Welcome to this series of posts. During the online marriage preparation eCourses couples are introduced to 14 “Rules for Resolving Conflicts.” Subsequent posts will highlight each one.
When you have an important decision affecting both of you, how do you decide together? If there is a conflict, difficult issue or tension between you that needs to be resolved, how do you talk it through and resolve it?
The ability to look for win-win solutions to the big and small issues is one of the important skills of marriage. The way you learned to resolve conflict and decide issues as a child will tend to continue in your marriage unless you learn new ways of talking through issues. It’s a good time to discover early that marriage is less about what I want, and much more about what WE both want and need. Take time now to write down some of the ways your parents or guardians modeled conflict resolution. From their example, what do you hope to continue in your marriage? What would you like to change?
Now, share your thoughts and childhood experiences with your partner or friend.