It's a date!

One of the most important things I learned from my parents was the importance of dating even after having children. Actually, I didn't really learn how important it was until I started having children myself. My parents went on a date every week when they had kids at home. Actually, they still go on dates every week. I remember my mom telling me how important it is to keep dating, and I remember her telling me that even if you are broke and all of your money goes to the babysitter, still go out even if it means having dinner at McDonald's. (Or Old McDonald's as my son calls it.)

When I started having children, I soon realized how they take up all of our time. And even though children are absolutely wonderful, it is still so important to get some one on one time with our significant other so you can still stay connected. Once my son got to the age where he could be with a babysitter, my husband and I tried to go out on a date once a week, and it really helped to strengthen our relationship. We haven't gotten to that point yet now that we've had our second, but I look forward to being able to do our weekly dates again.

Hiring a babysitter and going on a date is expensive, but there are lots of fun date ideas that don't cost a lot. Here's some fun things to do:

-Go on a picnic.

-Tour historical sites, which often times are free or inexpensive.

-Walk around the mall (which was very often what my husband and I did)

-Go to a playground and...play! Swing on the swings and go down the slides.

-Go grocery shopping. (Another thing we often did, which I know sounds silly, but we had to buy groceries anyways, so why not do it just the two of us, just like we did before we had children)

-Play board games in a park.

-Just go to a park. Stroll through the park hand in hand, feed ducks, sit on a bench...all those things you don't get to do when the kids are around.

-Rent a movie at the library, or rent a Redbox movie, and use a portable dvd player to watch in your car. It's like a drive-in...on a much smaller scale.

-Go to a bookstore and peruse books together.

-Go for a drive through the country, exploring back roads. And now that fall has begun, it's a beautiful time to do that.

-Bowling! There are usually times when they have special deals. And you'll feel like kids again.

-Go on a hike.

-Go on a lunch date or go see a matinee, which is cheaper than dinner and a movie at night.