Search Results for: blog premarital education

How Premarital Counseling Might Help Marriages

What comes next? The other week one of the local radio station’s morning talk program held a discussion on marriage. A young engaged woman called in. She said that she signed herself and her fiance up for premarital counseling. She did so, she claimed, because her husband-to-be doesn’t know anything about what a modern marriage ought to be like. Her beloved was raised by his socially conservative grandmother. Now that they’re approaching their married life it came out that he believes she will do all of the work around the house and take care of the kids. We’ve looked at … Continue reading →

Premarital Education

A recent article in the Shreveport (Louisiana) Times suggests that premarital education could help to cut the divorce rate. Premarital education is different than premarital counseling, which usually takes place with a couple and a trained counselor of some type and discusses potential differences in personality types, families and other areas of conflict. Premarital education takes place in a group setting and focuses on giving relationship type advice. I think this is a very positive step that may potentially help couples enhance their overall relationship and pending marriage. According to the article, “Couples who received premarital education had a 31 … Continue reading →

Should We Pay Teens to Not Get Pregnant?

Have you heard about College Bound Sisters? It is a program in Greensboro, North Carolina that is designed to prevent teen pregnancy. The program targets younger sisters of teen mothers who are between the ages of 12 and 16, want to go to college, have never been pregnant and are willing to attend an hour and a half meeting each week. In return, for every day that these teens do not get pregnant, they are paid $1. $7 is deposited into a college fun each week that they attend the meeting, are not pregnant, and are still attending school. When … Continue reading →

Is It Time to Teach Your Child the Facts of Life?

One of the great and yet one of the scary things about being a parent is teaching your children about procreation, or the facts of life, or the birds and the bees – whatever you choose to call it. As LDS parents, we have the added advantage of teaching it from a religious perspective and can call on the scriptures and also modern day revelation to help us impress upon our children the deeply spiritual nature of such an act and how sharing it with your spouse can bring you closer together. We can help them to understand also the … Continue reading →

Do You Have a License to Wed?

Let me preface this blog with the advice that this movie is a waste of time. I went to see it with my husband and my mother in law and what looked like a mildly amusing romp in previews was actually a guide for all the things you shouldn’t do when getting ready to get married. First and foremost, the preface of the movie is that the boy meets girl, boy and girl date, boy and girl fall in love and move in together – boy proposes and girl wants to get married at her family church with the reverend … Continue reading →

Marriage Laws – Oregon & Washington

I can believe we’re nearly done with our marriage laws journey that began way back in May (yes, I can say way back in May with a straight face). We’re nearing July (wrapping up our last week in June here) and we’re taking a break in the Pacific Northwest to look at the marriage laws in Oregon and Washington. Oregon There is no residency requirement related to applying for a marriage license in Oregon. You will need to bring a photo ID with you and likely your social security number. As with most states, each county may have its own … Continue reading →

Marriage Laws – Idaho & Utah

Our series on marriage laws continues with stops in Idaho and Utah. I’ve had friends in Idaho for years, but I’ve never been to the state. So let’s take a look at the marriage laws governing these states. Idaho There are two interesting things about Idaho marriage licenses. The first is that they do not expire. The second is that Idaho requires the couple to read and sign a premarital educational pamphlet on AIDS. As for the rest of the laws governing marriage licenses, Idaho has pretty standard fair. You need to provide a birth certificate, a driver’s license and … Continue reading →

Marriage Laws – Oklahoma & Texas

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We’ve been exploring the marriage laws of the 50 states in the United States. We started in New England and worked our way down the Atlantic coast before heading west. Today, we’re heading into the great state of Texas and just to the north of Texas, the state of Oklahoma. If you read this blog regularly, you may have seen the posts covering the marriage law waiting for Governor Perry to sign that will more than double marriage license fees in Texas unless a couple takes a state-sanctioned pre-marital education course. Texas As with all states, it’s important that you … Continue reading →

Marriage Laws – Wisconsin & Minnesota

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We’re backtracking a little to swing through Wisconsin and Minnesota on our 50 state tour of state marriage laws and we’re going to take a moment here in Wisconsin because there are some interesting tidbits that you need to be aware of when applying for a marriage license in the state. Wisconsin First and foremost, each county in Wisconsin may have different requirements, so be sure that you contact your local County Clerk for what specific requirements your county may have prior to going down to apply for your marriage license. Your marriage license fee is about $80 and you … Continue reading →

Marriage in the News: Covenant Marriages & Texas Legislation

This seems like some heavy subject material to bring up this morning, but this landed in my inbox and I couldn’t help but bring it up for discussion. Recently, I talked about the proposed marriage license legislation in Nebraska. The legislation proposes that for every couple who goes through 10 hours of marriage education then they would only need to pay $30 for a marriage license and if they don’t take the class, then they’ll need to pay $100 for their marriage license. I thought the idea was worth exploring as a model for its effect on marriage. I still … Continue reading →