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Man. Sorry. It sounds tough.
We went through a phase like this. My wife was just so engaged with the kids for a few years that nothing else really seemed to matter. She didn’t really seem to understand that we were in a rut and when we eventually would talk about it, she understood where I was coming from but nothing really changed until I tried some things. Now we are great. The kids are in school and we have our life back. Part of my advice is to just hang in there. But see below for some thoughts.
First. A few questions:
-how is the marriage otherwise? Are you fighting or basically working together well. Are you engaging each other, laughing together, watching tv together? How is it when you hang out with friends and family? Are you still functioning as a couple?
-are you traveling a lot?
-does your wife work?
-how old are the kids?
A few suggestions:
Most important you should talk to her if you haven’t already. No need to be accusatory but say that you miss her and want to spend some more time together. Don’t make it about just the sex. Don’t say she is smothering the kids. It’s about emotional intimacy, having fun, etc as well as sex. You need to cultivate that relationship between the two of you. Ultimately a strong relationship between the two of you will be critical for the kids.
Next find a way to spend some fun time alone together. Can you organize a regular date night or better yet take a trip just the two of you? Even a staycation in a hotel near your house would be good. Is there an activity that you used to enjoy together? Movies? Hiking? Tennis? Dancing? See if you can do something like that.
Then you need to think about some changes or structures that will help you build time together into your routine. Maybe it’s a new bedtime process that get the kids in bed by 8pm so you can hang out for a couple hours before you go to sleep. Maybe it’s a sitter that comes and takes the kids to a museum for a few hours on a Saturday. Figure out a way that will create some breaks for you guys.
Finally once you are communicating and spending more time together, hopefully the sex will come back into the mix. If it doesn’t, you will need to have a discussion focused on sex. Figure out a way to tell her how important it is to you. Maybe she isn’t feeling sexy since the kids were born. Find a way to make her feel desired.
From the limited info, I can’t really tell if this may resolve itself once the kids are more independent. A wait and see approach for a year or so might be reasonable if coupled with some of these interventions.
If all of this doesn’t work, you can go to couples therapy and see where that takes you. We have not tried it, but some friends and neighbors have with mixed results.
Great advice here and especially from PwC 2 and not much to add there. I would just say for you personally, you should know that you are not alone - there are a lot of other dads out there in otherwise successful child-rearing partnerships who feel like the husband/wife element has faded dramatically. I found it really helpful to talk about this with other dads eg from my kids’ school, for support, to vent, and also as another healthy outlet for companionship.
Can’t remember the last time we slept together and she doesn’t seem to miss it. We have had sex 2 times so far in 2018. She doesn’t seem to miss that either. Don’t see any emotional connect or initiative to address the seemingly large gap. Feeling suffocated and frustrated. Any suggestions?
One place to start...What is her love language? Receiving gifts, quality time, words of affirmation, acts of service, physical touch? Does she know what yours is?
https://www.sheknows.com/love-and-sex/articles/1059295/what-are-the-5-love-languages
I agree McKinsey 1 with the hanging out with other dads for companionship and to vent. I just feel bad running out of the house when I’m finally home. Feel also like I’m doing everything at a “B” - friends, marriage, fatherhood. Tough balance
Great points m and m. Lots of people going through this. Hope things are better!