Jan. 16, 2025

We Are The Hansons Date Nights for Mom and Dad

We Are The Hansons Date Nights for Mom and Dad

In this episode of We Are The Hansons we dive into the importance of making time for your relationship amidst the chaos of raising a large family. We'll share how we plan and priorItize date nights, even with 13 kids at home, and discuss the creative ways we reconnect as a couple without always needing a fancy night out. From simple moments of connection to the occasional grand gesture, we'll talk about why keeping the romance alive is essential for a strong partnership and a happy family. Join us as we reflect on our favorite date night memories and offer tips for couples loking to carve out meaningful time together, no matter how busy life gets.

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Welcome to We are the Hansens. In today's episode, we're

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diving into the topic that's all about keeping the spark

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alive day nights for mom and dad. With a houseful

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of kids and a whirlwind of daily life, carving out

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time for each other isn't always easy, but it's so

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worth it.

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We'll share our favorite date night ideas, how we make

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it happen amidst the chaos, and why prioritizing your relationship

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as parents is key to the thriving family that you have.

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Let's get started. So today, I wanted to share this

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because there are a lot of couples out there with

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children that don't do date nights, and it is so

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important to do date nights. I'm going to tell you why.

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So date nights matter because it strengthens the relationship. It

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keeps things fresh for you and your significant other. The

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importance for us also is showing our kids a loving

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and connected partnership. Me and my husband, we don't get

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to do a lot of date nights one because we

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do have a lot of kids, and our kids are

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older and younger, so most of the time when we

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want to go on date nights, the older kids are

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out enjoying their life and so and it's really hard

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to find a babysitter that you can trust. We live

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in an area that I don't I think it's too

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high a crime for me maybe, or maybe I just

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see too much or hear too much because the city

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is big and we're not used to big city living.

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So date nights for us when we do go out,

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we usually ask one of the older kids, and I

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usually try and do it in advance so that they

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have time to plan and they can make sure they're

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not busy overcoming challenges. It's finding time with a busy

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schedule with a large family. We try to make it work.

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We try to work around our kids's schedules, so if

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our kids have things going on, we'll wait. We'll do

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our date night to different night. It's not a big deal.

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We're you know, we're parents, So we try and make

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time for ourselves doing other things. And most of the

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time that's after the kids go to sleep. So it's

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just it's really hard to find time when kids are

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going all over the place. We try to think of

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budget friendly ideas for couples, especially with type finances. Not everybody,

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especially with a large family. Finances are tight. You have

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a lot of kids, you have a lot of food

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going out, a lot of money for bills, so it

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is sometimes a struggle. We try to come up with

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ideas that don't cost a lot. One of our ideas

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that we like to go do is we like to

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go fishing. I'm going to tell you a little story.

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It's actually really funny. So when Jeremy and I first

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got together, it wasn't like right when we first got together,

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but it was we'd been together for a little while

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and we wanted to go fishing. So we got the

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idea to go night fishing. Not thinking about it. We

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went to the Cranberry bogs and we got these little

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bells that you put on the tip of your fishing pole.

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We had like three poles each, and we were going

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bullhead fishing. So Jeremy gets them all hooked up and

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we get all the worms on and we throw them

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all in. Mind you, the later it got, the worse

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the mosquitoes were, and it was pretty warm out. So

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we threw them all in, and we didn't think we

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were going to get any bites. While all the poles

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started going, all the bells started ringing, all at the

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same time. So me and Jeremy were running from one

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pole to another, reeling him in and setting him down,

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reeling in, setting him down, and we were laughing so

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hard because here we are not thinking. So we threw

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all six poles in the water, and they all had

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fish on them within a matter of two minutes of

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being in the water. So we get all the bullheads

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off the hooks and we are just covered in mosquite

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bites because the mosquitoes were carrying us away, and we're

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itching and trying to get worms back on the hooks,

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but instead we learned not to throw all six poles

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in the water at one time. We were doing one

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pole each because it just got so chaotic and we

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were running all over the place. But we left there

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with a ton of bullheads, and it was great because

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I like catching bullheads. They're a lot of fun to catch.

