How Your Organization Can Support National Marriage Week

Marriage might not be a popular subject with the clients you serve, but no one can argue with the research: Marriage is good for children (and dads!). Read on to learn how your organization can support National Marriage Week February 7-14.

National Marriage Week is celebrated every year during the week leading up to Valentine’s Day, which makes it the best time of any to discuss relationships, love, and marriage with your clients.

Did you know*:

• Children are most likely to enjoy family stability when they are born into a married family.
• Children who live with their own two married parents enjoy better physical health, on average, than do children in other family forms.
• A child who is not living with his or her own two married parents is at greater risk of child abuse.
• Marriage reduces poverty and material hardship for disadvantaged women and their children.

Ahhh… the “M” word. It’s not so popular these days in some circles. But have you ever considered that some men (and women) don’t even think about marriage for themselves because they never experienced their own mother and father being married? Or, if their parents were married, their marriage ended in divorce?

Sometimes we just do what we’ve seen (or, not seen in this case), without really thinking through what it means for ourselves (and our family), and whether it’s something we should consider. 

And that’s where you, the family practitioner comes in: you can share information with your client families to help them understand the benefits of marriage.

First, the National Healthy Marriage Week USA Campaign website offers resources, tips, and flyers to help you participate in National Healthy Marriage Week. Here are some specific ideas on how you can join the Campaign.

1. Send this sample press release to your local media, which will explain what you and others are launching during from February 7th through 14th.
2. Provide a Mayoral Proclamation for National Marriage Week (click here for a sample) and work with your Mayor's Office to highlight this effort.
3. Distribute this flyer covering ‘Why Marriage Maters’ to your client families.

4. Share marriage tips and advice with your clients from the site list here.
5. Partner with a local church to have a guest speaker to come into your program to discuss marriage.

Second, NFI offers an excellent brochure titled, “The 7 Benefits of Marriage for Men” full of interesting facts on why marriage is good for men, and why growing up with married parents is good for children, such as:

• Married couples have twice the money and assets that unmarried couples do.
• On average, married men live longer than unmarried men.
• Marriage provides the best chance for children to develop strong relationships with their father.

Learn more and download the brochure sample here. (Also available in Spanish and in a shorter, Tip Card format!) Just $18.99 for a 50-pack.

Help spread the word that marriage is good for children and families. How will your organization support National Marriage Week? 

*From “Why Marriage Matters”, accessed January 20, 2017.