I have found that with the addition of our second child, my marriage has taken another hit. It is extremely hard to find any moments of alone time with my husband, and the lack of sleep really takes it toll on both of us. I am very blessed to have a wonderful husband, who is incredibly supportive, helpful and patient. We both have very busy lives, which just adds to the chaos, but we are still making it work.
On days when our relationship is weak or we are not happy with each other, we both suffer. There are so many things that we are working on to help create a stronger marriage, and this book, The Happy Couple Handbook has been so helpful for us.
The Happy Couple Handbook is a guide to help couples make a smooth transition from partnership to parenthood while preserving intimacy. The author, Dr. Carol Lindquist, provides ingenious ways for couples to grow closer, savor their sex lives, cultivate a loving village, and even how to argue so they can build warmer, more loving marriages.
We started reading this book together in any few moments of quiet we could find. It became a pretty special time for us, as we focused on our relationship, instead of work or the children. That may sound like the most boring way to spend a few quiet moments together, but it was quite fun! Each chapter has good tips, checklists and how-to's, and it generated a lot of good discussion between us. There were also several funny cartoons tucked in the chapters to lighten things up.
I personally learned a lot from this book that I had never thought of before. For instance, she talks about the Five Stages that couples go through including: Bliss, Discovery of Differences, Separate Identities, Friends Again, and Bonded. Don't think that you are just stuck in a rough marriage or that you are not meant to be together because your marriage is tough. A little work every day can go a long way!
I would absolutely recommend this book to all parents, especially if you just had a baby. No matter how many years you have been married, I think this book would be very helpful to all! You can buy it online for $17.99. That is a lot cheaper than going to a therapist, right?
Dear Cara,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this wonderful review. My apologies that it only just came to my attention.
Over the past months we found that the title "Happy Couple Handbook" was not helping sales and as a result, Dr. Carol's book, The Happy Couple Handbook, has been re-issued with a new more positive title, which is: Happily Married With Kids: It's Not a Fairy Tale. It is the same book you reviewed, just with a new title. To confuse even more, if possible, this is almost the same title as her first book, published in 2004, of which the new one is a revised and updated edition.
I don't know whether or not mentioning this in your blog is appropriate. Your call. I would like to ask a favor, if it would it be possible for you to post some of your wonderful book review for the new book on Amazon.com - Let me know and I will gladly have one of the re-titled books sent to you!
Do you have any ideas what I can do with my 100 copies of this wonderful book, with the title The Happy Couple Handbook?
Thanks again for your kind review. The more I work with Dr. Carol the more I learn about life, love and relationships.
Kind regards,
Janet Verdeguer
Marketing Director
Carol Ummel Lindquist, Ph.D.
941-870-3422