When Marriage Matters...

https://www.quotemaster.org/qcf9871a472d32e48defe59aff89250b9

     Looking back on my life, I don’t remember a lot of families different than my own; two-parent families raising children together under one roof. I can actually only count a few friends that I remember being raised in a single parent family. But as I look around today as I raise my children, many of my friends and my children’s friends’ families are raising children in single-parent families or in other situations like cohabitation. Marriage has taken on different forms in the world’s view and it is having strong consequences on our families as well as the world as a whole.

     In an article I read entitled, “The Impact of Family Formation Change on the Cognitive, Social, and Emotional Well-Being of the Next Generation,” Paul Amato sets out to addressing three issues; children and their overall well-being in today’s changing families, marking the difference between changing families versus traditional families, and getting the government to set policies in which to strengthen marriages rather than penalize them.

     What stood out in Amato’s article was not only was he addressing the issues and challenges faced by families and communities, but he presented solutions. He supported his ideas with numbers and studies that explained what families are going through and then he came up with ways the government could set policy to support them and best equip them. He truly wants people to understand the importance of raising children in a home with two happy, committed adults.

     One thing I learned growing up was that disharmony in a family comes from selfishness. Something that has helped me, not only in my marriage but in many other relationships, is to seek opportunities to serve. Many times when I have felt angry or disappointment when something hasn’t gone the way I expected in a relationship. By seeking opportunities to serve, I have felt the burden of those emotions be lifted from my heart. As we learn to focus more outwardly rather than inwardly, we can help strengthen our family and our marriages more by finding ways in which to serve them. I truly believe that the more we emulate this in our families, the more our children will do those things within our families and the happier they will be because home is a happy place for them to be.

References:

Amato, P. R. (2005). The Impact of Family Formation Change on the Cognitive, Social, and Emotional Well-Being of the Next Generation. The Future of Children, Volume 15 (2), pp. 75-96.