Those amazing women at The Dating Divas have put together a one-of-a kind debut event to strengthen marriages — The Dating Divas “Successful Marriages” Tele-Retreat! Best of all — it’s FREE! — and you can participate right from the comfort of your own HOME.

On Wednesday, April 18th, 2012 at 6 p.m. (PST) or 7 p.m. (Mountain Time) I will be sharing some insights regarding “Spicing up Your Sexual Relationship.” Other amazing experts in love and marriage will be sharing their advice and experience throughout the week of April 16-20 as well. Rumor has it that there will also be some free gifts, so don’t miss out! : )

Register today by clicking here! You’ll find all kinds of great information and see all the fabulous presenters and their fun tele-seminar topics.

Over 1000 participants have already registered so don’t delay!

 Related Resources:

• Click here for the tele-seminar presentation slides!

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For more tips to strengthen your marriage join us on Facebook!

FACEBOOK PAGE Strengthening Marriage, Inc.

FACEBOOK PAGE The Marital Intimacy Show

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Subscribe to Laura’s Strengthening Marriage Blog
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     Receive Email Updates for Each Episode

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Marriage and intimacy expert, Laura M. Brotherson, is the author of a bestselling book on sexual intimacy and marital oneness entitled, And They Were Not Ashamed—Strengthening Marriage through Sexual Fulfillment.

Laura shares her passion for building strong marriages and families as an author, intimacy expert, marriage and family therapist, and host of “The Marital Intimacy Show” on The Women’s Information Network (The WIN). 

Visit her website StrengtheningMarriage.com to learn more and to sign up for her “Straight Talk about Strengthening Marriage” newsletter.

StrengtheningMarriage.com is your trusted resource for education, products and services to strengthen marriages . . . intimately!

© Copyright 2012 Laura M. Brotherson. All rights reserved.

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Other Ways to Connect with Laura!

Is this kinda how your date night feels sometimes?

Related Resources:

• ARTICLE — Date Night Quotes and Resources

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For more tips to strengthen your marriage join us on Facebook!

FACEBOOK PAGE Strengthening Marriage, Inc.

FACEBOOK PAGE The Marital Intimacy Show

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe to Laura’s Strengthening Marriage Blog
     Subscribe to Blog Entries
     Subscribe to Blog Comments

Subscribe to The Marital Intimacy Show
     Receive Email Updates for Each Episode

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marriage and intimacy expert, Laura M. Brotherson, is the author of a bestselling book on sexual intimacy and marital oneness entitled, And They Were Not Ashamed—Strengthening Marriage through Sexual Fulfillment.

Laura shares her passion for building strong marriages and families as an author, intimacy expert, marriage and family therapist, and host of “The Marital Intimacy Show” on The Women’s Information Network (The WIN). 

Visit her website StrengtheningMarriage.com to learn more and to sign up for her “Straight Talk about Strengthening Marriage” newsletter.

StrengtheningMarriage.com is your trusted resource for education, products and services to strengthen marriages . . . intimately!

© Copyright 2012 Laura M. Brotherson. All rights reserved.

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Other Ways to Connect with Laura!

Welcome to our new “Open Forum 3” discussion page!

We continue to create new Open Forum pages for you to post your questions and comments, and for us all to discuss important marriage and intimacy issues. Please post your new comments/questions to this Open Forum 3 post below.

For additional insights, you can review previous discussions by clicking on the links below:

• Open Forum 3 (to post NEW questions and comments)
• Open Forum 2 (posts from Jun 30, 2009 — Apr 3, 2011)
• Open Forum 1 (posts from Aug 14, 2007 – Jun 29, 2009)
• Laura’s Straight Talk Q&A (for other questions and answers from Laura)

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This is the place to post your questions and comments and have an open dialogue about subjects related to marriage, sex, intimacy and parenting. I hope you will consider yourself a valuable resource in this forum, as you share not only your questions, but also your own insights and solutions.

Please continue to be attentive to the tone of your posts, so that we can maintain an atmosphere of reverence and respect for each other and the sanctity of sexuality in marriage.

I will try to respond as often as I can, but hope you will step up and share your insights as well.

As you reply to the various comments below it will thread each comment in order (newest posts at the bottom) to make it fairly easy to follow the discussions.

Some readers incorrectly post their questions on our StrengtheningMarriage.com Comments Page instead of here in this forum. I will move those questions over here to this forum to allow for easier discussion.

Thank you all for your participation here! Let’s learn and improve our marriages together! : )

I got a kick out of these photos a reader sent in. Apparently her son wasn’t too happy about her taking away the book he was intently studying! : ) I guess if a kid’s that insistent then maybe you better get busy starting a conversation about these things!

