National Marriage Week
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HA/KS's Link
Marriage is good for kids.
"And according to the Heritage Foundation, when parents are married the probability of a child living in poverty drops by an amazing amount – 82 percent."
Government programs often discourage marriage and traditional families. It is having an impact on our society that will impact the future of our nation in many very negative ways.
I completely agree. That statistic concerns relative poverty. In terms of absolute (global) poverty, America is at <2% of the population. And while that is a great CREDIT to America, it is also a structural problem because legions of Americans are comfortably "living in poverty," and thus discouraged to work for improvement. Through various social programs, we're underwriting a tragic degree of bad life choices.
I will have been married to my second wife for 50 years in August.
Shuteye...congrats to you and the Mrs. It's 37 for the wife and I.
Bill O'Reily has done numerous stories on this subject and the good it does for kids trying to growing up in traditional two parent homes. He said single parent homes and broken homes are very tough on kids. The number of single/broken homes in the black communities is staggering and dooms many kids and they never get a chance.
I am a firm believer in two parent homes but partial to that which houses a mother and father. There are many reasons this may not be possible but ideally I believe it produces the foundation for the family structure. Sadly we have become a service oriented nation whereby homes consisting of this "ideal" situation have destroyed that very intention. Many mothers and fathers have serviced their children's values for others to care in pursuit of their own career's, unabashedly defying all things counter to nature. Their defense is their own sacrifice they are making to offer a better life for their children through monetary enhancements. IMO children need to have their tears wiped away, a band aid place upon a scrape,a kiss and a hug from mom or dad that no salve or doctor could ever soothe let alone the chambers of Child Care. I am of a another generation I realize that but suffer hard for children today who will never know that sensation of motherly comfort when they could have, if only their parents had witnessed their smile of contentment and gift when loved in this manner that only a mother or father could ever give and receive in return.
The Rock
Been married to my lovely wife for 35 yrs this May.
Rock,
I believe most two parent homes are better than single/broken homes. I tend to agree about the traditional mother/father parentage as the ideal environment for a child in their formative years. I don't want to deviate too far off course here but IMO same sex parents, although arguable better than single/broken homes, lack the parental diversity a child witnesses and needs to experience. Some folks may disagree and that's ok but I tend to lean towards the traditional mother/father homes as the best option for kids.
I've never experienced living in a single/broken home so I can't speak from experience on that. My kids did experience a single parent environment often when I deployed for work. That takes a strong spouse to hold the home front down while the other spouse is gone. Because of that, I always give respect to the spouses of those who deploy and are left holding down the home and kids. IMO they often do not get all the respect they deserve.
We're at 42 and we've known each other for 47. I don't know how she's put up with me for that long!
Sadly people like us are NOT the norm now and that's not good. I learned how to be a man, husband, and father from my father. He didn't lecture it, he simply lived it. It's tough for any kids to not have a dedicated father and mother in their lives, but for a boy it's doubly tragic because then he has no role model at all.
As the years pass I realize almost daily how I "see my father in me". That's what a man's real legacy is....his children and particularly his sons.
"Baby Daddy" and/or "Baby Momma" mentality has gained widespread social acceptance. It has cheapened the public perception of the Family unit.
As long as children continue to be born into poverty, and ultimately end up in single parent households, this cycle will continue. I can't see a socially acceptable solution.
We'll be 27 years in July...just newlyweds compared to some of you guys~!
Any functioning male can be a father, it takes a LOT....a HELL of lot..... more than that to be a "DAD". And that's not something that you automatically know how to do, it's SHOWN to you on a daily basis. You live it.
Gonna be married 32 years in May. Been together for almost 37. Hasn't been easy....but it's been worth it! Three beautiful kids, two daughters and a son.
It's definitely a 2 edged sword. When it's not going well there's nothing worse, but yet when it's going right there's NOTHING better. And you MUST work at it. "Earned, not given".
My wife and I (31+ years) believe every marriage will have a "make or break" moment, we did. If you fight through it, you are probably all set. To often these days, people just chuck it because it's become acceptable to be divorced. Kids emulate what they see, we continually see our boys treat their fiancee/wife (1 of each right now!) in ways we never said anything about, but they saw, little things like opening car doors, I always have, heck if they beat me to the car they will open doors for their Mom and fiancee/wife, it's a great thing to see and you sit back at this age and go "damn, somehow we raised two great young men without screwing them up to badly". Very different from walking out of the hospital with son #1 after he was born thinking "really, you're just going to let us leave and take him home? We don't know what the heck we're doing!"
"If you fight through it, you are probably all set."
Bob, we do that...starts every night about 2 minutes after I get home! (No "lol" cuz it ain't funny!)
In June my wife and I will be married 49 years. She is still my best friend.
37 or 38...one year we both forgot our anniversary. Cherie says it still counts, I don't.
For all you married guys......Which one is the female?