RadioBanter - View Single Post - Laying Waste to Frank Of Silliland's Silliness

September 15th 05, 09:56 PM

Michael Coslo wrote:
wrote:

an_old_friend wrote:

Why? The notion of formal marriage is a fairly recent religious invention,
perhaps less than 5,000 years old. Many historic civilizations got along just
fine without it.

as do some modern ones like in Iceland, and other Nordic countries
nobody thinks much about young girls having babies before they get
married (and not always by the fellow they marry either)

If they marry at all, 60% of children in Iceland are born outside of
marriage.
That does not mean that they are the products of broken homes or broken
families (or teenage mothers), what it means is that Icelandic couples
tend to do things in the order: meet and then have kids while at the
same time finishing their education, buying their first home (and a
couple of cars) and then later they probably marry. If they get around
to it, I know a few couples that have been together for years (more
than 20 in a couple of cases), had a bunch of kids and generally lived
their life, without ever marrying.

Then there is something else in the culture keeping them together. Do
the ladies raise their children without the benefit of a male?

The single mothers obviously do so but the majority of children are
raised by both parents and the participation of the father in the
upbringing is considerable, most parents are both working a full day
away from the home from the time the child is 1 or 2 years old (the
mother gets 6 months paid leave, the dad gets 3 months and they get an
extra 3 months period of paid leave that either of them can take) and
both parents usually participate in the household chores after work.