Synopses & Reviews
Happy Marriage or Happy Children?
You don't have to choose. You can have both!
If your marriage is suffering because you're too busy with the kids, you're not alone. Many modern couples fall into the same trap. By sacrificing their relationships with their partners to focus on their children, they believe they're being perfect parents. But in fact, they're doing their children more harm than good and they're ruining their marriages in the process. The outcome is demanding, insecure children with unrealistic expectations of the world--and resentful, alienated spouses who feel taken for granted. The good news is that it doesn't need to be this way. You can have it all: a thriving marriage, an enriching family life, and independent, well-adjusted children.
Renowned marriage therapist and author Andrew G. Marshall shows you how to revive and nurture your marriage while raising an emotionally healthy family. For over 30 years, he has been helping couples save their relationships by refocusing their priorities and putting their partners first. You'll learn why putting your children second prepares them better for adulthood, and why being a 'good enough' parent is better than being perfect. Marshall's strategies may seem unconventional but they are rooted in decades of marriage counseling experience.
Packed with tips, advice, and compelling examples, this witty and insightful guide equips you with the tools you need to turn your marriage around. You'll learn how to:
- Ask for the support you need
- Overcome differences in parenting styles and find acceptable compromises
- Share household responsibilities effectively
- Define what your children truly need from you
- Work together as a team
- Rekindle your passion for each other and keep it alive
- Avoid the pitfalls of raising 'red carpet kids' and give your children a strong foundation for adulthood
If parenthood has taken center stage and pushed your marriage to the background, this book will help you restore the balance. Let Andrew G. Marshall show you how to reclaim your relationship while raising emotionally healthy children.
Synopsis
As a marital therapist, Andrew Marshall spent almost thirty years helping couples resolve complex issues and arguments and then fall back in love again. In his first book,
I Love You But I'm Not In Love with You, he shed light on a universal relationship problem: What happens when lust turns lukewarm?
In I Love You But You Always Put Me Last, Marshall addresses a pervasive problem plaguing modern parents: letting the children become the center of their universe. Here, Marshall shines a light on how this creates unhappy parents and fractious, desperate kids, and why adults need to put the focus back where it belongs--on the parents as people first, a couple second, and Mommy and Daddy third. The result? Kids who are less egocentric and more independent, and parents who work together and learn to actually like each other again. With insight, wit, and in-the-trenches examples, Marshall reveals: Why putting the children last will make them healthier as adults; how to fuel common interests outside of the kids' soccer games; why being a "good enough" parent is better than being perfect; how to reconnect with your spouse when the nest is empty; and how to keep the passion alive when your playlist includes Barney and Elmo.
While Marshall's strategies are unconventional, they work! He has helped hundreds of married couples restore the proper balance of priorities to keep the respect, joy, and love alive while raising wonderful children.
About the Author
Andrew G. Marshall is a marital therapist with thirty years of experience. He trained with RELATE, the UK's leading couple-counseling charity, but is now in private practice leading a team of other therapists delivering the Marshall Method. He also writes on relationships for the Mail, the Times and the Guardian and has published 11 books on relationships including the international best-seller I Love You But I'm Not In Love With You which has been translated into over fifteen different languages.