Hello ladies, this is my first time posting in your thread, but I've been on GC for a while.

I'm a newlywed, but have a few things points that my husband and I hold dear to making our marriage work.

1. Keep the family out of it completely. When you forgive and forget, your mother or big brother might still be holding on and looking at your mate in a negative way.

2. Compliment each other. My husband and I say something good about each other everyday. It might seem small, but that way if some other guy comes up to me and flatters me, I'm not knocked off my feet. I already get it at home.

3. Think before you speak when you are mad. Words can really hurt. You don't want to regret something that you spouted out in anger. Think, maybe even write down your feelings and then discuss them when you are calm.

4. Make each other a priority. There are things in our lives that can keep us away from our spouses. Jobs, family, activities, etc. can demand a lot of our time. But if your husband calls or if you all haven't sat down together and talked for a few days, postpone that night out with the girls, and give your man some TLC.

I might think of some more later.

I love being married. My husband and I went to pre-marital counseling and there were so many tips that we use everyday. I'm having the best time of my life!!

This is so important is just a "reguler" (boyfriend/girlfriend) relationship, so I would assume that its even MORE IMPORTANT in a marriage.

You (and other ladies) have been posting some good pointers for us single folk. I'm starting to get hopeful again. :)

Thanks for those great tips everybody! It would be great to get a male's point of view on this thread, but I totally agree with everything everyone has said and will apply those pointers to my marriage.

Snuggles, I agree with you totally when you say that a lot of couples don't want to break up because they don't want the kids to be affected by that, but once the kids grow up, they divorce. You're right!

Conskeeted, I think complimenting is a great way to keep the love in the marriage. I'll make sure to remember that one!

Thanks ladies for the advice. That's what I'm trying to do at this very moment. We have decided that our next move, will be further away (would you believe that I live not even 5 minutes away from my mom) and we want to focus more on our future together.

I agree with Snuggles. My parents divorced after 19 years of marriage; I was 18 at the time, my sister 16. I really do believe that they stayed together (and really tried to make it work) because of us. Sometimes, though, just because the children are older doesn't necessarily mean they handle it better. My sister did not take the divorce well at all. I did better but I felt I had to because I was older.