I know a guy who is really sweet and a good person. I’d be interested in dating him. He has a HS education. However, he’s also a volunteer fireman, volunteer EMT, coaches soccer for little kids, and goes to church twice a week. It’s really important to me to find someone who enjoys giving back to the community and who has God in their life.

However, my parents insist that I don’t date anyone without at least a Bachelor’s degree. Ideally, they’d like me to date only doctors. What do you think?

In a custody battle can a child be taken away for mental abuse if the child’s counselors and doctors are noticing it along with the other parent? Everyone is documenting that the child is being negatively impacted by the other parent. They are also saying that parent is unstable.

my dad thinks its rediculous, cause its like saying "if we brake up" and cursing your marriage. My step mom thinks its great and is all for it because people are just out to get your money and if you make millions why not protect it. both make about 60 to 70,000 dollars a year.(i figured that was going to be somebodies question on here) And neither of them have it. im just saying im not sure what i think about it. what do you think, for it or against it? and why? i like to hear something new.
okay lets be clear the divorce rate is not 50 percent. false stat. The divorce rate is like at 35 or 40. what got reported wrong was for every marriage there is 2wice more people divorcing IN THE YEAR. So at first glance it would seem like this is the divorce rate. But it means that for every person who is getting married this year, theres 2 people getting divorced. Could be from 10 to 15 years ago, who knows.
no 1 ITS MY PARENTS MAKING 70,000 NOT ME IM IN COLLEGE

no 2 WE ARE TALKING IN GENERAL I BELIEVE I STATED MILLIONAIRS, NOT MY PARENTS OR ME.
and doctors grammar and spelling sucks so stfu nurse betty.

It still opposes the use of condoms, even though it does not oppose the use of surgical gloves by doctors. What is the difference between a fiver fingered glove and a one fingered glove?

I have been married to my husband for 5 years. Shortly after we were married he went to "go talk to some Air Force and Navy recruiters". Well, he came home that night signed up to join the Army. I wasn’t really happy with the first 2 options, but I figured letting him check it out was okay. I wasn’t prepared for him to actually go through with it, especially a branch we hadn’t even discussed. It took some serious thought, but I decided to stay. Mind you, and I Buddhist- very passive, loving, passionate, and very very anti-war. Knowing I was sending my husband off to a war I didn’t believe in didn’t exactly sit right with me. BUT, I loved him. Just over a year later, right after moving away from the only home I ever knew, he deployed for the first time. It was awful for me (and our children), but at least he was in a safe areas with a safe job. He came home, and was much (to my surprise) the same man that I loved and married, even though he was a little less affectionate and didn’t communicate quite as well as he used to. Fast-forward another year, and he deployed again. This time to a less safe place, but still with a relatively safe job. I now had 3 children to care for alone. Thanks to military paying nothing (3 G’s a month is not much for a family of 5) I can’t even afford to work, because more than half of my pay would go to daycare, I also (thanks to the awesome Southern U.S.) ended up with Lyme disease and was just short of being crippled for most of the deployment. As soon as rounds of antibiotics and detoxing was over, he came home injured a couple months early. The doctors have pretty much taken care of it. In the mean time, he is distant. All he does is work, come home, play video games, watch TV….and mess the house. His side of the bedroom, his office area, the basement- all closely resemble something out of an episode of Hoarders. I will clean his things, and I have tried to organize everything for him, but he just undoes it all in a few short days. I have an entire house to clean and 3 kids to care for, because he now does zero cleaning or parenting. We almost never have sex anymore, and when we finally do every couple of months, it is not great and lasts seconds or minutes at most. He has gained over 40 pounds, 20 something of it in the last 3-ish months. I don’t really care from a physical standpoint, but his health is deteriorating. He eats like crap, doesn’t exercise (I mean, he’s in the ARMY…he’s supposed to be fit). I keep myself healthy, and do extra to make myself look good for him. No one ever believes I’ve had one child, let alone 3. Like I said, outside of health, it’s all for him. I go above and beyond for him in and out of the bedroom, and it’s like none of it is enough, or at least just not of any interest to him. We’ve had talks, many talks. It gets better for a day or 2, and then it goes right back to the way it is. I have to basically force him just to kiss me goodbye or goodnight. My kids think he hates them. Of course, I dispel this immediately and just tell them daddy doesn’t feel good. Yes, they think he’s been sick for 6+ months. Basically, it comes down to this: I am spending my life taking care of his house, his kids, his dog and him. I get nothing in return. No love, no affection (which is all I want). I’m not a bitch, I don’t nag, I don’t yell… I do everything he asks and then some. All of this I do for someone who does only what he wants. From his career that I dislike, to his habits, etc. I would never set out to change someone, but he is so far from the man I married 5 years ago that it is unreal to me. We’ve known each other for 14 years. We were best friends for most of that, and dated on and off through high school and college. He’s not that man anymore. All of our morals, beliefs and life goals have gone out the window for him. I appreciate what he does for a living, even if I disagree with it. I send him off to wars that I hate. I stayed for both deployments in a neighborhood where there were more break-ins and rapes than anywhere I had ever even visited before. All of this I did so that he could do what he wanted. Now what? Is it all for nothing? What would you do?
Also, he has been to post-deployment counseling and they don’t seem to think he is depressed or that he has PTSD or anything. He doesn’t think there is a problem at all. He blames a couple prescriptions he is on for the weight gain, not the overeating and lack of exercise. Before I started raising my kids I was a fitness instructor and a massage therapist. Health is my life’s work, so it hurts that he is doing so little to be healthy. I’d like him to be healthy, for the kids’ sake at the very least. Everything has piled up and I don’t know what to do. Divorce isn’t really something I want to consider, but I can’t and won’t force him to change. Is it as hopeless as it seems?

