Relationship Advice

Being with someone who is smart and gives good advice adds tremendously wonderful elements to your life.
~Patricia Cornwell

Having to give relationship advice can start pretty early. When my firstborn was in preschool, she told me she had a tough choice to make about which boy would be her boyfriend. I asked her which one she thought might bring her a bandaid if she had a boo-boo. She thought that was a good question and it seemed to shed a bit of light on her calculations.

Fast forward eighteen years and Ariana becomes serious with a guy who came with her to a doctor's appointment on their first date. (Long story!) He is most assuredly someone who would get a bandaid for her boo-boo. He is also someone whom she finds very interesting -- a trait Barack Obama recommends.

The advice:

First, he asks: 'Is she someone you find interesting? You will spend more time with this person than anyone else for the rest of your life, and there is nothing more important than always wanting to hear what she has to say about things.'

Second, he asked: 'Does she make you laugh?'

And third, he said: 'I don't know if you want kids, but if you do, do you think she will be a good mom?

'Life is long,' Obama told him. 'These are things that really matter over the long term.'

I think these are smart questions. What questions do you recommend?