We Did Not Know Any Better

From a disturbing report on All Things Considered, right before the start of this year’s Smart Marriages Conference:
“Many of these parents are children of divorce — born in the early ’80s when divorce rates peaked. Today, these parents say they’d rather raise a child alone or with multiple partners than risk putting that child through a divorce.”
I want to give every one of you parents a huge hug and beg your forgiveness. My generation just did not know any better.
We told you people just grow apart, fall out of love, need to leave to find happiness, because we did not know any better. We grew up on mythical TV families, then came of age to Free Love and No-Fault Divorce.
We told you partners cheat on each other because they are rotten apples and “once a cheater, always a cheater,” because we did not know any better. We had no idea how to stay close enough to resist temptation or how to mend such a huge mistake once it was made.
Things change. With events like the Smart Marriages Conference in Orlando this week, and with all the classes, books, videos, and retreats offered all year ’round by those who speak there, there are better options for your children than our divorces or this new single-parent-from-infancy game plan.
Marriage education changes lives. If you can get to Orlando next Sunday at 4 pm, you can attend your choice of 90-minute seminars with well-known therapists, authors, and researchers for just $15 and stay for a marriage film festival.