According to pop culture, romance means candlelit dinners, walks on the beach, and sprints through airports to confess everlasting love. But as mom Julia Koumbassa puts it, romance when you're a parent is "when a trip to the grocery store without the kids counts as date night."
In the Valentine's Day spirit, we asked the HuffPost Parents Facebook community to show us one photo that represents romance once kids are in the picture. A screenshot of Netflix garnered dozens of "likes" in solidarity, but overall, the candid images show that love doesn't have to fade post-baby, it just changes.
Scroll through some of the submissions below, and Happy Valentine's Day!
1
Lisa Kriss
2
Damon Dahlen/Huffington Post
This is what a parenting date night looks like! We rock the supermarket!
3
Alyssa Martinez-Ellis
Alone time comes with the disclaimer: "Kids included."
Advertisement
4
Jamie Zamora
5
Julie Emmons
We color together after our 2-year-old is in bed and talk about anything but him. (OK, we usually end up talking about him! But we try not to.)
6
Tara Faith Burnette
Advertisement
7
Sara Stanford
After having a baby almost a year ago, the romance has shifted but grown exponentially.This is my husband Matt, who used to play guitar for Luna when she was still curled in my belly. Now she's walking to the guitar and smacking the strings until daddy plays for her. I can't think of anything more romantic than watching these two play music.
8
Lisa Penzone
Stealing kisses over our sleepy little pumpkin.
9
Julia Koumbassa
When a trip to the grocery store without the kids counts as date night.
Advertisement
10
Lauren Powell
I am not sure I need to comment on how our romance is...
11
Sarah Van Ryzin Forster
Making sure you and the kids are happy.
12
Kateesha Mitchell-Shirey
Romance is rigging up this contraption to hang the tablet from the ceiling so we could cuddle and watch Netflix. Our boys were watching a movie on the living room TV so we(he) had to get creative.
Advertisement
13
Brittanie Rupea
Super Mario World on a Friday night together.
14
Jamie Weed-Hessel
Romance is folding the laundry together, in the hopes that you get to take advantage of the bed, before any of the munchkins wake up and knock on your door!
15
Joanna McClanahan
Step 1) Escape children. Step 2) Margaritas. Step 3) Make eachother laugh! (Sombrero of shame is optional.)
Advertisement
16
Darcel Martinez
Sneaking off to a hotel for some grown-up time!
17
Bethany Serwe
This is what ours looks like.
18
Sheri Ann Krogman
Daddy/daughter dates now occur five times more often than Mommy/Daddy dates!
Advertisement
19
Jacquelyn Gill
A nice, relaxing birthday dinner, where everyone behaves.
20
Joanna Knight
Sneaking kisses.
21
Amanda Sweeting
It's splitting a bottle of champagne on NYE, flirting and talking for the first time in ages then the baby waking up at 11:54PM and the three of you ringing in the new year together!
Advertisement
22
Ashley Jackson
Romance is the fact that they haven't been "grossed" out yet!
23
Kira Fauver
Wine, feet up, cooking show, cuddling.
24
Emily Pope White
See that red wine? We both work outside the home, so after the chaos and child wrangling that occurs between 4 and 8 PM, it's all about finishing the daily chores AND red wine... Romance!
Advertisement
25
LaToya Davis
Cooking together!
26
Courtney Bedard
Romance is still having fun together at weddings 12 years later.
27
Krystle Robinson-Hershey
We volunteer, have dates, enjoy kids but most of all we make time for each other nightly and go on a date once a week.
Advertisement
28
Caroline Roffidal-Blanco
Romance now is a quick dance in my house slippers while wrangling the kiddos. Still so in love!
29
Laura Engshun
You have to make time for your spouse because without them, you have nothing.
30
Crystal Lohman
Our baby is 4-months and the three of us took a staycation to a nice hotel.
Advertisement
31
Krista Lorraine
First date night after baby who is 6 months old! It was great and much needed!
Related
Before You Go
