Put your marriage before your kids

I've often felt too many couples invest more than the healthy amount of energy into raising their child and not enough into maintaining their marriage.

This OpEd piece hits the nail right on the head - Put your marriage before your kids

A few interesting passages from the article,

"Child-centered families create anxious, exhausted parents and demanding, entitled kids who act out."

"Most of us would never dream that putting our children before our marriage could be a flight response. We often believe we just don't have time for our spouse. But the truth is, we often feel more love for our kids than for our spouse. When two parents drift apart from each other, often one parent will drift closer to the kids."

"[Sic] parents convince ourselves that putting our kids first is child-friendly, but we make two main mistakes by doing so.

First, it becomes harder to respect and enforce the boundaries that shape a child's character, so he simply badgers his parents until he gets his way. Future bosses and spouses may not be so patient with this behavior.

Second, we put tremendous pressure on our children to fulfill our emotional needs, which may lead to the child acting out. "

What is your opinion on placing your child before your marriage?  Do people even realize that's what they are doing and wonder why the marriage is so strained after the children are grown and leave the house?