A happy marriage
Couple counseling
Counseling before marriage
Kissing
A strong, happy marriage leads to secure, well-balanced children. Of course, this is not to say that children living with single parents grow up to be maladjusted individuals such children can be equally focused and happy as children and as adults. However, needless to say, children do benefit when their parents are happily married, which translates to mean happy in their marriage.
A happy marriage is one in which both parents deeply love and care for each other. It is not a marriage in which parents stay together just for the sake of the children. If there is constant fighting between the parents, a child's insecurities will deepen further, and it is far better to separate than to subject the child to a constant battle at home.
Similarly, a happy marriage is not one in which the wife is a doormat to the husband and continues in the marriage despite abuses being hurled at her all day from husband or in-laws. In order to get others, including your children, to respect you, you will need to first respect yourself, and allowing yourself to be treated badly is the biggest disservice you can do to yourself, and to your family.
If you feel your marriage is not working out the way it should, by all means, go in for couple counseling. If you are going through a bad patch but do not wish to end the marriage, couple counseling may be just what you need. Since the two of you are going to continue in the marriage either for the children's sake or because it's just more convenient to do so, you might as well salvage what is left of the marriage so you can still be happy with each other, and rekindle some of that love. It is well worth a try. A counselor can objectively analyze the situation after listening to both sides of the story, and can help you put things in perspective. A friend on the other hand listens to only one side of the story, and can hardly be expected to give an objective opinion.
Seeking counseling before entering into marriage can also help prepare couples for what lies ahead. Many couples in love enter marriage expecting it to be a bed of roses, and are completely disillusioned when reality hits them. Having an objective person prepare you in advance for what may lay ahead, may soften the blow. If couples stopped entering a marriage with blinders on, it would be a strong step to ensuring a happy future together.
One of the more frequent questions encountered by parents is whether is it okay to display feelings of affection for each other in front of the kids. Naturally heavy-duty making out should be done behind closed doors but a harmless kiss every now and then is perfectly fine. In fact, it strengthens your child's belief in you as a couple, and seeing his parents so happy together increases your child's sense of security. Studies suggest that children whose parents had a loving, happy marriage and constantly interacted and joked with one another, and who showed occasional displays of affection for one another, tend to have stronger family ties than children of parents existing together, fighting a cold war.