Читать книгу Zero to Five - Tracy Cutchlow - Страница 16
ОглавлениеTwo-thirds of couples struggle with their marriages soon after baby arrives.
The majority of couples report a drop in marital satisfaction after baby. It hits its lowest point when the kids are teenagers, and it doesn’t rebound until the kids move out.
Why is this important for baby? Because if you’re stressed out and fighting—or headed toward divorce—you’re creating a home environment that hurts your child’s brain development.
A few factors put you at higher risk for a drop in marital satisfaction:
• If the mother’s parents are divorced or had high levels of conflict
• If you lived together before getting married
• If you had a baby soon after getting married (waiting gives you more time to get on the same page about relationship responsibilities)
• If you have a lot of negative communication and didn’t handle conflict well before baby
• If one of you didn’t want a baby but caved in
Well, that covers just about all of us.
The good news
In a third of relationships, marital satisfaction stays the same or improves after baby. What are they doing right? They’re choosing empathy (see page 127), dealing with conflicts lovingly (see page 128), sharing the chores (see page 16), and building a great support network (see page 8).
You can make a concerted effort to do these things, too.
The transition to parenthood is tough
Four studies of marital satisfaction ask different questions but arrive at similar answers.
Source: C. Walker, “Some Variations in Marital Satisfaction.” Copyright Elsevier. Used with permission.
