Equalog Contract Discussion Guide for Couples

Equalog Contract is a discussion guide for couples, between equals. Roles such as husband-wife, provider-homemaker, father-mother no longer determine the way we live our lives. In our changed world, with both husband and wife having careers, the traditional roles as to who does what and when do not much influence us. Everything must be decided by the partners. Nothing, really nothing, can be taken for granted. Yet we still bring expectations and assumptions to our pairing, our relationships, our marriages. Unless these get spelled out, put on the table, discussed and negotiated, we can be sabotaged by differences never realized, by assumptions or expectations never even talked about. Typically, "Few expectations are agreed upon except that the love feeling itself will suffice. . . Only in marrying, do adults sign a contract in which the terms are unwritten, limitations unspoken, and penalties unspecified". –from the Introduction to the Equalog Contract.. Paschal and Janette Baute, from many years of counseling couples, and from their own married experience offer this guide for those who want to have a sound basis or "good footing" for living together. This promptbook has been widely used by couples for many years and is still employed by marital counselors. The guide lists many agreements that have been useful and even necessary for effective partnering in living together. The original design is as a workbook with each partner completing a copy on their own and then coming together to discuss similar and different views. This is still available in print form, but the eBook digital version is more accessible to most. Our aim is to help the couple have the understanding needed to have a stable, lasting, loving, joyful and fun-loving productive partnership as we ourselves have had, now for 53 years. So, some 50 years of partnering aswell as some 50 years of counseling couples have gone into this work.