More than half of all children born in Scotland are now born to unmarried parents

[expatinscotland]

here

And among mothers under the age of 30, that figure rises to 2/3.

Wow!

Had no idea it was so high.

But come to think of it, everytime I was in hospital having a baby, I was the only married woman in a room of 4 mothers.

And the eldest (was 32 when DD1 born, 34 with DD2 and 37 with DS).

Makes me wonder about the future for my children.

I'd always hoped they would marry, for some reason, before having kids.

Maybe it's because my parents are married, too, as are DH's.

saving money was more important to us than having a wedding, sad but true, been together 20 years nearly though.

It''becau it's harder to get a shotgun licence these days.

But why do people think they need a big wedding that has to cost a lot so they don't bother? Isn't about the marriage rather than the wedding?

I'd hate to think that my child wanted to marry, but didn't because of they thought you needed a big wedding ceremony.

I mean, even if you have a church wedding, it doesn't have to cost much at all.

I guess I always found children to be the ultimate commitment between two folks. I mean, technically, you can get divorced and if you don't have kids, never have to see the person again.

But if you kids with someone, quite often you're stuck with them in your life in one form or another for quite some time.

I think, in part, the cult of the big white wedding is to blame.

But then I saw a thing in the paper recently re: the divorce rate of couples under 30 and it's staggeringly high too.

Actually, in Scotland at least, the rate of divorce has fallen by a quarter.

But of course, that's because so many don't bother getting married anymore .

I agree with you expat. dh and I have been married 17 yrs and we paid for our wedding ourselves. Had 350 guests and the whole thing cost about £500, including all the dresses! It was a great occasion - everyone mucked in and got involved and was a day to remember.

We've told our girls that we are not prepared to spend a fortune on their weddings, but will put money towards helping them set up their homes instead.

we eloped and spent the most money on our rings: £250 for them.

the license was £75. DH hired a kilt for about £100 (but that was just for fun) and I bought a dress from John Lewis for £75).

could have shown up in jeans and a tshirt and done it for £75 total (you don't need rings for it to be legal).

just don't see the point, seems a bit silly getting married after all this time for us. i mean it's pretty obvious that we're in for the long haul.

I bet it's higher in Sweden. Doesn't necessarily mean that all these kids are lacking stable families. Out of my parents' 4 children, the two who married (myself and db) were the ones who fell in love with foreigners so had to have the marriage licence to get residency. So not exactly about morals. But all the resulting children out of those 4 relationships have been brought up by both parents.

I think its more about the relationship than marriage itself.
I have lots of friends who choose to live together without being married. Their bond and commitment is stronger than many married people I know!

I was married when my last two children were born - just not to their father

I expect David Cameron will call them all "broken families"

When I had DD2, DH remarked on how the midwives must have been trained because they kept calling DH 'your man'.

children need love,attchment,affirmation.most parent's can do that married or not.hope all the weans grow up bonnie and happy

Hmm, my reaction to this story has been 'so what'?

I can see how certain 'types' will jump on this as an opportunity to have the usual pop at single mothers/working mothers/gays and how society is going to hell in a handbasket because of these awful people.

I just found it an interesting piece of news is all.

you're just an old romantic expat

When I was a kid there was only one kid in the school with a single mum!

Hooray!

your man is a west coastism boyfriend/husband/him indoors

my DD1 was born out of wedlock but we were married by DD2 and DD3 so I suppose I add to that statistic too

I am beginning to wonder if its more unusual these days to come from a family where parents are still married/together

out of wedlock.havent heard that in yonks.i used to work with a wee bachle who wouldnt speak when she found out "i was living over the broom" mightily disapproved