The Top 5 Challenges Of Natural Family Planning

4. Those Darn Periods of Abstinence! Now THIS is a legitimate challenge of practicing Natural Family Planning! When you use NFP, you simply don't have sex on the days when your wife is fertile (if you wish to avoid pregnancy). This can be tough, and I have to admit that it was my one big objection to fully embracing NFP, until we actually gave it a try. If you can't control your sexual urges for a week or so at a time, you can't use Natural Family Planning. However, if you do have control over your body and free will, you may find these periods of abstinence as enhancements to your communication, intimacy and overall sex life. We've been pleasantly surprised by the impact that they've had on our marriage.

5. Special Occasions Don't Always Happen at the "Right" Time. It's New Year's Eve, you have a hotel room with NO kids, you've just enjoyed an awesome night of drinking and dancing, and you are both very interested in a fantastic night of sex. Sounds great, huh? Well, if you practice NFP and it just so happens that your wife ovulated the day before, you'll know that this is going to be a night requiring strong willpower if you don't want to get pregnant. It could also be a night where you decide that maybe God does want you to welcome a new life into your family. Either way, it's these special occasions that will test you and your intentions when you practice Natural Family Planning. Some people don't have the willpower or the mutual respect to make it through these situations. Even though they're rare, they will happen and you have to find strength in each other to make the choice you'll be happy with in the morning.

 Are These Your Reasons, Too? I've stated it many times, but let me make it clear that my posts about Natural Family Planning are not intended as tools of mass conversion (yeah, I know I'm not that influential). Instead, I just hope to shed some light on a very misunderstood topic and let everyone know about their options since we struggled so much in our own family planning decisions for years. I hope you have found it helpful to hear about the lesser-discussed "difficult" side of practicing NFP. Now, I'm really curious to hear from all of you:

If you do practice NFP, how have you dealt with these challenges? If you don't use Natural Family Planning, what has held you back from giving it a try? I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments.