Diverse Marriage And Family

Marriage and families take on many forms.

same sex marriage (with or without kids)
opposite sex (with or without kids)
open marriage
polygamy
living together with kids but not married
exes and steps
single parents

We are the picture perfect old-fashioned idea of what a marriage looks like. At least one kid, a mother and a father. It's time to stop treating these other types of families like they aren't as healthy as the "traditional" family. A healthy family has less to do with the titles of the people who are or aren't there then about the environment.

Healthy food
Lots of exercise
help with homework
time together to bond
care when needed
support when needed
lots of hugs and kisses
no abuse

Those are the things that make a healthy environment. It doesn't matter how your family in configured. If you have those things, you are being raised well. Sometimes, conservative friends ask how I feel about open marriage and polygamy. This is what I say:

I could never be comfortable with either arrangement. But there are some couples that this works best for. As long as everyone involved are consenting adults, then I don't see anything wrong with either. Because their marriage doesn't effect mine. When it comes to polygamy, the husband needs to be able to be a good husband to ALL of his wives. It's also important that all of the wives know about each other before getting engaged. With open marriages, you have to stick with what you are both comfortable with. But don't cross any agreed upon lines.

Bottom line, there isn't a family configuration that is better then any others. Polygamy, open marriage, and living together forever without marriage are all diverse approaches to marriage. Each couple has to find which configuration works best for them. There isn't a "best for 100%" option.

The diverse marriage and family combinations we see today are a great example of the diversity we have in America. This is a good thing. Because the more diversity we see, the more we can learn to have open minds in general. It encourages us to think about things we will possibly never experience. It encourages us to put ourselves in the place of others. And that means we can be more sympathetic, charitable, caring, and supportive of others. We can learn to accept others instead of judge. Acceptance is better then trying to make it illegal to be or do things we don't understand that don't harm anyone. Diverse marriage and family means stronger marriage and family.