is there even such a thing anymore? Do people still think in those terms when it comes to marriage and children? In the US in 1980 roughly 18% of children were born "out of wedlock". In 2006 that number was almost 40%. Do people even believe in marriage anymore? It's costly to do and undo. I was curious if people are just not interested in getting married any longer. Does anyone know if marriages in that age range have dropped? Are the statistics in other countries similar? I wonder... of those children born "out of wedlock", how many were born into families with adults in committed relationships?

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The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there.~ Betty Grable

If I wanted your opinion, I'd remove the duct tape and ask you for it.~ Me
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
One man's dream is another man's nightmare~~~~> §¤ Lilith ¤§
~>My Scribbles<~
==>Gone Shopping<== ~Just a Quickie~ *~A Celebration Vacation~* ~Surprises~ Sleeping With the Window Open
What Did You Do Today? Self Defense Class ~Short Sweet Snippets~ § Summer Spin § Story Challenge Submission Pajamas

I know that many of my friends here in Québec have absolutely no intention of getting married, ever. Back home, people are still getting married though.

I do definitely want to get married one day. I'd rather be married before having children, but if I'm not it's not the end of the world.

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Si à travers nos veines coule encore le sang...
Si dans les jeux d'enfants on entend encore l'accent...
Si nous sentons encore l'espoir de nos grands-parents...
Si dans les voiles du large souffle encore le vent...
Y'a jamais eu de Grand Dérangement.

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On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

Right but that does not have the answer to my questions.

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The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there.~ Betty Grable

If I wanted your opinion, I'd remove the duct tape and ask you for it.~ Me
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
One man's dream is another man's nightmare~~~~> §¤ Lilith ¤§
~>My Scribbles<~
==>Gone Shopping<== ~Just a Quickie~ *~A Celebration Vacation~* ~Surprises~ Sleeping With the Window Open
What Did You Do Today? Self Defense Class ~Short Sweet Snippets~ § Summer Spin § Story Challenge Submission Pajamas

I only know the term "single parent" is heard a lot more often than "bastard" is now.

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I have to say, I felt strongly about being married before having children.

It's not particularly a moral thing, but I do think that if you don't feel you can commit yourself wholly to another person, you've got no business having a child - as that's exactly what having a child is.

In the UK, I hate to say it, but it seems to me that there's becoming a class divide between those with kids who are married and those who aren't. There seems to be a lot of people in the UK these days who treat having kids as an unfortunate but unavoidable result of casual sex. They seem to think nothing of having multiple kids with multiple partners and allowing the state to support them all. I think this is causing a backlash of people across all of the traditional social classes who feel strongly about being married before they have kids as a way of distancing themselves from this. That's to say, they don't see anything wrong with being unmarried parents in itself, but they want to separate themselves from the section of society who take such a flippant view of having children.

Having said that, I have lots of friends who aren't married and who have kids/are expecting/are trying to get pregnant and it doesn't matter a bean to me or make me think any differently about them. In fact, I've a couple of friends who got married with no intention ever to have kids, and that I find harder to get my head around. I don't really understand the point of getting married if you don't want kids.

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"Time flies like an arrow -
Fruit flies like a banana"

M Y - N A U G H T Y - P I C T U R E S ! !

The term tended to have ramifications in what your share of the inheritance was.

Laws have changed, so an offspring from the other side of the sheets has a claim on the family piggy bank.

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Calm, quiet, smooth, devastating