Yes, and how does that make you feel ?

So this past weekend we attended. Marriage Prep 101 with about 13 or so other couples. We both enjoyed it and learned some good stuff. We decided to do it just to get some good conflict resolution skills, and to make sure we got everything that could be an "issue" ironed out.

I think this course did that very well. We learned several methods for good communication, and conflict resolution which I think will be good for us. One was simply letting the other person talk for 5 minutes with no interruptions. This makes sure they have said everything they want to say, and evens out the playing field if one person tends to talk more than the other.

There was also an exercise which I found interesting where we went through several statements regarding our expectations; such as I expect that my partner will be my best friend. I expect that we will have 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or more children. We each went through the various statements marking the response we agreed with most, then compared our answers, and discussed any differences and how we would deal with them.

There was also time to talk about finances, and even a "sex and intimacy" section to the weekend. All exercises were only discussed with your partner, not the entire group, so there was no chance of feeling put on the spot about anything, and the husband and wife psychologist team who lead the weekend were available for consult during any exercises.

Being very social, the only thing that disapointed me a bit was the fact that I didn't really get a chance to talk to the other people at the workshop, besides at lunch. At the end we even got a certificate of completion !









I think this was a very good thing for us to do, and recommend all couples do something similar. (or sign up for this one, they do it several times a year ! ) I know many churches do pre marital counseling as well.