Recent family-related news included a trend towards more amicable divorces; some helpful hints on how to support a friend who is getting a divorce; a personal account of a bride struggling to connect with her own mother who recently ended her own long-term marriage and finally a devastating rise in domestic violence in Greece is being addressed.he institution of marriage and tips for a healthy relationship. A look at the issue of pet custody in Europe, also tops the news.
Jordana Jacobs, The New York Times, January 14, 2022
The author shares: “We don’t have the right vocabulary for our relationships with our former spouses. The term “ex” is loaded. The symbol “X” itself is a crossing out, as if, by getting married and then divorced, you made a mistake that needs scratching out with a big red pen. Or maybe the X is a coming together (the meeting point of two diagonal lines) and then splitting apart. But, like many exes, we share a child: We will never fully split.”
Divorce Is Hard. Here’s How You Can Help Those Going Through One Louise Rafkin, The New York Times, January 20, 2022 From grand gestures to small acts of kindness, there are several ways to show your support when your friend is getting divorced. Being a good listener and offering to help out with finances are some of the tips shared.
Helena Andrews-Dyer, The Washington Post, January 21, 2022 Though amicable announcements are now largely common practice, public breakups had already changed dramatically in the past few decades. Since the advent of the no-fault divorce in 1970 — which asserts that neither party is to blame — the perception of divorce has done a complete 180, said Laura Wasser, the family law attorney who has handled the divorces of Kim Kardashian West, Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. She calls it “the evolution of dissolution.”
I’m Getting Married, Mom. Please Cry Katy Gathright, The New York Times, January 21, 2022 “…Entering marriage as your mother leaves it can create an emotional disconnect… And though I was entering my marriage as she was exiting hers, I felt that our joy came from a similar place: of being in the right place, at the right time, sure of oneself…”
In Greece, a String of Killings Pushes Domestic Abuse Into the Spotlight Niki Kitsantonis, The New York Times, January 23, 2022 The rise in domestic abuse in Greece mirrors increases elsewhere that, in part, appear to be a side effect of Covid lockdowns, prompting the United Nations to speak of a “shadow pandemic.” Pope Francis has also addressed the issue, denouncing the increase in domestic violence worldwide as “almost satanic.” Several deadly assaults on women by their partners in Greece appear to have encouraged more victims to speak up in a country where such attacks have rarely been publicly discussed.