Children
Don't fight around your children. Period. It's not fair to your children or your family as a whole. Remember, your kids look to you as a role model so you should be careful with how and what you say around them. Often times it can be rather damaging to a child who has grown up in a home with thier parents fighting too much around them. If you are in a mental or physical abusive relationship, you should seek counseling for yourself, your spouse and maybe even your children if they have been exposed.
Family
Have a family day together once a week if you can. It doesn't matter what you do, just get out of the house and do something together as a family. Take the kids to a park, go to the beach, or just go for a walk somewhere. Getting out as a family is a great way to help communication with your spouse and your children. Family time is very important and can help to create a much healthier lifestyle.
Date Night
If you have children, then you're probably thinking "yeah right, what's a date?" Well, you need your own time together as a couple as well. Try to set aside one day or night a week for the two of you to get out together. Go to the movies, dinner or just to shoot pool, do whatever you want to do. The whole point is to get out and have a good time together. Family time is important, but so is the time that the two of you spend alone. See if you can get a sitter for a couple of hours so that you can get out and have a date.
Behavior
You have to be mature. You're adults so act like it. So many couples scream and yell to the top of thier lungs, slam doors and curse each other out. It's not worth it! It all goes back to communication. if you have a problem, talk about it in a civil manner. Don't make a big scene and start calling each other namee, it's childish.
Respect
Think of the one person in your life that you have the highest respect for, it could be your mother, grandparent, or close friend. You should treat your spouse no differently from that person. You must have a mutual respect between the two of you.
I hope that these "guidelines" can help your marriage. If you practice them every day, you should really notice an improvement in your relationship and family as a whole. Just don't give up before you have tried every thing in your power to save your marriage. Don't let your relationship go to waste, fight for it! You owe it to yourself and your children if you have any, to at least try.
