Kids come and go, but marriage is forever?
Giuliana Rancic recently confessed that when it comes to her home life, she puts her marriage first and her baby second, as reported in a Huffington Post article.
While I'm sure many married couples can appreciate the message behind the claim that it's best for parents to put the most into their marriage, the notion of putting your kids second seems off.
The assertion implies that if presented with a certain situation, one should choose to do what's best for their marriage even if it's not what's best for their kids, which is not exactly where Rancic may have been going when she divulged that information.
In an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Rancic said, "it's funny because a lot of people, when they have kids, they put the baby first, and the marriage second."
Most people would say that it's only normal to "put the baby first" and not "funny," as expressed by Rancic.
Family dynamics vary greatly from one household to the next, but the general consensus is that children become the top priority once they enter the picture.
No one wins when a marriage breaks down, but does that mean having to put a hierarchy of importance within the family structure?
Marriage, first. Kids, second?
A healthy marriage is, without a doubt, conducive to a healthy home life and, by extension, childhood, but the idea that one has to weigh more in importance or prioritazation over the other is unnecessary.
Parents don't need to choose which to put first, their marriage or their kids. Finding the right balance and not focusing on one over the other is one of the key ingredients to happy home life.
It's dangerous to think that your marriage (and inadvertently your spouse) and your kids have to compete to be your top priority.
There is more than enough love to go around and the hard part that many married couples have to deal with is finding the time to come up with the right balance that satisfies all.
There are marriages that crumble under the pressure of parenthood. The answer isn't to choose to focus on one over the other, but to find ways to balance out your time and efforts, so that neither your marriage or your kids feel neglected.
