All Posts By

Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott

Apr 13
Love83
Ground Rules for Restoring Broken Trust

Ground Rules for Restoring Broken Trust

By Communication, Conflict, In-laws & Family, Scripture, Self Reflection 98 Comments

When trust has been damaged or destroyed in a marriage, the rebuilding process takes a huge amount of patience, skill, and–above all–time. After your very foundation has been shaken, restoring trust in your marriage is literally a relationship makeover. You and your spouse must work together over time to rebuild the trust you lost, and both of you have a lot of work to do to get there. But with determination and an absolute commitment to restoration, your marriage can be healthy again. You might not realize it now, but if you’ve been betrayed by your spouse, you can begin…

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Apr 08
Love20

What to Do When Your Kids Want You to Date Again

By Communication, Conflict, In-laws & Family, Self Reflection, Time No Comments

I have been divorced for two years and have teenage kids. They want me to date. Is it too soon? What do you do when you’ve recently gone through a divorce–and your kids are encouraging you to date again? Typically, children (of all ages) are resistant to the idea of a single parent dating. Divorce turns a family’s world upside down and inside-out, and often the idea of welcoming a new love interest on the scene is unpalatable for the kids–and unsettling for the single parent, even if the desire for a new relationship exists. If your own children are…

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Apr 06
Love31

When Your Spouse Won’t Listen

By Communication, Conflict, In-laws & Family, Scripture, Self Reflection 22 Comments

We all desire to be seen and heard. It is true at work, in our relationships, and most especially with our spouses. Fewer things are more empowering than articulating thoughts that are heard, received, considered and used to grow our relationships. On the contrary, not feeling heard disempowers, erodes and stunts our relationships from maturing. Worse, if it happens over a period of time it can lead to anger, distance and apathy. So what do you do if your spouse won’t listen to you? If you find yourself in that situation, you likely feel frustrated, at best–and entitled, at worst….

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Apr 01
Love11

The Big Question: Helping My Husband Balance Work and Home

By Uncategorized One Comment

How do I give my hard-working husband support while still keeping him involved in daily activities? These days, it’s a challenge for hard-working spouses to balance all aspects of life comfortably. We’re all busy and pulled in many different directions on any given day. With jobs and outside activities tugging us this way and that, struggling to stay involved at home can take a huge toll on marriages and families. As a wife, you’re sincerely invested in helping your husband to stay involved in the everyday details of home life, and you’re looking for ways to strike that healthy balance…

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Mar 30
Love25

Tips for Upping Emotional Intimacy

By Uncategorized 5 Comments

You and your spouse have a good marriage–great, even–but you’re ready to take it to the next level. Maybe you’re physically intimate, but you want more of that intimacy to extend to your emotional life. In today’s post, we’re sharing five tips for increasing the emotional intimacy in your relationship. Each of these tips builds on the next to help you create the deep, fulfilling connection you’re craving. Nurture Trust In order for your marriage to be as emotionally intimate as possible, you and your spouse must be able to trust one another implicitly. This means that both of you…

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Mar 25
Love18

Killing the Competition Monster

By Communication, Conflict, Scripture, Self Reflection No Comments

Why do women who have nothing to gain compete with each other? It’s an unfortunate reality that competition is one of the most negative aspects in the lives of women. The culture of competition shatters self-confidence, distances relationships, and breeds bitterness. An insecure, immature, competitive nature does not look good on any of us. In my (Leslie) experience, competition is almost exclusively driven by insecurity. Looking at other women’s lives, appearances, jobs, etc., is a quick (but very inaccurate) way to measure one’s worth. Women who compete are constantly asking themselves, “Am I good enough?” And the only way they…

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Mar 23
Love44

8 Ridiculously Simple Ways to Improve Your Marriage

By Communication, Conflict, Self Reflection 20 Comments

It can be easy to over complicate what it takes to have a healthy, thriving marriage. We can look at our spouse’s needs and feel it necessary to make grandiose plans to show our love. Most often, however, showing consistent, small acts of affection and appreciation can go further and last longer than a weekend away, an expensive gift, or even a big vacation. Having a great marriage happens how most everything does: by making one intentional, meaningful step at a time. If you are stuck in a rut, or simply looking for ways to make a good marriage a…

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Mar 18
Love18

Danger Zone: When Nostalgia Threatens Your Marriage

By Communication, Conflict, Self Reflection 2 Comments

Is it wrong to pursue a friendship with an ex-boyfriend after being married for 7 years? What would you do if an old flame suddenly reappeared in your life–and you’re married to someone else? Should you reconnect and establish a friendship, or should you run? The re-entry of an ex-boyfriend or ex-girfriend into your life can stir up old feelings that you have long left behind…feelings that could be very dangerous to your marriage and family. So how do you decide what to do about that friend request you haven’t yet responded to? In today’s video, I (Leslie) discuss the…

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Mar 16
Love22

Secrets to Creating Awesome Dates

By Communication, In-laws & Family, Self Reflection, Time 9 Comments

Dating your spouse is a great way to sustain and nurture the intimacy in your marriage. We highly recommend taking the time to have a regular date night with your husband or wife. Taking time away from your day-to-day life to focus on one another is a fantastic way to stay connected in spite of whatever else is going on in your life. Today, we’re sharing a few ways you and your spouse can create awesome dates–and great memories along the way. Tie Up Loose Ends at Home This may sound like a strange way to create an amazing date,…

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Mar 11
Love22

Tuning Out: Having Sex With Kids at Home

By Communication, Conflict, In-laws & Family, Self Reflection 2 Comments

My wife will not have sex if our grade-school age children are at home. Is that normal? So you’re a husband who’s feeling a little frustrated–and with good reason! Women are so in tune with their environment, and especially with the people and things they feel responsible for, that it can sometimes create issues in the bedroom. Seemingly small annoyances like sounds in the house, cracks in the door or blinds, or the sound of your kids playing in the other room can wreak havoc on a woman’s ability to focus on sex. Men seem to have less of a…

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