Making Marriage Work for Dummies

The inspiration for countless one-liners, witty sayings, stage farces and not a few murder mysteries, marriage is more than just a relationship between two people. It’s  one of life’s biggest adventures and a healthy marriage can be one of life’s greatest gifts. But weathering the stresses and strains of married life and maintaining healthy marital bonds over a span of decades takes work, and sometimes you need help from a friendly expert. Which is where Making Marriage Work For Dummies comes in.

Drawing on their experiences with thirty years of marriage, during which they raised three children, as well as decades of couples counseling, experts Steven and Sue Simring show you how to build a strong, happy and long-lasting marriage. They offer priceless tips on how to deal with most problems that come up between married couples, and they offer advice on how to:

• Make your relationship more romantic
• Work out big and small differences
• Argue in ways that strengthen you relationship
• Resolve disputes over money
• Cope with mid-life change
• Handle a spouse who cheats
• Deal with families and in-laws
• Reduce stress on your marriage
• Understand your partner’s annoying habits and quirks
• Balance career and family goals
• Seek professional help when you need it

Illustrating their points with insightful, often amusing anecdotes from their own marriage and from the marriages of hundreds of couples they’ve counseled over the years, the Simrings explore such crucial topics as:

• Deciding if marriage is right for you
• Six common marriage myths
• Understanding the roots of marital problems
• Communicating with your partner
• The do’s and don’ts of fair marital fighting
• Making marriage sexy
• Examining the marriage life cycle
• Ideas for resolving money differences
• Succeeding with remarriage

Filled with ideas you can use now to keep your marriage as strong as the day you took your vows, this is a survival guide for everyone committed to making marriage work.

Steven Simring, M.D., M.P.H., and Sue Klavans Simring, D.S.W., are experienced lecturers and psychotherapists who have appeared regularly on The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Montel Williams Show. Gene Busnar is a freelance writer.