Alone time can be hard to come by once you become parents, especially in the early days when the kids needs are all consuming. Just ask the parent who hasn’t peed in private in over 3 years. If you can’t even go to the bathroom alone, how on earth are you supposed to find time to spend with your significant other? But of course, this precious alone time is crucial to any marriage and relationship. While your sticky fingered, juice spilling chatterboxes are a whole lot of fun, here are a few ways your can escape them for a while and steal away some one-on-one time with your lover.
1. Utilize Kid Free Time
Take advantage of any kid free time to spend together. If you both work, then meet up for lunch once a week, or drop the kids off at the gym daycare and workout together for an hour. These times during a busy week may be all the alone time you get. Remember, spending time together doesn’t have to always be romantic dinner, just as long as you are together.
2. Close The Door
As ridiculous as this sound sometimes all you need to do is close the door. Of course, make sure your kids, especially little ones, are in a safe place before going into a different room. Then, simply shut the door. It’s amazing what just a few minutes of conversation where a tiny human didn’t ask for Goldfish 364 times during your 2 minute conversation can do.
3. Pillow Talk
My husband and I do most of our talking before bed every night. Even though we are exhausted we make sure to put down our phones. Yes that means no late night Instagram scrolling. We manage to catch up before we pass out for the night. I treasure those times and I am sometimes shocked how late we actually stay up chatting because we suddenly have so much to catch up on.
4. Simple Is Good
Sometimes I find myself waiting until I have a “better moment” to connect with my spouse. But life gets in the way and sure enough often it’s been days since we have sat down and had a proper conversation. This often leads to double booked plans, hectic schedules and endless frustration. Sometimes you just have to take advantage of the moment to make time for each other. That might just simply cooking dinner while the kids watch a T.V show or a quick make-out sesh in the car when everyone has gone inside. What, you haven’t done that?
5. Take Advantage Of Naps
Speaking of sleep, if your kids are still napping, that’s your golden ticket (at least on the weekend when your man is home). Nap time may seem like the best time to tackle your to-do list, but more often then not those things can wait. Turn on a movie and break out the forbidden snacks, or take a romantic bath. The options during those precious hours are endless!
6. Get A Sitter
When those stolen moments and short conversations are proving not to be enough, bring in help. Call up a sitter, or ask the Grandparents to watch the kiddos for a few hours, or even better, overnight. Every once in a while you need to crank the alone time up a notch.