Rachel Allison My husband and I just returned from a five-day road trip to see family and friends. We were in the car 24 hours of the trip. The first hour or so going and the first hour or so returning is always full of good...
Greg Barlow "Epigenetics" is the name given to a theory that presumes that the life experiences of our ancestors are actually implanted into our DNA. Early psychoanalytical theory sought to find ways to deprogram this 'genetic heritage' assuming that an abundance of emotional and psychological characteristics...
Here’s the question we asked our readers: “Is it appropriate for a college professor to breastfeed her baby during a class lecture?” Here’s how readers responded: 18 Percent Yes, what’s the big deal 9 Percent Only if there’s no other option 73 Percent No 0 Percent Can’t decide We came to...
Greg Barlow Recently I was in a physician’s waiting room with several other patients including a very loud and needy young boy. With nervous smiles around everyone settled in to make the best of flying crayons and toys and magazines strewn throughout. As a woman entered the...
Rachel Allison My husband and I have totally different parenting styles. I have often wondered how I ended up being the strict disciplinarian. He on the other hand had an open-door policy with our children. Any time a discussion or heart to heart conversation was needed...
Rachel Allison My aunt died this week. My mom only had one brother. Because I grew up just four blocks away from him and my Aunt Barbara, I feel that my second mom has passed away. Because I had two girl cousins that were close to my...
Greg Barlow Recently a Texas road construction project was postponed because of the discovery of a rare species of spider. The project will not resume until scientists have fully evaluated the risks to the spider's habitat posed by a continuation of the project. Thousands of acres of...
Ann Bailey Showing once again that same-sex marriage is far from inevitable, the Australian parliament has voted overwhelming to reject same-sex marriage. On September 19th, the lower house voted 98 to 42 against gay marriage and the next day thSenate followed suit with a 41 to...
Here’s the question we asked UFI readers: “Women: Would you consider being a surrogate mother for an adult child or other family member?” Here’s how readers responded: 16 percent “Yes” 65 percent “No Way” 19 percent “Uncertain” This question was asked in the quake of a slate of news reports of...
Grace Sailor As I was surfing the Internet for national and world news I happened to see a blog/testimonial that I have to share with our UFI readers. It reminded me a lot of my own wedding experience. What a great memory!...
Rachel Allison Historians such as Edward Gibbon (1737-94), Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) and Will Durant (1885-1981) have analyzed the reasons for the fall of mighty civilizations. In summarizing cause and effect, an American educator lists six common reasons why each civilization fell: 1. They lost their religious convictions and...
Carol Soelberg You may not even know who Mark Regnerus is but to United Families International, he is a hero. We have waited almost two weeks to write about the vindication of Mark Regnerus, in the hope that we would be able to report that the...
Rachel Allison An article posted on “Mercator” entitled “How Addiction is Invading our Lives” is a must read for anyone who has a tendency toward addictive behavior. Francis Phillips does a great job summarizing Damian Thompson’s The Fix: How addiction is invading our lives and taking over your...
Diane Robertson The United States Supreme court convenes soon. This season, the court will look at several cases concerning family law. On September 24th, the Supreme Court will begin its first review of Hollingworth v. Perry, commonly known as Proposition 8. On this same day, the...
Diane Robertson Michelle Obama gave a stirring and powerful speech at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday. She recalled a heart-warming love story between herself and the President. She talked about some of the values that mean the most to me and many Americans—family and hard...
Kelli Houghton Clint Eastwood’s speech at the Republic National Convention sure made waves this past week. Like many others, I thought the timing of the speech and some of the content was a bit unusual – but there were some elements that I loved. I especially...
Rachel Allison Once again the importance of staying connected with our adult children has been pounded home to me. The past several weeks are proof that although I believe my husband and I should “have a life,” when our children’s needs arise we must make ourselves...
Here’s the question we asked UFI readers: "During a week, how many evening meals do you sit down and eat together as a family?" Here’s how readers responded: 57 Percent Virtually every night 1 Percent Once a week 8 Percent 2-3 times a week 34 Percent 4-5 times a week As the...
Diane Robertson The Salt Lake City TV station, KSL has decided not to air NBC’s new homosexual themed sitcom, “The New Normal”. With the intense public debate over gay marriage, KSL’s controversial decision has made national headlines. NBC gives this description of the show on their website:...
“That’s Obscene!” It’s a phrase that’s tossed around regularly and depending on the context, can mean absolutely anything. Have you ever wondered, however, whether or not there is a codified/legal definition of “obscenity” or is it simply “in the eye of the beholder?” Turns out...
Here’s the question we asked UFI readers: “If genetic engineering were to give parents the ability to screen out ‘personality flaws’ in their children, would you take advantage of it?” Here’s how readers responded: 0 Percent Yes 97 Percent No 3 Percent Unsure If given the opportunity, it's pretty clear...
Ann Bailey I love "infographics." It's just a great way to learn information. With the current economic challenges that the world faces, it's important that we all be conversant in and understand how family breakdown contributes to our economic problems. Marriage and family matter! For the record,...
Rachel Allison According to the childstats.gov website, over half of America’s children are being raised in daycares. The first time I ever thought about a “daycare child” was before I had children of my own. I was with my friend at a park and a huge...
Ann Bailey As new college coeds get ready to start school, chances are they’re going to notice that there are fewer men in their classes. In fact, the discrepancy stands at about 57 percent women to 43 percent men. Women began to exceed men in college...
Here’s the question we asked UFI readers: “In the current cultural and moral environment, is it more challenging and difficult to raise boys or to raise girls?” Here’s how readers responded: 46 Percent Boys 54 Percent Girls Perhaps you, too, have heard this question tossed around by parents struggling through...