…two years old might be just a LITTLE early to let your kids read this book though! : )

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For more tips to strengthen your marriage join us on Facebook!

FACEBOOK PAGE Strengthening Marriage, Inc.

FACEBOOK PAGE The Marital Intimacy Show

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe to Laura’s Strengthening Marriage Blog

Subscribe to Blog Entries

Subscribe to Blog Comments

Subscribe to The Marital Intimacy Show

Receive Email Updates for Each Episode

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marriage and intimacy expert Laura M. Brotherson is the author of a bestselling book on sexual intimacy and marital oneness entitled, And They Were Not Ashamed—Strengthening Marriage through Sexual Fulfillment. Laura shares her passion for building strong marriages and families as an author, intimacy expert, relationship consultant, and host of the online “Marital Intimacy Show.”

Visit her website StrengtheningMarriage.com to learn more and to sign up for her “Straight Talk about Strengthening Marriage” newsletter. StrengtheningMarriage.com is your trusted resource for education, products and services to strengthen marriages . . . intimately!

© Copyright 2011 Laura M. Brotherson. All rights reserved.

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Other Ways to Connect with Laura!

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Some time ago the author of the upcoming book Famous Family Nights asked me to write a little bit about Family Home Evenings (FHE) in our home to be featured in a book with other “famous” LDS personalities. (I think she’s stretching the “famous” thing just a bit! : ) Famous Family Nights is now available on our Strengthening Marriage Online Store. I’m sure it will provide many ideas and insights into making family nights even more enjoyable and valuable for the whole family. But most of all I think it will relieve everyone to see that FHE can be a challenge sometimes for anyone!

Family Home Evening

For those who may not be familiar with Family Home Evenings, it is a night (usually Monday night) set aside by families to spend time together learning about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and doing other activities that “strengthen the family spiritually, create family memories, and increase unity and love.” You can learn more about FHE here or here.

New Book — Famous Family Nights

To learn more about this fun and informative new book click here. The author/editor, Anne Bradshaw, is currently having a drawing on her website (until Wednesday, July 22nd) for a free copy of the book And They Were Not Ashamed — Strengthening Marriage through Sexual Fulfillment and our talk on CD Love 101 — Learning to Love More Meaningfully. Visit her website to find out more and enter her free giveaway.

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Laura M. Brotherson is the author of a groundbreaking book on sexual intimacy and marital oneness entitled, And They Were Not Ashamed—Strengthening Marriage through Sexual Fulfillment. Laura shares her passion for building strong marriages and families as an author, intimacy educator and relationship consultant.

Visit her website www.StrengtheningMarriage.com to learn more and to sign up for her “Straight Talk about Strengthening Marriage” newsletter. StrengtheningMarriage.com is your trusted resource for education, products and services to strengthen marriages . . . intimately!

© Copyright 2009 Laura M. Brotherson. All rights reserved.

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Welcome to our “Open Forum 2” discussion page! This has been the place (up until April 3, 2011) to post your questions and comments, and have an open dialogue about subjects related to marriage, sex, intimacy and parenting.

To create new discussion posts please visit our Open Forum 3 discussion page.

For additional insights, you can review previous discussions by clicking on the links below:

• Open Forum 3 (to post NEW questions and comments)
• Open Forum 2 (posts from Jun 30, 2009 — Apr 3, 2011)
• Open Forum 1 (posts from Aug 14, 2007 – Jun 29, 2009)
• Laura’s Straight Talk Q&A (for other questions and answers from Laura)

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I know from your many personal emails and the conversations we’ve had at various events that there is an army of intelligent and intuitive people who have great insights, and are seeking to strengthen their marriages intimately. I hope you will consider yourself a valuable resource in this forum as you share your questions and comments.

Please continue to be attentive to the tone of your posts, so that we can maintain an atmosphere of reverence and respect for each other and the sanctity of sexuality in marriage. I will try to respond as often as I can, but hope you will step up and share your insights as well.

Thank you all for your participation here! Let’s learn and improve our marriages together! : )

Washington D.C. — A new study released today by Family Research Council’s Mapping America Project finds that children have fewer problems at school and home when they live with both biological parents and frequently attend religious services.

Our Christmas gift to you includes hot prices of nearly 50% off our talk on CD Love 101 (only $6.95) and Teaching Intimacy 101 2 CD audio book (only $8.95).