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And thanks to Gramma Darlene, Jeremy's grandma, she taught me

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how to skin them so we could eat the meat.

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So that was a funny story. If you guys only

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could have seen us running around, scratching all over, swatting

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at mosquitoes. We even had mosquito spray on and we

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were still getting carried away. It was hilarious at the

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time because we're like, God, we are not too bright

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coming out here with all these mosquitoes in the cranberry

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bogs in the marshy areas and throwing six poles in.

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But it was fun and we enjoyed it, and it

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was a memory that we always share. So you don't

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have to have a lot of money to go on dates.

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A lot of people ask don't you feel guilty leaving

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your kids when you go places? And my answer is

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you do you feel like, well, I should have probably

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done something with them, or you know, there's a lot

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of different things that you feel when you leave your

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kids with a babysitter or their siblings. How I got

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over that, and I'm sure Jerby would probably agree, is

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you have to show your kids date nights as a couple,

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strengthen your relationship. It keeps things alive. So that being said,

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it helped me not feel so guilty leaving them when

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I'm also teaching them that everybody, every parent needs time

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away from their kids. So our kids know when we

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say we're going on a date, they know that, oh,

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it's mom and Dad's time and we're going to do

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something fun at home while they're gone. So they usually

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do movie, popcorn and eat cookies and snacks and stuff,

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so they have fun while we're gone. So that kind

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of helped me get over the guilt feeling of leaving

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my kids to go on date night. I want them

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to see that when you have a spouse, you got

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to keep things alive, you got to keep that spark,

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and I want them to be that way with their

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significant other, and their significant others should feel the same.

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Favorite date night for us. Some of our date night

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ideas are a simple stay at home date, which is

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movie night between my husband and I. We will pick

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out a movie and get in bed and just watch

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a movie together. Some other idea is cooking at home

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together like something special, especially if all the kids are gone,

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or something just cooking with them your spouse. It's I mean,

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it's fun. Some of our creative date date night outings

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would be like mini road trips or trying a new

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hobby together. I mean, there's a ton of stuff that

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we like to do. Jeremy will say just get ready,

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we're going somewhere, and pretty much get your stuff on

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and get in the car. We're just gonna go take

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a road trip somewhere, or just something fun that we

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both enjoy doing, or maybe one of us enjoys doing

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that the other one has never done. We do it together.

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So that's another one. Quick date nights when time is limited,

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we do like a walk at the park, or we

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like to go out and have coffee together. I mean

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it's fun. Well, I think it's fun anyway, because you

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have time to sit there and chat with your significant

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other and drink coffee and just enjoy each other's company.

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Planning date nights as a team is like one of

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our roles of communication and discussing what you both need

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from your time together. So me and Jeremy, we will

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decide where we want to go, especially for our anniversary.

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Will decide, oh, well, let's go to Texas Roadhouse. So

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we plan to go to Texas Roadhouse because that's one

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of our favorite places to go and eat, and it's

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usually for our anniversary because we both like it. Other times,

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we will especially if we're going on a trip somewhere.

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If we're taking a trip to see family in Wisconsin,

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then we will decide, like Jeremy likes to go to

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Rocky with cocos, so we'll plan that during our trip,

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so it's all planned out and discuss between the two

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of us. So sometimes, you know, my sister will watch

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the kids up there for us while we go on

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our dates, or you know, it just depends on the plans.

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It's a little bit crazy, but we make time for it.

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I'm going to share some funny stories, and this is

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it's a hilarious one of our date nights. So one

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night we planned to go to Texas Roadhouse and it

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started freezing rain. Jeremy's like, come on, we have plenty

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of time. We'll get there, we'll eat, and we'll just

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be very careful going home. So we get going on

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our date and this is a date night fail. And

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I'm sure some of you have had this happen or

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not the same situation, but you've had a date night fail.

