A couple keep on top of their busy family life by scheduling a weekly admin meeting – and say it has strengthened their relationship. Rachael Shepard-Ohta, 34, and her husband, Marley, 37, began arranging the sit downs after her therapist suggested it may help - and set an agenda each week together. The pair keep a note of anything they want to mention throughout the week before bringing it up to each other on a Thursday morning – when their three kids, aged five, three, and three months, are at school or sleeping.
Rachael and Marley, a clinical social worker, start off by expressing their gratitude to each other before planning the tasks that need to be done that week – such as booking appointments and checking for any birthday parties coming up. Rachael says the meetings have made Marley “appreciate” her more as she had been "struggling with the mental load" she was taking on. Rachael, a sleep consultant, said: “We treat it like an appointment at the same time each week.
“We sit down with our computers. Over the week we keep track of what we want to talk about in a notes app in our phones. We start with gratitude and appreciation. So we'll say what things we liked the other did that week and have a moment to connect.