You’ll also receive nearly 30% off the And They Were Not Ashamed softcover book (only $12.95) and the 12 cd audio book (only $27.95) . Click on the product image to get your copies today. What better gift for Christmas than a stronger marriage!

Here’s to a little economic cheer for the holidays! (Sale ends when the year ends!)

I’m torn. I’m certainly excited about a vice-presidential candidate that is a strong, conservative, tax cutting, corruption-busting, pro-life mother and wife. Sarah Palin looks like a wonderful person with a great family. She appears to be a true patriot. I’m excited about her potential as a political leader. I’m sure all the intense media attention has been a huge burden on their family. I feel for them.

But my work as a marriage educator and advocate gives me a different focus and concern than those who are trying to destroy Sarah Palin’s political candidacy with unfounded hack jobs. My concern is for the young people, and even those not so young, who are receiving yet another media message that teen sex and pregnancy don’t appear to be that big of a problem.

Premarital sex and unwed parenthood are huge problems that are occurring far too often, affecting many lives in painful ways. The news of Sarah Palin’s daughter, Bristol, being pregnant and unmarried has been heart wrenching to me.

I understand that life happens. People make choices. We all do things we wish we hadn’t. I feel for Bristol to have to have her life situation publicly known and discussed. She is unfortunately paying a high price for her actions and for her mother’s political position. But too many other ears are listening to our response to not address the unfortunate realities of the situation.

When the Palins found that they had to address the rumors, I just wish they had expressed some sadness about the situation. This may be something they plan to do at some point, but I just wish it would have been sooner than later.

Consequences

Nearly every way you look at it, premarital sex has consequences that are not in the best interest of those involved (baby included). Educations are cut short, lives are inevitably altered, parenthood is preemptively begun, and marriage (when there is one) starts on shaky ground. Make no mistake, the child is always a gift from God, but the context in which the child is born is always less than ideal.

Lucky for Bristol she has a loving, supportive family that will help her through this difficult time and situation. But, one of the things that I think bothers me the most about the situation is that while her parents are trying to be loving and supportive, no message is being sent about the poor choices that were obviously made, or that sex outside of marriage is not a good idea. Such a message may have been conveyed privately, but it’s the public message I am most concerned about.

In Sarah Palin’s public statement about their daughter’s pregnancy, prior to her big acceptance speech, she focuses on being “proud” of Bristol for “having” the baby as opposed to “aborting” it. Choosing life over abortion is always commendable, and Sarah, herself, sets an inspiring example in giving life to a Down syndrome child.

I only wish there would have been some mention of sadness over Bristol’s situation. Making the best of the situation doesn’t mean you have to make it appear that there are no unfortunate consequences with which to contend, especially when you know that many impressionable ears are listening.

Research shows that young women do a cost-benefit analysis regarding such decisions, and are apparently deciding more and more that the costs of unwed pregnancy are not that high.

This is my primary concern. Millions of sons and daughters are listening to this situation and to what is said about sex and pregnancy outside of marriage. This article is not about judging the Palins, but is about taking a parental perspective and a preventative approach to prevent unwed sex and pregnancy. People learn by example, for good or for ill.

You may have heard of the 2007 movie called “Juno” where a young teen gets pregnant. Since then we have repeatedly seen the “Juno” effect in many other’s lives. We hear of the “Juno” effect in discussions of Jamie Lynn Spears and the recent unfortunate decision of 17 teenage girls in a Massachusetts high school to purposefully get themselves pregnant. They apparently had little understanding of or concern for the consequences to themselves, their families and most importantly to the children who will likely be raised without a father (if they even know who the fathers are).

I just hate to see Bristol Palin and the statements made about her situation become a “Bristol Effect” on other young women who see no negative consequences to having sex and getting pregnant outside of marriage. We need to be more proactive in de-glamorizing teen sex and pregnancy.

I don’t want teenagers to come away with the idea that it is just fine to have sex with your high school boyfriend. It probably seems that if they do get pregnant, the boyfriend will gallantly sweep them off their feet into marriage, and everyone will lavish attention and accolades on them for some aspect of the situation in an effort to make the best of the situation. Few of the difficult realities they will encounter are even mentioned.

Here are some of the many questions and consequences teens need to think about:

• Will the young woman be able to finish her education?
• Will she be able to provide for her child, should she find herself in additional unfortunate circumstances?
• Will the boyfriend be interested in marrying her?
• Would two teenagers be ready for the rigors of marriage and parenting?
• Would such a young couple have what it takes to start their marriage already swimming upstream and still make a long-term success of it?
• Would the child be better off being given to two loving, mature, and married parents who have been praying for a child to adopt?
• Will the pregnant teenager end up as a single mom anyway like so many teenage mothers?
• Is the child going to end up not knowing or being raised by his/her father, because the father was unable to cut it in the rigors of marriage and parenthood?
• And if the child was given to another family to adopt, what kind of questions and heartache will that cause the child somewhere down the road?

