I had noticed that hubby had been feeling a bit unloved and unappreciated the last few days. I’d been busy and distracted, my son was having some big feelings coming up, and hubby wasn’t feeling very welcome when returning home from a long day at work. Yesterday, I had a playful idea to have a “Welcome Home!” party for him that evening. I had a chat with my son about it in the morning, and we thought about what we could do to meet my husband’s needs to feel loved and valued. We made a little plan: balloons, mummy hugs and kisses hubby when he gets home, son looks at him and says “hello”, a little cake (my son chose a pink one, because according to him, “pink means love”), a special drink and a yummy homemade dinner.

I bought some beautiful shiny red balloons, blew them up and wrote messages on them, “Welcome home!”, “We love you!”, “Yay! You’re home!”, “We really really love you!”. When hubby came through the door, my son spontaneously grabbed a balloon from the floor, threw it up in the air, and said enthusiastically, “Welcome home!”. I joined in, grabbing the balloons and repeating the words that were on them, and my hubby and I engaged in a lighthearted balloon tossing game. Yes, it was silly and a bit over the top, but it was just what I was needing to shift my energy and focus back towards connecting with him, and it engaged my son, which made my husband’s homecoming much more enjoyable and satisfying all around. And having all had a bit of fun together, my son’s need for connection was met. So he was then able to give my husband and I some space to chat, allowing us to connect before the evening routine.