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Take the lead in your Marriage, NFP included
Is your involvement in Natural Family Planning (NFP) only reading a pillow case? Or maybe you are up to the “struggling to find a way to ask if tonight is an available day” level? Whatever your level of involvement might be, it is time to level up.
Many of our wives feel as if charting and knowing about NFP is their burden and responsibility. Our mindset can quickly go to thinking, “It is their body. They are the ones who get pregnant. They should know whether or not they are fertile. I have no control over this thing.” We need to overcome these fallacies and work at finding creative ways to support our brides.
Here are a few practical ways to become more involved in charting.
Take the lead in discernment. Start praying together when determining your goals of achieving or avoiding pregnancy for the cycle. Be the one to start the conversation and don’t have the conversation during the fertile phase; you know the phase that abstinence is difficult.
Know how it works. Learn the method, review all the resources you have received, the method, the rules and don’t ask to break the rules or joke about breaking the rules or tempt your wife into breaking the rules.
Consider being the keeper of the chart. This might not work for every couple, but you can ask your wife about her daily symptoms and record them into the chart. With the Marquette Method, all your wife needs to do is leave a daily sample on the counter for you to test. Learn the algorithms and apply the method.
Be the main contact with your NFP instructor. You can be the one to schedule follow-up meetings. Talk with your wife about your questions about the method and email your charts and questions to your instructor. Most of all, attend the appointments. Sometimes NFP can be confusing and it helps for both of you to be listening to the advice.
Take inventory of your NFP supplies and find the best prices on test sticks! Hint: You can buy them here: mmnfp.com/shop