My heart goes out to the Palin family at this time, in so many ways. I don’t want to add any burden to what they already have. But I imagine that with a focus on what impression is being received by other young people, Sarah Palin, and even her daughter, would probably agree that some mention of the sadness over the situation would have been appropriate.

Bristol doesn’t seem like the kind of girl that couldn’t handle her mother making a statement for the benefit of other young impressionable minds who may use Bristol’s poor choices to encourage theirs as well. I even asked my own daughter if it would have been okay for a mother to express sadness over the situation. She agreed that that would have been doable to share feelings of regret for the benefit of others.

Such a public statement would do much to contain the ongoing damage that is being done in our society with the abundant messages that sex outside of marriage is fine, that unwed motherhood is fine, that fathers are inconsequential to the well-being of a child, etc.

I know the Palin family has a lot of other things to worry about at this time, but as a conservative, pro-marriage and family advocate, I just wish things had been said a little differently than for their situation to potentially contribute to the terrible precedent that is being set regarding premarital sex and unwed parenthood.

Let it be clear that children are entitled to be reared by two loving parents—by a mother and a father—who are sufficiently mature and selfless, so that they can do what it takes to raise a child. Let it be clear that there is a good reason God simply asks that sex be reserved for marriage.

Contrary to the “safe sex” advocates, pre-marital abstinence IS the only way to assure that children are not aborted, but are raised by those who are ready and willing to make the necessary sacrifices for parenthood. And condoms are not the answer, since most teens notoriously fail to use them.

I don’t have enough personal insight about Bristol and her family, or Jamie Lynn Spears and her family, or the 17 high school girls and their families to know why they made the poor choices they’ve made. But they apparently felt the benefits outweighed the costs.

I do know that many young people are able to make the difficult choices to save sexual behavior for marriage, even in this sexually saturated culture.

Prevention

Some of the important components of helping our children make it through their young adult years and into marriage before they partake of God’s gift of sexual intimacy include:

• Expectations
• Education, and
• Emotional Connection

Expectations

Children need to understand their parents’ expectation that they remain morally chaste until marriage. For the 70 or so percent of the population that consider themselves to be Christian, including God in the discussion is critical. This is not just about parental expectations, but about God’s expectations. God is the one that asks us to save sex for marriage.

Our children may know that we would be terribly heartbroken to receive the news of sex or a pregnancy outside of marriage, but if we have done our job well, then they will be more heartbroken about letting God down than in letting their parents down.

It seems like our culture no longer even expects kids to not have sex. I think that’s crazy. It may be difficult, but it’s not impossible to make choices that keep you away from situations and overwhelming temptations.

There’s a pernicious and pervasive message out there that kids are just going to do it anyway, so you better give them a condom. That’s garbage.

Parents and other responsible citizens have a moral obligation to set the societal expectation that premarital chastity IS POSSIBLE, and that we believe they can do it!

The expectation I am talking about here is basically the concept of providing a foundation of faith—faith that you believe it’s possible, faith that you believe they can succeed at overcoming the pitfalls and temptations, and faith that you know that God won’t ask anything of them that isn’t possible, nor that He won’t help us with it.

Education

Parents must not just set expectations for their children then throw them out into the world. They must teach them why it’s important to go against the societal tide of sexual promiscuity. Parents must openly teach them how to stay away from the dangers, and how to proactively create a life that positively minimizes vulnerabilities and temptations.

This education includes spiritual training, as well as mental and emotional and social training. Role playing situations with our children that they may encounter, and teaching them how to appropriately and effectively handle such situations are part of the necessary parenting that’s required in our day and time.

Discussions about sex, dating, relationships, moral standards, social events, and other activities are all-important issues that must be addressed with our young people. Research shows that alcohol consumption is a significant contributing factor in premarital sex, so teach and help your children avoid it.

Steady dating with its ever-increasing emotional intimacy, or dating those who have questionable character are other areas to discuss with your children. Parents need to help their children navigate the critical teenage and young adult years by teaching them and showing them what healthy relationships look like and how to create them.

Emotional Connection

This brings us to the third component of preventing premarital sexual experimentation—emotional connection. Setting expectations, and even educating and preparing your children for the dangers they may encounter is not quite enough. Children must also feel an emotional connection or love between themselves and their parents.

