Mom's Needs, Dad's Needs: Keeping Romance Alive Even After the Kids Arrive

This book contains a trove of practical insight on improving your marriage. It explains how we must focus on the emotional needs of our spouses that often aren't apparent to us. It reinforces how we must avoid "love busters" like selfish actions and independent thinking if we are to have a rich marriage. It forcefully warns us that without sustained daily effort that even the best or most committed marriage can fall to affair or divorce. However, there are cautions to those who base their marriages and their lives on Scripture. In the final analysis, all of the principles and tips still come down to "I'm doing this so I can get a good marriage" instead of "I'm doing this to love my spouse and glorify God". Everything revolves around the natural man---there's no mention of the dynamics of the new heart or the Holy Spirit here. And there's no mention of the roles of husband and wife as God has defined them. If you can understand these limitations, there's much meat here on how to love and minister to your spouse and help enrich a marriage that will glorify God.

Nationally known marriage expert Dr. Willard F. Harley, Jr. has written a follow-up to his bestseller HIS NEEDS, HER NEEDS. In MOM'S NEEDS, DAD'S NEEDS, he focuses on married life after the children are born. The subtitle, "Keeping Romance Alive Even After the Kids Arrive," sets the theme for this helpful, easy-to-follow guide. Dr. Harley's innovative counseling methods have helped countless couples rekindle the spark in their relationship, and this latest guide is sure to be welcomed by many more who reluctantly believe that romance is a thing of the past. MOM'S NEEDS, DAD'S NEEDS not only offers very practical, "do-able" advice, but the book's format allows the reader to practice newly learned skills immediately instead of having to wait until the conclusion. With chapters like "And Then There Were Three," "Love Takes Time," "His Work, Her Work," and "Mixed Families, Blended Lives," Dr. Harley details the pitfalls that often sabotage the romantic side of a marriage. In each chapter he provides examples and suggestions that the reader can relate to. For the many couples who mistakenly think that it's impossible to keep romantic love alive after marriage, and especially after children, this book shows how, with a few adjustments to daily routines, the romance can blossom and bloom for the remainder of their lives. Dr. Harley explains how meeting each other's basic emotional needs for intimate affection, sexual fulfillment, intimate conversation and recreational companionship plays a key role in rekindling the romance. As in HIS NEEDS, HER NEEDS, understanding the difference in the emotional needs of males and females is key to making relationships work. Any couple who really wants to explore their marriage and learn some simple ways to rekindle the fire in it certainly will appreciate the help presented in MOM'S NEEDS, DAD'S NEEDS. --- Reviewed by Maggie Harding, a substance abuse counselor in Phoenix, AZ who wanted to be Brenda Starr before life intervened. She reviews for www.bookreporter.com and www.womenonwriting.com. [...]