1. Enhance your love maps. You know all of your partner’s relevant information, from life dreams to favorite movies, as best friend would.
2. Nurture fondness and admiration. You have a positive view and deep appreciation of your partner, and express it.
3. Turn toward your partner instead of away during times of stress. “You want your partner to be that confidant,” Goyer says.
4. Let your partner influence you. You shouldn’t make important life decisions autonomously, as a single person would.
5. Solve your solvable problems. All couples have solvable and perpetual problems, but long-term couples solve those they can and understand there will always be perpetual problems.
6. Overcome gridlock. What often underlies perpetual problems are unfulfilled dreams. Talk about those unfulfilled dreams with the goal of making peace with the problem.
7. Create shared meaning. Develop the big and small rituals that help build the bond with your partners. Rituals range from hosting an annual party to having coffee together in the morning.
Parent Tip: Review the logic above to help your child master the concept of the seven principles for making marriage work worksheets pdf.
