Quote
“Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much
we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is
part of the earth man walks on.”
Martin Luther King
News
Research findings from housing charity Shelter state that
nearly two million couples in Britain started cohabiting primarily to make
housing more affordable, rather than because their relationship was ready for
such a transition. Furthermore, an estimated 1.8 million couples whose
relationship has collapsed are still living together because they cannot afford
to split up.
Since 2004 average house prices in England have remained at
over 6 times median salary levels, nearly twice the ratio prevailing in the
late 1990s. A long-term, sustainable ratio is less than 4 if young
families are to get on the housing ladder. Consequently, first time
buyers in London now have to save for 24 years for a deposit on a house, unless
they have help from their parents.
For many couples, expensive housing combined with the high
cost of weddings puts off the decision to get married, with the result that
they slide into cohabitation and parenting without making the solid commitment
of marriage to help them manage the risks and the tough times in their
relationship.
Alleviating these pressures on couples is right for their
own sakes, but it’s even more important when it comes to their children.
Weak or broken relationships between parents tend to be magnified in the lives
of their children, who literally embody the relationship between mum and dad.
This is why divorce often leads to children feeling torn apart inside.
Whether they own their own home or not, the next generation
will inherit the relational capital of their parents. Pressures that bear on
the stability of marriage and family life now will make that generation either
richer or poorer; which will it be?
Read on…
For practical insights into strengthening a marriage,
especially with the pressures that a new baby can bring, read about a very
effective couple education programme called Let’s Stick Together here.
Walk the talk
Where is the relational capital in your family under
threat? What might you do to build it up
in that place?
The last word
From the Bible, Proverbs chapter 13, verse 22: "A good
man leaves an inheritance for his children's children"
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