How much time do you and your bride spend in “unnecessary” conversation each day? By unnecessary I mean it’s not about the kids, or the bills, or schedules. In reality, this kind of conversation is very necessary, because your bride needs it to feel connected and loved.

Several studies have tried to calculate the amount of time couples spend talking. One said couples only spend an average of “37 minutes a week in meaningful private communication”. Another put the number at 12 minutes a day. One goes as low as twenty minutes a week for two-income couples with more than one child!

Does my title mean ten minutes a day is enough talk for a woman? Yes and no. It’s enough in the way sex once a week is “enough” for most men. It’s about average for a couple beyond the first year of marriage, but that doesn’t make it anywhere near enough. The average being so small explains, in part, why so many marriages are in such bad shape. (If you’re wondering if I’m talking about the amount of conversation or the amount of sex, the answer is “yes”.)

Ten minutes a day is a starvation diet; enough to keep her alive if you normally have much more talk time, but not nearly enough to survive long term. If you have read the low numbers given for the amount of time couples talk and think you’re doing fine, think again. As with many things in marriage, the average has nothing to what is good, right, or needed. If you’re “average”, you’re usually not even close to what you should be doing.

So how long? I think half an hour a day is minimally enough. Half an hour a day would be like sex three times a week for most guys – enough they’re not going crazy or feeling grossly neglected. Enough they won’t complain much (especially given it’s so much more than others are getting) but short of what they really want. If you really want to give her what will make her feel loved and fulfilled, I’d say half an hour a day four days a week and at least an hour the other three days. 

Look for ways to fit talk time into your life. Grab her to run an errand with you, or tag along with her on her errands. Go for a walk. Sit and talk with her as she works on dinner or does something else around the house. Give her the talk time she needs consistently for a couple of months, and I bet you will see many changes in how she acts towards you.

Image Credit: © Caroline Klapper | Dreamstime.com