to join you in the Game Night entertainment.
Listen to or read a book(s) together. This may sound boring, but it’s a great way to bond with one another. This could be a mystery book, a self-help book, a religious book, a sappy romance, or even just a favorite childhood book.
Crafts and DIY. We’ve done crafts involving fixing up our house, repainting a room, painting our dining table, building a fence, or more straightforward crafts such as making bracelets, tie-dyeing shirts, and building Legos.

Date Nights Going Out:

Drive Through and Go. Pick up some food from your choice of restaurant and bring it home, to a park, or even to the car.
Take a walk. Walk around your neighborhood, go to a walkway/walk path, walk around your favorite store(s), or walk downtown.
Bike Ride. These can be fun, and you can even include your kids if you have a little bike trailer to pull the kids in, or if they are older, they could tag along on their bikes.
Late nights. These are the best for when you need to talk, rant, listen, or simply just want to relax but want to still get out of the house. You can listen to music, a book, a podcast,/or just each other.
Go to dinner. This one may be harder depending on where you live, but sometimes going to dinner, it doesn’t matter where, is fun in itself. It could be at a fast food restaurant, a fancier restaurant, or even at your local grocery store dely.
Movie Night on the town. This one is probably the most common date night I have ever heard, but it’s also so easy to just pick a movie and go, and not have to worry about much else. Now, with littles, it can be difficult to plan around nap times, and if you want a babysitter, but if it’s just the two of you and you need a quick idea. Movies are almost always a good choice.
Sam’s Club or Costco. Take a trip to one of the big stores and shop! This may get you into trouble if you are like us and love to try all the samples and all the new popular foods and snacks.
Go shopping. This may sound cliche, but shopping can be quite entertaining. Get yourself matching outfits (stylish or silly), a new pair of shoes, warmer clothes, holiday sweaters, etc.

As you can see, there are a lot of ideas, and so much more that you can find if you are at a loss. What I have also found to be beneficial for our date nights is searching Pinterest for date ideas. If you want more ideas or just didn’t like my ideas, Pinterest is going to have others you can look through. Save them for later ideas or future interest. Your date nights do not have to be extravagant to be meaningful. Dates are meant to be fun, romantic, lighthearted, and memorable. They don’t have to always be expensive, planned, or even out of the house if you’d rather stay in.

Should We Schedule Our Dates if We Are Too Busy?

Sometimes scheduling dates is easier than planning them spur of the moment. I like to have consistency when it comes to planning date nights. What I mean by this is that I like to know that we are going to have a date night. If it’s my week to plan it, I want to know in advance so that I can plan something that I know will deepen Ethan and I’s relationship as a couple. Oftentimes, it doesn’t happen like this, and I don’t have any idea what to do until the day comes. Then I jump onto Pinterest and either look up ideas, or I think of something we haven’t done in a while and change it up.

How Can Dates Help a Marriage?

Taking turns planning out dates can help keep the relationship equally balanced in terms of date nights. When you both show interest in prioritizing your relationship by scheduling or planning out dates, it benefits and strengthens your bond. I truly believe that having at least one date every week helps maintain a healthy relationship. Some relationships thrive off having one date every other week, and that’s okay too! Dates offer a huge amount of connection, intimacy, and understanding with one another that is crucial to the growth of a relationship. Creating that amount of time to be together, either with the littles or just as a couple, helps connect you on a much deeper level than you were previously.

“With genuine consideration of the needs of the other, they set out to make it a happy life.”