Children may be the biggest change to a married couple. From going from just the two people, doing whatever they want, whenever they want, to staying home and taking on the responsibilities of taking care of children is a big step. Gone is the freedom of leaving at the spur of the moment to catch that new movie that just came out, eating what they want, when they want, buying whatever they want, and sleeping in until noon.

The average number of children for parents completing my survey was two. Everyone knows that raising children is very stressful, but because of the different ages of the parents, and the children, I could not get facts on which years were the toughest. Most parents whose kids are well into their 20's or so, say that the most stressful years for them were the teenage years.

It is not just the environment the couple are living in itself that causes problems toward their marriage. Outside influences have an effect on some people. 53% of the people I surveyed always get along with their partner's parents. 30% say they often get along with their partner's parents. This is because either the parent or the partner really does get along with each other, or one of them is pretending to, for the family's sake. 3% say they sometimes get along with their partner's parents and 3% say they rarely do. (11% did not complete) 53% say their partner always gets along with their parents. 26% say they often do. 3% say their partner rarely gets along with their parents. (18% did not complete) Not getting along with your partner's parents or them not getting along with yours can disturb your marriage and you individually. You may be always wondering why his parents don't like you and could hold that against him. He may talk bad about your mom and make fun of your dad. The arguments can become personal and soon you two would be in a fight not in relative to your mom or his dad. He could try to gain their approval by not being himself, so you are living with a totally different guy you know nothing about for a few days. Or you and his parents could get along just fine; making family barbecues a lot less tense and tons more fun. Other outside influences can be how much your partner goes out a week, and just whom it is they are going with. Women tend to stay home more during the week, tending to the children and the cleaning. Men like to go out with the guys for a couple beers, a couple nights a week. 13% of the women I interviewed say their husband partner has a friend whom they think is a bad influence on them. 86% says their partner does not have a friend whom they think is a bad influence. A lot of people had friends that were bad influences on them but over the years realized they were bad influences, and kind of drew apart from them. The 13% that still have those bad friends, do not see the problems they are causing or the influence they have on them. These friends can cause a lot of problems in a marriage, especially if the person starts lying about going out with them. They know their partner does not want them out with them so they lie and say they were with someone else, which causes even bigger problems in the marriage.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Successful Marriages, feel uncomfortable, talk openly partner, talk openly, partner's parents, openly partner, outside influences, talking partner, 30 people, feel uncomfortable talking, uncomfortable talking partner, people surveyed, uncomfortable talking, marriage successful, rate success marriage, friend bad influence,
Approximate Word count = 2011
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)