Christine emailed in the following tip:
We have all heard at one point that it is important to spend quality time with your spouse by having a date night — no kids, no distractions — just you and your spouse focusing on each other. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
If you are already doing this, that’s great! But if you are like me and my spouse, you might find that it’s difficult to make time for date night every week or every month.
Plus, it can be expensive. Pay a babysitter, go out to dinner, maybe a movie, gas… I am getting anxious just thinking about it! Furthermore, most nights I don’t have much energy after working, cleaning up the house, driving our daughter to her activities, fitting in dinner, weekly church events, and more.
My solution? Have a “date morning”. Our daughter enjoys sleeping in on the weekends, so we take advantage of this by getting up a little early on Saturday (7-ish) and enjoying a peaceful breakfast together, maybe a Netflix movie, or just talking. It costs us nothing, and we still fit in a couple of hours of “us” time. We also find it refreshes us and prepares us for the weekend! -Christine
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{ 24 comments... read them below or add one }
I think that’s a great idea, Christine!
I love this idea. I think couples need to think out of the box when it comes to dating to find what works for them in each stay of life. I am a natural early bird (like 5 am early) where my husband is a night owl (like midnight to one). We have found in the parent of older children stage of life that mid afternoon is the best time for us to have a date. We are both awake and in good moods and have the greatest time together and lunch menus are often less expensive than dinner menus, or we skip the meal all together and head out for a walk or a bike ride together on nice days.
My husband and I both found ourselves with a couple of hours free in the afternoon last week. My son was at school. We were able to catch a matinee. That was the first time we had gone to see a movie together in forever. I like the morning idea. It is like paying yourself first, but with date time.
Absolutely Christine! My husband and I will celebrate 24 years together this May. Our Saturday date mornings were so helpful during those tricky years when the girls were very young. A peaceful breakfast?! Just imagine.
what is a peaceful breakfast? my 9 mo old wakes at 4:45 and goes back down about 730. The 3 year old wakes at 7:30-7:45!
We try having date lunches during nap time or have our nanny watch the kids on a normal work day and we take part of the day or all of the day off!
I was just wondering how old the daughter is. My 19 month old is up at 5:30 and goes to be early (6:00 – 6:30). My 5 year old usually is up anytime between 7 and 8 am but it is 8:30 or 9:00 pm by the time she is actually asleep (it takes her a LONG time to wind down in the evenings). This means that unless my husband and I get up before 5:30 or stay up late, we don’t have an option of a date unless someone else takes the kids or we leave the house.
But I love the thinking outside the box and am hopeful that at some point my kids will be on the same schedule and we will find other options for dates with each other.
Love this ideal!
This is a great idea! Even going out to breakfast can be a lot less expensive than dinner.
I absolutely love this idea. Howevery my husband and son are kind of grouches in the early a.m. I am an early riser but I’ll keep working on them though. In the meantime, I’ll shoot for an afternoon date at naptime
We do this for Valentine’s Day! We go out to breakfast instead of dinner–it’s cheaper and less stressful. We also take a morning together if we’ve had particularly busy evenings and haven’t gotten to eat dinner together. It’s a nice change of pace.
Christine, you are very blessed to have children who sleep in, and a spouse who gets up early!
My children are early risers (5:20) and my husband likes to sleep in.
I’ve just learned to do date nights at home after the children are in bed.
Cute idea! My hubby and I have a precious hour or so together after we put our baby to sleep and we often do something together during that time. It’s so refreshing!
That is exactly what we did for Valentine’s Day! Our nights are too hectic, so I got up at 5Am and cooked a special Valentine’s breakfast for us, and we enjoyed it before my husband left for work at 6.
My husband and I always have date mornings! Our son is in school from 8 to 2 monday thru friday so take advantage of the time we have with just the two of us because its so hard to find alone time when our son is home. I feel that this makes me a better parent in the long run. Its good for every couple to try to make time for each other. Thanks for all the great ideas.
Great idea! Thanks for the tip!
This works great with a house full of teenagers too! We could go out to breakfast and be back before they got up and they never knew we had been gone. We have a family owned restaurant that has a $1.99 breakfast in our town. Cooking at home for this is not an option! A teen aged boy will smell food cooking and get up
This makes me laugh! I’ll have to remember this tip when my son is a teen!
Date mornings are a great idea! I like that we can stay in, spend some time together and not have to hire a babysitter! Now… if I only could get my spouse to get up early on a Saturday — that’s the one day he gets to sleep in!
With my hubby working 3rd shift he’s not home till 8am so this is a perfect time for a date morning, thanks!
That’s what we do too. Except for us it’s Tuesday mornings at 5:30. We love to cuddle on the couch with our coffee and just talk.
Love the idea but how do you get young children to sleep in? My older two do, but the 2, 5, and 6 YO ones are up early. And it seems like when we try to get up extra early for anything, they do as well.
Sounds great but my kids don’t sleep in either…. maybe someday!
My husband and I have been doing this for over three years now. He works at nights, so every Monday is our date morning. It usually consist of a visit to our coffee shop, running errands and lunch. No kids, just me and him. =)
My husband works a crazy shift, and usually gets home between 6:00 and 7:00am so our alone time is usually then, before the kids wake up. This has been especially needed since our newest addition last March