Marriage Counseling for New Parents
Many couples live with the belief that having a child will strengthen the marital bond between them and bring them closer as a couple. The hard truth is that the birth of a child is one of the most common stressors on marriages. It is estimated that over 67% of couples experience a profound drop in the satisfaction in their marriage after the birth of their child and many will enter marriage counseling because of the “new addition.” That’s right, Jr. didn’t bring them closer together or strengthen their bond, he tested it.
Generally, the challenges of a new child aren’t something that a couple can truly prepare for. It doesn’t matter how many people tell them what to expect, it’s still a beautiful, amazing, confusing and overwhelming experience that is seldom what was pictured.
Once the child is born, reality, sleep deprivation, lack of personal time and strained finances can overwhelm a couple that only now begins to realize the utter permanency of their decision. Arguments undoubtedly occur, on top of the hormonal changes that come on with little warning.
Marriage counselors can help couples enter the journey of parenting more easily by assisting with big decisions and planning. They help parents lay down the groundwork, including how they’ll handle child rearing duties, how they were raised, their moral issues (religion, etc) and how they plan on sharing these with a new child.
One of the important goals at this point is to help new parents agree on how to raise the child together and bond throughout the process, not separate.
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