THE Talk . . .

On Monday, as my husband was dealing with the extremely important fantasy football draft, I had the rare opportunity to be in possession of the remote control.  As I was flipping channels, I found the Lifetime movie The Pregnancy Pact, which is Lifetime's interpretation of the true story of 18 girls at a Massachusetts high school. As I was watching, I started thinking about THE talk.  Teen pregnancy rates are out of this world.  Every client I interview about sexual activity  tells me they've been active since about the age of 14.  One of my 13 year old clients came to me one day and told me his 13 year old girlfriend WAS pregnant, but her mother made her get an abortion. (photo credit)

What is happening??? Are parents waiting too late to have the talk?  Does the talk not work anymore?  When did you get the talk?  When/how do you plan on having it with your children?

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When homewreckers attack . . .

Angenlina Jolie . . .  Alicia Keys . . . Gabrielle Union . . . Fantasia Barrino . . . All of these these women have been dubbed "homewreckers."  Are they really???

Don't get me wrong.  They met married men, got involved and maintained relationships with these men.  One got married and two of them have children (one currently pregnant) with those married men.  But why are THEY the homewreckers?  When did they take the vows?  When did they promise "forsaking all others . . . I choose you"?  Granted, they could exercise a level of morality and recognize their actions were wrong, but none of these women were married.  Some how they are responsible for breaking up households, that they did not even set up.  Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren's divorce was finalized on 8/23/10.  Tiger has been called a number of different things, but I have yet to hear him be called a homewrecker.  Ummm . . . isn't what he did the epitome of wrecking his home?  Is there some sort of societal double standard that absolves husbands' of their responsibility of maintaining their marriages/households and somehow all the responsibility lies on outside entities?  What do you think?

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Are Product Recalls Fair?

Very recently, there has been an influx in products being recalled.  In the case of a product that is unsafe, I think we can all agree that yes, it should be recalled, to protect consumers from harm.  But what about situations where a product is used incorrectly,causing harm to a consumer.  Is it fair to that company to have to incur the expense and bad publicity of recalling a safe ( if used correctly, according to included instructions) product?

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The Divorce epidemic

According to data from 2008 statistics, The Center of Disease Control reported the following:

There are 7.1 marriages for every 1000 total population
There are 3.5 divorces for every 1000 total population (44 states and DC reporting)

Roughly, that's about 1 out of every 2 marriages ending in divorce.
Essentially, if you are married and your best friend is married, odds are one of your marriages isn't going to make it.

Weddings are a MAJOR money making business from TV shows to $1000 wedding cakes. Everybody and their momma has a dating reality show.   But marriage?  How much is really invested into creating "forever" unions?  Is it supposed to last forever??   What are your thoughts on what is causing the divorce epidemic?

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Why Get a Job When I'm Getting a Check?!

Recently, I was reading an article that claimed that unemployment benefits caused people to not seek work after being fired/laid off. My initial reaction was a confuse "What!?"  As I read on, this idea began to make more sense me. While the amount of money you may be paid in unemployment benefits is not enough to maintain an enjoyable lifestyle, I can certainly understand why someone who was seeking employment may not accept "lesser" job offers in hopes of coming across something comperable to (or better than) their previous position.  There's a lot less pressure to find a job when you know that at the very least, your electricity wont be terminated and your children won't have to be hungry.  On the other hand, I think it's pretty awful (and honestly, irresponsible) to not even look for employment just because you are receiving those benefits. I feel that this sucks resources away from people who really need the assistance, and are actually making an effort to provide for their families.

Do you think that receiving state benefits makes a person less likely to seek employment?

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