Family related news included an abundance of stories about how families come in all different shapes, sizes and configurations. Also in the news is a House bill that recognizes same-sex marriage on the federal level and a look at the universal language parents speak.
Dani Blum, The New York Times, June 27, 2022 In the L.G.B.T.Q. community, it’s not uncommon to find a substitute family, colloquially known as a chosen family. The term refers to “nonbiological kinship bonds that many people choose because they need to have mutual support and love,” said Trevor Gates-Crandall, a social worker in Colorado who has researched chosen families. Five of these close-knit communities tell their stories.
Terry Gross, NPR, July 14, 2022 Bilton's memoir, Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings, is about growing up different and trying to understand the meaning of family when you're biologically related to so many children from the same donor.
Stephanie Lai, The New York Times, July 19, 2022 The House on Tuesday passed a bill that would recognize same-sex marriages at the federal level, with a bipartisan coalition supporting a measure that addresses growing concerns that a conservative Supreme Court could nullify marriage equality.
Ayana Archie, NPR, July 20, 2022 The percentage of young adults living with parents, grandparents, or older siblings or roommates has nearly tripled since 1971, new data from the Pew Research Center shows. Finances and caregiving are the driving factors behind multigenerational households.
Oliver Whang, The New York Times, July 24, 2022 Researchers recently determined that sing-songy baby talk—more technically known as “parentese”—seems to be nearly universal to humans around the world. In the most wide-ranging study of its kind, more than 40 scientists helped to gather and analyze 1,615 voice recordings from 410 parents on six continents, in 18 languages from diverse communities and found that in every one of these cultures, the way parents spoke and sang to their infants differed from the way they communicated with adults—and that those differences were profoundly similar from group to group.