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Having a child changes everything. Your priorities, time, finances, friendships, and certainly your sleep patterns will never be the same after that miracle enters your world. While life will be exciting, exhausting, terrifying and wonderful, it will change forever.
Before you and your partner start planning your family, do these things and do them often. Savor the moments so you can look back and smile when your baby is up at 2:00 a.m. crying. Taking advantage of these childless perks now can help prevent you from being tempted to act on them later on.
1. Enjoy guys’ nights
Whether you get together weekly with your friends to play poker and smoke cigars or you’re hunkered down at the bar all of Sunday afternoon watching football, enjoy this time with the boys. You’ll still be able to do these events once kids come, but it will be harder to get away and the duration of how long you can stay may be limited.
2. Take your lady on dates
Go on date nights now with your lady. Go out to fancy meals, enjoy movies, try wine tasting, whatever it is that the two of you enjoy doing together. Many couples have a harder time getting a date night in once kids are in the picture. It’s still possible, and should be a priority, but finding a sitter, sick children and busy schedules will make it more difficult for the two of you to just get up and go.
3. Get your finances in order
They say if you wait until you are financially ready to have kids, then you’ll never have them, and that’s likely true. But before you start a family, you can at least get your finances organized. Start a savings account if you don’t already have one. Set up a monthly budget to keep track of your spending and start paying off any credit card debt you have. Before you will want to start putting money away in a college fund be sure to get your family finances in order.
4. Travel, Travel, Travel
Remember that guys fishing trip in Mexico your friend is organizing? You should go. Or have you and your partner always talked about seeing Europe together? Plan it now. Traveling with children takes much more planning, effort and money than traveling solo or as a pair. Enjoy kid-free trips now like the guy’s backpacking adventure or a spontaneous weekend in New York City.
5. Enjoy your sleep
Savor weekends sleeping in and waking up lazily. Don’t set your alarm on Saturday morning to wake up and get stuff done. Enjoy staying curled up in bed. Take a nap in the afternoon if you feel like it. These moments will be few and far between for the next several years.
6. Do the risky things you enjoy
Have you always wanted to go bungee jumping or skydiving? Perhaps you’ve always dreamt of owning a motorcycle. Now would be the time to do these riskier activities. You can still partake in these after kids, but you may be slightly more risk-averse when little mouths are dependent on you (your partner most likely will be).
7. Have sex whenever, and wherever you want
Turned on by what she made for dinner? Make a move in the kitchen. Right now you have all the privacy you could ever need, so be spontaneous with your sex life. Once kids come you will have to be more discreet on when and where the two of you make love.
Having kids doesn’t mean your life is over. In fact, children add so much joy and love and will give your life new meaning. With little ones in the picture, your life will just be different, and that’s okay. But take the time now to savor the stage of life you are in and then enjoy the ride that comes with being a father.
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Photo: Getty Images