A man and a woman, when they marry, have to forge a new identity as a couple. Natural family planning can contribute to this process of bonding through:

• mutual decision-making – in choosing method, in choosing number of children, in choosing when;

• mutual sharing in the responsibility for mutual fertility;

• mutual support during those times when abstinence may be difficult – although one might stress that abstinence is not usually difficult;

• abstinence as a life skill – necessary for (1) times apart, (2) illness, fatigue, (3) lack of time, (4) sensitivity to the other’s emotional receptivity;

• diversification of relationship – times of abstinence ensure that the relationship will not narrow down to a purely sexual base – throws the couple back on elements that drew them together in the first place – stimulates couples to express their relationship in non-sexual terms, in broader intellectual, spiritual, cultural, recreational ways – these ways, normally, in the hurly-burly of family life, can get neglected unless recognized and planned for – a period of abstinence can stimulate attention to this area;

• renewal of sexual relationship – through sexual rest, and through the anticipation and longing that abstinence can stimulate. This is becoming more important now that sexual boredom is becoming a malaise of modern times.