BBC NEWS | UK | Births out of wedlock 'pass 40%'

BBC NEWS | UK | Births out of wedlock 'pass 40%'

Statistics published today show that an increasing number of children are born to unmarried parents. Some news programmes have highlighted the fact that if this trend continues children born to married parents will be in the minority by 2012.

As Hayley and I are unmarried ourselves, I can easily see possible causes for this trend. There is already little social pressure to marry and from my own point of view, some of the most stable, longstanding and happy families I know are unmarried.

I'm sure finances also play a major part for many. A wedding is a nice thing to have but in a world of large financial pressures the choice between spending money on a nice home in an area with good schools versus spending it on one day that passes by in a flash is probably a "no brainer". It's not a matter of being anti-marriage, more that it doesn't take top priority.

Oddly there seems to be a muddling of what these statistics indicate, as several organisations have held phone-in's that treat the issue of children born to unmarried parents and the issue of children living with a single parent as one and the same. Of course you get predictable responses from some about irresponsible single parents. Personally my perspective on single parents has been somewhat altered by the insight that having a child of my own has brought. I am, frankly, in awe of any single mother that manages to raise her baby without a partner there beside her to help.

The anecdotal evidence from the media today seems to bear out the statistics: there simply isn't any stigma associated with being unmarried parents these days with all but a few of the oldest generation.