My daughter has been harrassed and stalked, mentally as well as physically abused by her ex. They are now in a custody battle. The father has never provided any child support. He has followed her to work, threatened coworkers, dumped mud and dirt over her car and hid in the bushes outside her bedroom window. She was living with me while all this was going on, so I have pretty much been closely involved with all of this. My daughter and myself had to change our phone numbers because of non-stop calls from him 24 hours a day. The police have been called on several occassions. She even went to the police station to report being stalked with her cell phone that had the offensive text messages and pictures on it, nothing was done. He was hospitalized for so called depression and somehow has convinced the officials, doctors, lawyers and now a judge who is suppose to protect the children and welfare of those involved. We fear for our daughter and most of all our grandson.

You know, how kids are students to teachers, and people who go for medical care are patients to doctors, and people who hire lawyers are the lawyers’ clients. So what are couples who see marriage counselors called in relation to the counselor?

My brother in law has separated from his wife. They have 2 kids, one 7, and one 1. The 1 year old was born VERY premature and he can not work and take care of a baby, so he has decided to leave both the children with his wife. The baby can not be removed from the house for more than 4 hours at a time.

He is willing to pay 30% of his gross pay in child support during this trial separation, with the condition that she vacates the house for 8 hours every saturday so he can be with the kids, since the youngest can’t go very far, or be taken elsewhere.

Any thoughts on what else to include, this isn’t going to court, this is just for them.
They are VERY poor, the one year old has 5 doctors she see’s regularly and he is the only one that works. He just wants something on paper that says he gets to see his kids, and i am sure she wants something on paper that says she will get some sort of support. This isn’t for life, this is for right now so they both can rest easy about money and visitation.

I am considering going to a doctor about antidepressants, but I do not want to go through counseling. Do doctors prescribe antidepressants without counseling or are both a must?

This is both for financial and legal reasons. I live in Northern NJ and have two children and the wife suffers from MS and severe depression. The wife’s behavior is irrational with some glimpes of sanity {she is off all her meds}. What can I do to secure the safety and welfare of my children? Has anyone gone through this? In all of this the wife is on disability and I work a 50 hour work week, without my parents help I would not be able to pay the mortgage.
Thanks for the great answers so far. Roy Boy you are right, but she refuses to leave the home and my attorney advises me to also remain in the home. I have her doctors on speed dial and certain neighborhood "angels" keep an eye on things while I am at work. I have figured our finances and unfortunatley a split means we both live close to the poverty line and the children further suffer.

Believe it or not, it is good to know that some of you know what it is like because I feel so alone in this. The guilt of leaving my disabled wife is unbearable, but I see no other option.
Abigail, you have not walked in my shoes. I have been with her for almost twenty years and have been in marriage counseling for ten. It is not for want of trying, she wanted the divorce. I have been physically and mentally abused by her and she recently harmed my son in a public place. Again you have no idea, people who have a disabliity are not all angels.

When I refer to her as the wife, it is what she currently is. Look within yourself on why you are taking it so personal.