All Posts By

Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott

Mar 29
Love34

What to Do When Hobbies Steal Your Spouse

By Communication, Conflict, Time 108 Comments

Last week, we talked about the importance of sharing hobbies and activities with your spouse. It’s great when the two of you can find common ground and cultivate shared activities, but what happens when your spouse is completely consumed by his or her own hobbies? While it can make life interesting to be married to someone who is so deeply engaged with an activity they love, it can quickly become difficult. Once the honeymoon period has passed, you might find that your spouse begins to gradually move toward his or her favorite pastime–eventually favoring it over spending time together. There…

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Mar 22
Love17

How to Skyrocket Your Intimacy Through Shared Activities

By Communication, Time 12 Comments

We all have hobbies and interests that we’re passionate about; the trick is finding a way to integrate them into our marriages. Some couples do this with ease. Others, however, struggle to find a good middle ground–or even new activities to share. Today, we’re talking about how to create opportunities for shared activities in your marriage to skyrocket your intimacy and make your relationship happier. The Value of Shared Hobbies Sharing activities or hobbies as a couple is incredibly important to the health of your marriage. Enjoying hobbies, recreational activities, and downtime together allows intimacy to flourish in your relationship….

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Mar 15
Love28

6 Ways Substance Abuse Can Destroy Your Marriage

By Communication, Conflict, Self Reflection 47 Comments

Addiction is an overwhelming illness whose hallmark symptoms are the physiological craving of, and emotional attachment to, a legal or illegal substance or practice. Most often, we see addictions in the form of substances like alcohol, prescription drugs, and illicit drugs. Substance abuse is devastating to marriages, families, and relationships. It can result in career loss, financial ruin, divorce, estrangement, and even death. Today, we’ll focus on six landmines that substance abuse plants in your marriage when you’re struggling with addiction. For all of these issues, we strongly encourage that you and your spouse seek outside professional help. Consult your…

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Mar 08
Love17

How to Build a Great Relationship with Stepchildren

By Communication, In-laws & Family 11 Comments

Whether you’re getting married for the first time to a person who has children–or getting remarried and blending a family–you’re going to be navigating some unfamiliar territory in the coming years. Like starting a marriage, becoming a stepparent has its own set of challenges and rewards, and you’ll learn how to nurture these relationships as you begin your new life as a family. Stepping into the role of stepmom or stepdad is a daunting and delicate undertaking. Making this transition well isn’t easy, but it’s very doable. The result of treading carefully into this new territory will be building a…

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Mar 01
Love21

Infidelity: Does the Root Cause Matter?

By Communication, Conflict 40 Comments

Learning that your spouse has had an affair is a jarring, traumatic emotional experience. For the foreseeable future after the discovery (or your spouse’s confession), you’ll go through a deeply painful mourning period. Everything you believed about your life before this knowledge may be shattered, and you may wonder if you’ll ever be able to trust your spouse again. Picking up the pieces after infidelity is incredibly difficult, but it can be done. The question is, can it be done if your spouse isn’t willing to dig into the why behind his or her actions? Why We Want to Know…

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Feb 22
Love23

Balancing Act: Marriage and Friendships

By Communication, Self Reflection, Time 7 Comments

Friendship is a great blessing. Can you imagine going through life without friends? (We sure can’t!) Our friendships make up some of the closest relationships in our lives, and that doesn’t stop when we get married. But when we go through a huge change in life, like beginning a dating relationship or getting married, it shifts the landscape of our relationships. Even though these changes occur, it’s important to find a new balance together, because maintaining our close relationships is important. So how do we do that? Focus on Your Marriage First When you get married, it can be difficult…

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Feb 15
Love18

5 Romantic Date Ideas to Maximize Your Quality Time

By Communication, Time 11 Comments

Valentine’s Day may have come and gone (and we hope it was fantastic!), but we’re big fans of celebrating love year-round. One of the best ways to express our love is by reserving some of our good energy for one another. When it comes to time, it’s very easy for couples to give each other their leftovers. Our lives are so busy these days, and jobs, kids, activities, and other obligations can quickly sap our energy before we’re able to give our best to one another. In fact, by the time most couples come together at the end of the…

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Feb 08
Love24

How to Fight a Good Fight

By Communication, Conflict One Comment

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” – Romans 12:18 Conflict is an unpleasant state to find yourself in, no matter what the situation. But the idea of facing conflict in your marriage can be downright paralyzing, whether you’ve been married for years and have developed bad fighting habits, or you’re newlyweds and disagreements are relatively new territory. The good news is, conflict can actually be good for your marriage. Fighting a good fight has the power to create a deeper level of connection between you and your spouse. If you…

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Nov 25
Love20

How to Boost Your Spouse’s Self-Esteem

By Self Reflection One Comment

How can I help my spouse feel better about themselves? At some point in our lives, we all deal with issues regarding our self-esteem. Couples can be a great source of strength for one another when it comes to boosting a sense of self-respect in both individuals. You are the #1 person in the world who can help your spouse become happier and more confident. In today’s video, we’ll share some ways you can start working to help your spouse build a healthy sense of self-esteem. Since you’re married to your spouse, and you share a home and life together,…

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Nov 23
Love30

How to Defuse a BIG Fight

By Conflict 6 Comments

You’re in the heat of battle. Your spouse has morphed into a nearly unrecognizable person, and you’re running defense in the worst way possible. What started out as a small disagreement has exploded into a full-scale BIG FIGHT. How did it get to this point? More importantly, how are you going to get out of it without causing major damage to your relationship? Hit the brakes. If your fight is spiraling quickly out of control, it’s time to take a breather. It’s up to you how long you take to cool down, but do whatever it takes to stop the…

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