19 Kids and Counting's Michelle Duggar's daughters Jill and Jessa are new to marriage, and the show's matriarch has a lot of marriage advice she wants to pass down to her daughters, as well as to all the other newlyweds out there.
The first is a piece of advice she received from her good friend Gala right before she was married. Michelle was told that it would be difficult, but she had to be available to her husband all the time.
"You are the only one who can meet that special need that he has in his life for intimacy. So when you are exhausted at the end of the day, maybe from dealing with little ones, and you fall into bed so exhausted at night, don't forget about him because you and he are the only ones who can have that time together. No one else in the world can meet that need," Michelle wrote in her blog.
She stressed that wives should be "joyfully available" to their husbands, no matter how exhausted they feel or how pregnant they are, and be able to smile and tell their partners: "I'm still here for you and I'm going to meet that need because I know it's a need for you."
Michelle has realised the value of that advice over the years. Because she's always "joyfully available" for her husband, she feels he reciprocates her love and goes out of his way to meet her needs too.
The second piece of advice is to talk about disagreements privately. Couples should never discuss their problems in front of their children, she stressed.
"Step aside and say we're going to talk about this privately. And don't ever put your husband down in front of your children or other people, especially your families. Talk privately. We always say in our family, we praise publicly, but we correct privately. And that's marriage advice that I would give to anyone," said Michelle.
Lastly, Michelle said that couples should get marriage advice whenever they need it, but they should always seek counselling from the right people. Friends will always have something to say, but oftentimes it's not the wisest advice to follow.
Instead, Michelle believes that couples should seek biblical teachers and consider going to marriage retreats.
