February is often known as the “Love Month” thanks to Valentine’s Day. While I typically focus more on how to be the best parent possible, I think it’s important not to neglect that a huge part of that is having a strong marriage. Your marriage is the foundation of your family. This month, let’s take a look at some ways to keep that foundation strong:

Make time – It’s easy to get caught up in household, work and family responsibilities to the detriment of your relationship. This neglect will slowly erode a sense of closeness that allows you to come together on important parenting issues. Resentment will creep in and begin creating some cracks and fissures in the entire family system.

Cherish one another – Taking your partner for granted spells disaster for any marriage. It’s easy to just assume your partner will always be there. Marriage is a voluntary act though. Little niceties such as showing appreciation, manners and thinking about your partner’s feelings are essential. All too often we treat the ones we love worse than complete strangers.

Keep your priorities straight – Too many times couples get lost in the kid shuffle. Yes your children are important and need you, but your spouse does too. Your spouse really should be your first priority. You have been blessed with these children, for a short amount of time. They will grow up. They will move out and leave you. That’s the whole point! Our job is to raise them to be independent. Your spouse will remain.

Have fun – Don’t forget to have fun with one another. Everything doesn’t have to be serious. Remember those small things that made you fall in love with your spouse? Look for those as connecting points to draw you closer together or to help your relationship remain strong. Yes parenting children gets stressful, but you can still have a lot of fun while doing it!

While February may be “Love Month”, these actions aren’t meant to be done in just the next 28 days. These are steps for every day of every year for the rest of your life. Make sure that foundation is strong and consider February just the “check in” month of every year. Use it to make sure there are no leaks, cracks or bugs causing problems. Patch up any problem areas and make is strong again.