More time with our kids, but does that mean everything is OK?

If we always looked like what we thought we looked like, we wouldn’t need mirrors or salesladies.  And that’s why we need good social-science researchers: to dig up the actual data about how we live and, even better, compare it to the way we used to live.  For example, would you say that the divorce rate is going up.  Most people would say yes.  But in fact divorce rates have been dropping over the past couple of decades.  Would you say that living in a Bible Belt state lowers your risk of divorce?  Uh uh.  Those are the places where divorce rates tend to be highest.  So let us fans of what I call “knowing what’s going on” give thanks for a study reported by Tara Parker-Pope in the New York Times that sheds important new light on what’s going on with the American family today.  (more…)

Why Elin Woods’ use of the Goldilocks strategy was smart

OK, you catch your spouse cheating on you.  No question: that’s horrible.  One of the most painful things that can happen to a person.  Present, future, even the past are all damaged.  But the question is, What do you do?  In the end, that’s what matters.  Life can and will throw us all kinds of curve balls.  But will we respond in the smartest possible way?  What is the smartest way to go?  (more…)

A journalist asks Mira for perspective on infidelity

This time I offer you a recent Q and A with a journalist from a prominent British newspaper:

Q:  “Do you agree that more women are being unfaithful, and if you do, why might that be?  I have read that it could be due to the Internet because it’s now much easier to meet people online.  I’ve spoken to a few women here who have had affairs with men they’ve met through dating sites specifically set up for married people to meet each other!  These sites are absolutely booming.  Are they, and the Internet generally, responsible for more women being unfaithful?  Why are these sites booming?” (more…)

Reader response to Why happiness = being happily married

Well, we got a lot of emails from you guys about the previous blog.  Mostly appreciative, although one lady asked why we have to mention our books at every opportunity.  (Answer: because they help people.)  Anyway, you had two main questions that really deserve answers: (more…)