HONEST Answer guys and gals

[gigi]

I guess I was having a sick day when the memo went out that kids need toys every week. My kids have been RIPPED all these years!

Seriously, Ryan, you've been given some VERY good advice here...not much more to say than what's been said....so, in summation:

1. Kids don't need 'stuff' to feel loved
2. Kids need your time and attention to feel loved
3. 'For the sake of the kids' is never a good reason to stay together and can be more harmful to children than an amicable split

Best of luck with it Ryan

[MorganGrayson]

One thing I *did* get to tell my dad was how much watching him and Mom taught me about how to be married. They made everything they did together "special." What mattered to them was the small things in life. They always had matching coffee mugs, with napkins and spoons, etc., laid out on the table. They were very "ritualistic" people. The evening cocktail hour was the same. A biggie event was the two of them going to the grocery or Home Depot or something. My mother sat with him while he watched sports on television. She read voraciously, so she always had a book, but would look up at the appropriate moments and make the appropriate noises.

They never said "this is how to be happily married." They just lived their life and I observed.

Observing an unhappy marriage would have given me a totally different outlook on relationships. I would have believed being miserable was "normal" and it was as good as it was going to get. Instead, I learned that matching coffee mugs and doing things together was "normal."