Recent family related news included a look at an emerging trend in engagement rings in the LGBTQ community and valuable relationship wisdom from two sources: the founder of a love research lab and a divorced mom. Also of interest: the Chinese government, in an unusual move, has been supporting dating apps, and a Court in Israel has also done something surprising by recognizing online civil marriages as valid.
Catherine Pearson, The New York Times, Updated September, 30, 2022 The Gottmans, who have been married for decades, have plenty of data to support the idea that brief moments of kindness and connection can predict marital happiness—much of it gathered at the Gottman Love Lab, the pioneering research center John co-founded in the 1980s at the University of Washington to study what makes romantic love last.
Abigail Covington, The New York Times, Updated September 30, 2022
As one jeweler put it, many of her L.G.B.T.Q. clients want “the opposite of what a diamond is supposed to stand for.” Sapphires, opals and other nontraditional stones have in turn grown more coveted. One company uses the terms “wide bands,” “thin bands” and “rings with a center stone,” all of which recall the more inclusive language that some couples are using to define themselves and their unions.
Chang Che and Zixu Wang, The New York Times, Updated October 1, 2022
The number of dating apps in China with over 1,000 downloads soared to 275 this year from 81 in 2017, according to data.ai, an analytics firm. These apps are flourishing—and Beijing appears to be leaving them alone—for more than just romantic reasons. They promise to nudge people toward marriage at a time when China’s marriage and fertility rates are at record lows, but the apps also are helping users combat loneliness as Covid lockdowns have wreaked havoc on social connections.
Daniel Estrin, NPR, October 2, 2022
Israelis seeking non-religious or same-sex weddings have been going abroad for years. Lately hundreds of couples got married over Zoom from Utah. An Israeli court ruled those marriages are valid. Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman called on authorities not to appeal the court ruling. He said recognizing Utah's zoom weddings is, “a step toward a liberal country based on the values of live and let live.”
Amy Shearn, The New York Times, October 8, 2022
The author shares: “Splitting time evenly, so that each parent has roughly the same amount of work time, child care time, household chore time and free time? If both parents are on board, you can absolutely achieve this—while staying married. Doing so may even save you from a divorce.”