Finding Hope in Hopeless Times

  This week was the last week of lectures for my class. So, naturally, we talked about a pretty intense topic within families: divorce. While reflecting on this topic and writing about it, I struggled quite a bit. As someone who has never personally experienced either of these situations, I feel a little unqualified to give my two cents. During class this week, I watched as many people expressed high emotions over this subject and the challenges and heartache it can present. However, regardless of my inexperience, I still would like to share what I learned. One of the first things my class discussed was some of the reasons people get divorced. Initially, the conversation turned to cheating and infidelity. However, as my classmates and I soon learned, these circumstances don't end in as many separations as we think. While most Americans report that they would immediately "kick someone to the curb" after they cheated, more than half of the marriages that experience chea...

  Parenting is a hot topic regularly discussed in the media and in people's day-to-day lives. For many, parenting causes quite a bit of anxiety, with more and more people choosing to avoid it. Looking at data on the subject, the Pew Research Center reports a long-term decline in larger families, noting that most American women today (about 62%) ages 40-44 have only one or two children. However, despite this, reports have shown that about 41% of American adults today believe that having three or more kids is the most ideal, the highest peak in this view since 1997. So, if more people share these views, why are we still having fewer children? Some researchers point to current parenting trends and views to explain this phenomenon. Dr. Leanord Sax, an expert in child development and a family physician and psychologist, believes that a lack of confidence in one's parenting abilities and the handing over of parental responsibilities to children is to blame. One example he looks a...