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We get going to our date and by the time

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we made it from our house to Texas Roadhouse, which

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was about fifteen minutes twenty minutes away. By the time

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we got there, we were froze in the car, like

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we could not get out of the car. At that point,

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I was like, it's getting late. It's gonna be really

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bad going home. Let's just figure out something else. So

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we decided to go to Walmart parking lot. Jeremy finally

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got his door open on his side. I climbed over

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the seat. We went into Walmart and we ended up

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getting mac and cheese and we went home and cooked

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it and ate mac and cheese. So that was our

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date night fail. That was a hilarious story. We were

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laughing about it in the car because we were stuck

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in the car. Needless to say, we got frozen again.

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By the time we got home. The roads were horrible.

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We slid down the hill through the stop light because

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the hill was huge. It was scary. I was so

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scared and Jeremy was laughing at me. How we involve

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our kids is like getting the older kids to babysit.

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Morgan she's always up for babysitting, especially if it's a

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date night for mom and dad, because she is one

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of the older girls and she knows that sometimes mom

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and dad need a break. So she's really good about

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helping when it comes to babysitting. She's always like, Hey,

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if you need a sitter, I'll watch them as long

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as I don't have work or something going on. We

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try to explain to our kids the importance of date

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nights because I want them, Like I said in the beginning,

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I want them to be able to go on date

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nights with their spouse when they have kids. Even when

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they don't have kids, I still want them to go

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on dates because it keeps the relationship alive. I also

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want them to see how important you are to that

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other person in your life, your spouse or significant other, whichever.

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You should be treated like a queen and he should

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be treated like a king on your date nights. That's

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you know, it's just really important for kids to see

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that mom and dad are happy and they're enjoying each other.

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So that's an important thing. I'm going to give you

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guys some tips for date nights. One tip that I

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want to talk about is getting away from stress. You

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just when you go on a date, it is just

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to get away. Don't think about anything else but the

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person you're with. Stress free, you know, work at keeping

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things alive. Some of ideas for starting small for people

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that haven't really done date nights is playing cards at home,

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or a chat over coffee, or go for ice cream.

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You know, them are some easy things to do as

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a couple, just because there are a lot of people

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that don't really do date nights. But I'm telling you

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right now, guys, it is great to go on a

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date night and just leave everything behind and just worry

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about eating the food that you're gonna eat, or maybe

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you're going golfing or something like that. Just let all

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that stress behind you and enjoy the company you're with

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and have fun about it. We like to set rules

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for our date nights. Some of the rules that we

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kind of set are no talking about business while we're

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out on dates. It's just about the two of us.

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And just that, no being on the phone while on dates,

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unless obviously our kids call them will answer it, because

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they usually don't call unless there's something bad happens or

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something and that has only happened maybe one time since

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we've been together. Enjoy each other, keep your attention on

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each other, and also keep the spark going in the

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bedroom because that is your spouse. You need to keep

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it alive regardless. And if you're not keeping the spark

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in the bedroom alive, you know what they say, they

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ain't gonna stay. So I want you guys to know

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that I appreciate you all being here with me on

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this episode of We Are the Hansons. We hope you

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are inspired to carve out some time for your own

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date nights no matter how busy life gets. Remember, taking

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care of your relationship isn't just good for you, it's

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a gift to your entire family. So whether it's a

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quiet night at home or an adventure out on the town,

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make that time count. Guys, make it count. Don't forget

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to share your favorite date night ideas with us. We'd

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love to hear them. Until next time, take care and

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keep building a stronger family, one moment at a time.

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If you have any questions, reach out to us that

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We are the Hansens on Facebook or send us an

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email at we are the Hansen's Show at gmail dot com.

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Thanks for staying and tuning in with thee tonight.