Source: Guardian >> Read full article and comment
In times past many couples split up after rows over one partner’s faith. Now relationships are foundering over differing attitudes to recycling and taking flights
Earlier this year, I had a fascinating discussion with Paula Hall, an experienced marriage guidance counsellor – or “relationship psychotherapist” as they now prefer to be called – and author of Improve Your Relationship for Dummies.
It was a strictly professional discussion conducted while researching an article, but it inevitably made me think about my own relationship.
Like everyone else, I suspect, niggles and arguments are – as the Liberal Democrats and Tories will no doubt soon discover – part and parcel of any long-term union, and my own is no different.
Hall said that “chore-based aggravations” are very often triggers for domestic disputes, but what interested me most was that she had noticed the rise of environment-themed debates acting as similar triggers “from about seven years ago”.
It used to be things such as not taking your shoes off at the front door, but now it can be things such as not washing out the tin cans properly or arguing about whether to take a holiday flight or not. Some of these debates can also be driven by children. … Continue reading