Wednesday, January 22: Which U.S. presidents divorced before taking office?
President Donald Trump and former president Ronald Reagan were both divorced before taking office. Former president Ronald Reagan was the United States’ first divorced president. Reagan and his first wife, Jane Wyman, divorced decades before he ran for president. President Trump was married to Ivana Trump from 1977 to 1992, then to Marla Maples from 1993 to 1999.
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Wednesday, January 15: Fill in the blank. People who want to remain friends with their exes may be ______.
Psychopaths! Seriously. A study by researchers at Oakland University showed that those with “dark” personality traits may remain friends with ex-partners for self-serving reasons. These dark personality traits include narcissism and psychopathy. Researchers concluded that their study findings “‘suggest that [a post-relationship friendship] may provide opportunity for ex-partners to exchange desirable resources (e.g., love, status, information, money, sex) after romantic relationship dissolution.’”
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Holmes, Lindsay. “If Your Ex Wants To Be Friends, They Might Be A Psychopath.” HuffPost, www.huffpost.com/entry/ex-psychopath-study-stay-friends-with-your-ex_n_573499a6e4b08f96c182546d. Accessed 15 January 2020.
Friday, January 10: Co-parenting can be tough work! Scientific research may help parents get on the same page when it comes to their children. New research shows too much of this by preschoolers has been linked to lower levels of brain development. Can you guess what “this” is?
Screen time! As reported by CNN, a new study finds that preschoolers who used screens more than the recommended one hour per day without parental involvement had lower levels of development in the brain’s white matter — which is key to the development of language, literacy and cognitive skills. This study used MRIs to scan the brains of children, ages three to five, who had not started kindergarten yet.
Dr. John Hutton, lead author of the study, notes brain development is most rapid in the first five years. The study may show that screen time is too passive for brain development, according to Dr. Hutton. He adds that children who start with brains that are less well-developed may be less likely to read successfully in school. Dr. Hutton suggests that, in order to encourage skills like speaking and problem-solving, the early years of a child’s life need to be focused on human interaction.
Click here to read the article and learn more!
Friday, January 3: In which month are most divorces filed?
Most divorces are filed in January, experts say. According to Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D., LMFT, this may be because folks are waiting to file for divorce until after the holidays – to avoid disrupting their families during this time – or because people want to start fresh in the new year. The topic of divorce is also searched for the most in January, according to Google Trends.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/emotional-fitness/201001/why-is-january-divorce-month
Thursday, November 21: What famous animated couple was created for each other then go married in real life? Hint: the animated couple never actually tied the knot but the real couple did in 1991.
Mickey and Minnie Mouse. When Russi Taylor became the voice of Minnie in 1986, she fell in love with Wayne Allwine who had been voicing Mickey for the past decade. They tied the knot in 1991 and stayed happily married until his death in 2009.
https://www.tvovermind.com/know-mickey-mouse-minnie-mouse-married-real-life/
Monday, October 7: Why are you more likely to get injured by a small dog? Hint: Nurture wins over Nature in this case.
Studies show that bigger dogs usually have better behavior than small dogs, but its not because they’re inherently better animals, it’s because of humans! Owners tend to put more effort into the discipline of larger dogs because they assume that the larger the dog can do more damage so they spend more time and money in training.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159110000262
Thursday, August 22: What’s the weird reason that bridesmaids all wear the same color at weddings? Hint: it’s an old tradition from back when bridesmaids not only dressed identically but also the same as the bride herself.
Everyone matching was meant to confuse the evil spirits and anyone else who intended harm to the bride.
In the olden days, brides were sometimes kidnapped. In fact, the reason a best man is the “best” is because he is the best in a sword fight (which it was assumed might occur if a rival came to the wedding for a show-down!). A bride stands on the left so that the groom can draw a sword with his right hand. Dressing the bridesmaids in identical dresses helped make the bride less susceptible to potential kidnapping or attacks. In addition to confusing rival suitors and kidnappers, people believed that it would confuse malevolent evil spirits. Who knew bridesmaids played such an important protective role in weddings!
https://www.rd.com/culture/history-of-bridesmaids-weddings/
Monday, August 19: Birth order may affect the success of your marriage. According to John Curtis, Ph. D., “The highest divorce rates are when an only child marries an only child.” What is the most successful birth order combination in a marriage?
Curtis says, “This has been studied very well from a psychological standpoint. The most successful marriages are those where the oldest sister of brothers marries the youngest brother of sisters.”
According to Curtis, it’s a natural fit because the girl has gotten used to taking care of little brothers and the boy has gotten used to being taken care of by older sisters. Curtis also says that two first-borns tend to be a bad match because they butt heads. Though Curtis says marrying a middle child means you are, “strengthening the probability of success,” he cautions against two middle children marrying each other. Other studies have come to similar conclusions; in general, marrying someone of the same birth order has a lower probability of success. Two of the more successful combinations are firstborn with lastborn and middle child with lastborn. Essentially, opposites attract!
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/health/fl-xpm-2010-06-25-sfl-birth-order-062410-story.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/who-you-should-marry-birth-order-2017-1
Tuesday, August 13: The oldest couple to ever divorce were 99 and 96 years old; they had been married for 77 years until this unusual final straw…
After Antonio C. found secret love letters that his 96-year-old wife had written in the 1940’s tucked away in an old chest of drawers, the 99-year-old man confronted her and then filed for divorce despite having five children, a dozen grandchildren, a great-grandchild, and a nearly eight-decade long marriage with the woman. The couple lived in Italy, and this was not the first time that their marriage had been through hard times. Ten years prior, the husband moved out and lived with one of their sons for a few weeks. The couple was married in 1934 and divorced in 2011. The wife admitted to the affair of sixty years prior but begged her husband to stay. The letters were the final straw for Antonio, however, and the discovery made this couple the oldest divorcees ever.
Schapiro, Rich. “99-year-old Italian man divorces his 96-year-old wife after finding her secret love letters from the 1940s.” New York Daily News, 29 Dec. 2011, https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/99-year-old-italian-man-divorces-96-year-old-wife-finding-secret-love-letters-1940s-article-1.998455. Accessed 13 Aug. 2019
Wednesday, August 7: What is the secret to longevity, according to a woman who just turned 107?
Louise Signore, who celebrated her 107th birthday on Wednesday, July 31st, says the secret to a long life is, “I never got married.” Staying single is the reason Signore believes she has lived so long, although she does exercise regularly and has a healthy diet. Signore’s sister is 102, and Signore was born in Harlem in New York. This happens to be where the oldest living woman in the United States lives (age 114). So… is the secret to a long life living in Harlem? Does it just run in Signore’s family? Does it have to do with regular exercise and a proper diet? Or, could the secret be what Signore says it is – stay single!
Lou, Michelle. “Woman Turns 107 and Shares Her Secret to Longevity: ‘I never got married’.” CNN, 1 Aug. 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/31/us/woman-turns-107-never-married-trnd/index.html