30% through your life, you’re likely 90% through your best relationships

Re:30% through your life, you’re likely 90% through your bes... by codingdave on Sunday December 27, 2015 @11:06AM (#10797786)

This article shows zero understanding of the relationships one has with their spouse and children. Those grow and build over time, and are the people you really will spend your time with in your elder years. Thinking of them, someone who is only 30 has possibly not yet even met the people you will spend the rest of your life with. There is far more to come.

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Re:30% through your life, you’re likely 90% through your bes... by georgemcbay on Sunday December 27, 2015 @11:30AM (#10797864)

Many (most?) people will divorce their first spouses and some people will never have children.

I don't disagree with your point that the article is overly simplistic with relationships (presumably because it is told from the POV of a person who is unmarried with no kids) but it also is more complicated than just assuming everyone will get married, stay married and have kids.

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Re:30% through your life, you’re likely 90% through your bes... by codingdave on Sunday December 27, 2015 @11:32AM (#10797874)

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/upshot/the-divorce-surge-i...

Your point is well taken, but divorce rates are dropping, so while we aren't living in the world of "Leave it to Beaver", neither are we in the lousy marriage climate of the 80s.

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Re:30% through your life, you’re likely 90% through your bes... by selectodude on Sunday December 27, 2015 @12:33PM (#10798082)

I would imagine that has more to do with less societal pressure to get married young, or even at all.

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Re:30% through your life, you’re likely 90% through your bes... by Grishnakh on Monday December 28, 2015 @01:19PM (#10802474)

Marriage rates are also dropping. More people are staying single.

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Re:30% through your life, you’re likely 90% through your bes... by dogma1138 on Sunday December 27, 2015 @12:52PM (#10798144)

Don't all signs point to the economic climate being the reason as people can't afford a divorce?

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Re:30% through your life, you’re likely 90% through your bes... by codingdave on Sunday December 27, 2015 @01:01PM (#10798180)

To which economic climate are you referring? The rates have been dropping for 40 years... the economy has had many changes during that time.

The other comment was closer to the reasons I've read - later marriages, and/or people who do not marry in the first place.

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Re:30% through your life, you’re likely 90% through your bes... by Grishnakh on Monday December 28, 2015 @01:29PM (#10802525)

The other ugly factor is that the rate of single-parent-dom has increased enormously. So tons of kids are growing up in households with only one adult, are "latchkey kids", and aren't seeing any role models for what loving adult relationships should look like. This does not bode well for the future.

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Re:30% through your life, you’re likely 90% through your bes... by mark_l_watson on Sunday December 27, 2015 @03:36PM (#10798681)

I have only been married only been once, and am still married, but I think it is common for people to be happier in second or third marriages.

I am 64 and in my experience interpersonal relationships keep getting better with age.

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Re:30% through your life, you’re likely 90% through your bes... by chias on Sunday December 27, 2015 @02:43PM (#10798493)

The author is about 30 years old, so this is more or less what I would expect.

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Re:30% through your life, you’re likely 90% through your bes... by coldtea on Sunday December 27, 2015 @05:13PM (#10798945)

Again, this is missing the point of the article completely. Even if you do see your spouse everyday, that doesn't change the fact that you'll have seen the most of your friends, parents etc by the time you're 30 or so, unless you happen to live right next to each other...

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Re:30% through your life, you’re likely 90% through your bes... by coldtea on Sunday December 27, 2015 @05:07PM (#10798931)

>This article shows zero understanding of the relationships one has with their spouse and children. Those grow and build over time, and are the people you really will spend your time with in your elder years.

Zero understanding? What's there to understand? The article isn't set to examine the quality of human relationships, or their intricasies, just their quantity over time.

It's also obvious, at least for spousal relationships, that those wont slow down over time, you'll continue to see your spouse everyday -- so it's clearly a relation outside of the scope of the article, which is relations were "time together" diminishes with age.

As for the children, while you'll continue seeing them everyday for a couple of decades after having them, after they're around 18 you'll have seen the most of them you'll ever will, even if you're only 40 and have 40+ years ahead of you. And that's for the same reasons mentioned in the article. Especially if they move to another town/state, but even if not.

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Re:30% through your life, you’re likely 90% through your bes... by isolate on Sunday December 27, 2015 @05:21PM (#10798966)

> The article isn't set to examine the quality of human relationships

It does use the word "best" in the title.

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Re:30% through your life, you’re likely 90% through your bes... by coldtea on Sunday December 27, 2015 @05:34PM (#10799004)

He does. No need to focus on that though. By itself the quantification of "remaining time" with parents, siblings, old friends, etc is enough.

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