Dave Willis
We have four young kids and my wife Ashley and I want to prepare them to be in a healthy marriage someday. We refuse to buy into the flawed modern belief that marriage success rates are just a 50/50 coin toss, so two of our four kids will probably end up divorced. We’ve seen that teaching the right principles early on can greatly enhance a child’s likelihood of a thriving marriage later in life.
One of your most important duties as a parent is to equip your children for success in their future marriage. We’re convinced that preparing for marriage doesn’t start with a premarital counseling course. It should start MUCH sooner! It begins with teaching and modeling the right lessons for kids from the time they’re very young. If you’ll teach your kids these simple lessons, you’ll be setting them up for success if their future marriage and family.
7 ways to prepare your kids for a healthy marriage:
1. Strive to have the kind of marriage that makes your kids actually want to get married someday. One of the most common mistakes in modern marriage is to put your own marriage relationship “on hold” while you’re raising your kids. When you do this, you wind up with an “empty nest” and an empty marriage. One of the greatest gifts you can give your kids is the security that comes from seeing their mom and dad in a loving, committed marriage.
2. Help your children have healthy relationships with siblings. This may seem unrelated to marriage, but it has a HUGE connection. The sibling relationship in childhood mirrors many aspects of the husband/wife relationship in adulthood. You’re sharing space, sharing responsibilities, etc. When children learn to “play nice” and have love and respect for their siblings, their hearts and minds are being trained to better love and respect a spouse someday.
3. Help your kids choose the right friends and the right boyfriends/girlfriends. At any age, our friends have a huge influence on our behaviors and attitudes, so while your kids are young, help them determine the character traits they should look for in potential friends and, when they’re ready to date, in potential boyfriends/girlfriends as well. Take an active interest in every one of their relationships.
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