It’s the easiest thing in the world for a young person to disregard any parental teachings or standards if they feel no love or respect for or from their parents. It’s so much easier for children to do all they can to made good choices and to do those things that their parents have taught them if they feel our love and our sincere concern for their needs.

Parents must spend not just quality time, but also quantity time in order to meet the needs of children. Learning what makes your children feel loved and doing those things regularly is your best defense against the destructive tide of drugs, sex, alcohol, pornography etc. that plague our society and our youth. This is no easy task.

Good parenting takes time and effort. What if children need your time and attention, but you are too busy? What if children need your patience, but you are too frazzled?

As a marriage educator I can’t leave out the fact that the state of your marriage has a huge effect on the well-being of your children, and significantly affects their vulnerability, or lack thereof, to destructive outside influences.

Parenting isn’t easy, and even the best parenting is susceptible to children making other choices. I think parents generally do the best they know how.

I hope the best for Bristol Palin and her boyfriend. I especially pray for their soon-to-be-born child.

I hope that someone somewhere reading this will think twice about the choices and the consequences of sex outside of marriage. I hope that more parents will do a better job teaching and preparing their children for the challenges they face.

God is a pretty smart guy. He’s still got the best plan out there for our peace and happiness and well-being. I hope we will be smart enough to listen.

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Laura M. Brotherson is the author of a groundbreaking book on sexual intimacy and marital oneness entitled, “And They Were Not Ashamed—Strengthening Marriage through Sexual Fulfillment.” Laura shares her passion for building strong marriages and families as an author, intimacy educator, blogger and podcaster.

You can visit her website www.StrengtheningMarriage.com to learn more, and to sign up for her “Straight Talk about Strengthening Marriage” newsletter. StrengtheningMarriage.com is your trusted resource for education, products and services to strengthen marriages intimately!

© Copyright 2008 Laura M. Brotherson. All rights reserved.

It’s hard to find many things sexier than a daddy who loves his kids. They say men doing housework is a great aphrodisiac for women, but I think “daddywork” is way up there on the list as well. Roses and chocolates and romantic candle-lit dinners have their place for stirring the heart, but it’s hard to beat the feeling that comes from seeing your husband play with the kids, or help them with homework, or teach them something, or tuck them in at night. Now that’s a turn on!

Some men might find it strange that their wives would experience any erotic effect from them being actively engaged with their children, but when women make a point of nurturing sexual feelings towards their spouse, daddywork is a great reservoir from which those feelings can flow.

Prince Daddy

One day I was walking through a quaint arts and crafts fair in a small town when I saw this framed statement that said it all for me. It said, “My prince has come…His name is Daddy!” My prince is a daddy. He’s my kids’ daddy.

I loved the statement because it perfectly captured one of the best things I love about my husband–that he’s a great dad! It wasn’t until later that it dawned on me that the meaning I gave to the statement was probably not what was originally intended, but it works perfectly for me.

Tribute to My Kids’ Daddy

I hope you’ll forgive me for indulging in a personal tribute to my kids’ daddy at this Father’s Day season. If you care to take a look, I share some of my favorite daddy photos of my good husband from over the years. He’s not perfect, but he’s perfect for me!

Happy Father’s Day Kevin, and Happy Father’s Day to all you other good daddies out there as well. I know there are many! I see them all around me.

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Daddy Tribute to My Honey

For more tips to strengthen your marriage connect with us on our Facebook Pages:

FACEBOOK PAGE Strengthening Marriage, Inc.

FACEBOOK PAGE The Marital Intimacy Show

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Facebook — Let’s Connect!

Strengthening Marriage, Inc. — Become a fan!

“The Marital Intimacy Show” — Become a fan!

Subscribe to Laura’s Strengthening Marriage Blog

Subscribe to Blog Entries

Subscribe to Blog Comments

Subscribe to The Marital Intimacy Show

Receive Email Updates for Each Episode

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laura M. Brotherson is the author of a groundbreaking book on sexual intimacy and marital oneness entitled, And They Were Not Ashamed—Strengthening Marriage through Sexual Fulfillment. Laura shares her passion for building strong marriages and families as an author, intimacy expert, online show host, and relationship consultant.

Visit her website www.StrengtheningMarriage.com to learn more and to sign up for her “Straight Talk about Strengthening Marriage” newsletter. StrengtheningMarriage.com is your trusted resource for education, products and services to strengthen marriages . . . intimately!

© Copyright 2010 Laura M. Brotherson. All rights reserved.

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