hart
Betsy Hart biography
Betsy Hart is a nationally syndicated columnist for the Scripps Howard News Service. Her column on cultural and family issues, "From the Hart," is distributed …
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After an affair, a marriage heals
It’s been a little over a year now since my friend “Denise” (not her real name) discovered her husband’s longstanding infidelity. Married over 20 years with children still at home, she experienced the betrayal like one might a hurricane. But more than a year later, she and her husband are still standing. And they are doing it together.
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Hollywood offers mythical version of childbirth
It continues to amaze me that women in the Western world have babies at all today. Why? Because of the excruciatingly painful — and very loud — way that childbirth is almost always portrayed by Hollywood.
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The perfect soul mate doesn’t exist
Imagine if we thought of our marriages with the same sense of purpose, self-sacrifice, commitment and openness to the unexpected that we typically do our relationships with our kids. We might then find a whole new — only this time real — kind of soul mate in a spouse.
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Suitor beats boyfriend for marriage-bound
I propose that this be the year for adult, marriage-minded women to ditch the meaningless term “boyfriend.” Rather, I suggest resurrecting the old-fashioned term “suitor.”
Ignoring a child’s tantrum won’t work for everyone
This particular column is not about whether ignoring children’s bad behavior gets at the heart of the issue at all. The question for me: Where in the world are these researchers finding parents who can do this over time?
When the toy-buying years come to an end
BETSY HART: I decided to find out what I may be missing now that my kids have moved on fully to the high-end-electronics (and makeup/clothes) years.
Go ahead; feel free to wish others a heartfelt ‘Merry Christmas’
BETSY HART: The war on the word Christmas, in an attempt to be political correct is just plain silly.
Are older women really less ambitious?
BETSY HART: Could it be that older women are tiring of the rat race known as the work world? A recent poll in More magazine seems to indicate that.
Lamenting the demise of manliness in America
BETSY HART: The Book of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood (Thomas Nelson, $34.99) by Bill Bennett is filled with accounts of what it means to be a man in six distinct areas: in war, at work, in play, in the political world, with women and children, and in prayer and reflection.
Mother-in-law stereotypes don’t always ring true
BETSY HART: Mothers-in-law. They are the stuff of legend. And of situation comedies. Who can ever forget Endora on “Bewitched” or countless other such stock characters? Letters to advice columnists are filled with plaintive cries, primarily from wives, asking what to do about the “difficult” mother of their spouse. The stereotype of the overbearing, meddling mother-in-law translates across cultures.
Taking the guidance of a helping hand
“ It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart / But the welcome I receive at the restart.” — “Roll Away Your Stone,” by Mumford and Sons I often say “It takes a parent” to raise a child. Ironically, that was …
Making demands and expecting change right now doesn’t work in the grown-up world
BETSY HART: Right now, right now, right now! That’s the mantra of everyone these days, or so it seems.
Celibacy used in a whole new way
Christopher Yuan and his mother Angela have co-written a gripping and gritty story, Out Of A Far Country: A gay son’s journey to God. A broken mother’s search for hope. Here they take turns authoring chapters and chronicling from their different perspectives his journey through …
Too many are missing out on marriage
A young single friend mentioned recently that marriage, that most intimate of human relationships, sounds like “work,” so why bother? It seems to me a lot of people, young and old, are asking exactly that. It’s likely one reason why marriage rates around the world …
People are world’s greatest asset
John Denver sang about “more people, more scars upon the land” in “Rocky Mountain High.” Well, get ready for the seven billionth “scar.” He or she will be born sometime in the next few weeks, very likely on Halloween, according to the United Nations. Hooray! …
There’s danger in thinking your kid’s perfect
BETSY HART: A new study shows that the vast majority of parents think a lot of other teens are using drugs or alcohol. Just not their own kids.
Marrying young a reasonable reality
So my teen and tween daughters are at it again: pushing me to allow dating relationships for them now, or in the cases of the younger ones, pushing for a promise that I will allow them to have such relationships when they are teens. I …
Undercutting men isn’t a good trend
Really, guys? Really? That’s what I found myself saying in response to two books just out: Man Down: Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt that Women are Better Cops, Drivers, Gamblers, Spies, World Leaders, Beer Tasters, Hedge Fund Managers, and Just About Everything Else by Dan …
Couple works to restore marriage
In March I shared (with permission) my friend “Denise’s” story of discovering her husband’s long-term infidelity. She sent me excerpts from her journal at the time, including this one: “I have never been so tested in my life. I just keep trying to stay focused …
Examining the troubling trend of eliminating one twin before birth
BETSY HART: There’s a small but increasing phenomenon of selectively aborting healthy twin pregnancies down to one baby to make sure the pregnancy produces only one desired child.
