It’s no secret that having children can make it hard to spend quality time with your partner. Add the stress and constraints of COVID-19 into the mix, and there’s little wonder that Dubai lawyers noted a steep spike in divorce enquiries at the beginning of the pandemic.
But the truth is, the majority of couples find communication and intimacy gets relegated to the back-burner once they become parents – pandemic or not. And, while this is the case in all kinds of marriages, the situation can be even more challenging in marriages between expats. Expat spouses can often have higher than average expectations of one another, given that they are usually away from family and only have each other to count on, says Dr Diana Cheaib Houry, psychotherapist at the Human Relationships Institute in Dubai.