I think, for the most part, everyone out there is just doing the best they can to make the right call. It behooves us all to remember that just because someone does it differently doesn’t mean they’re doing it wrong (or right).

The trouble comes in accepting that we all make different choices, and sometimes different is just different, not right or wrong.

I knew a girl in college who was on a full academic scholarship, she was a straight 4.0, always in advanced classes, and she was the dumbest person I knew. She had never learned how to manage choices and make informed decisions about her own life. She continued to damage her own life through really terrible choices.

I just want my children to know how to make choices that work for them, to recognize the subtle workings of the Spirit, and to trust enough to follow through with what’s best for their growth. Tall order, eh?

Every situation is different. The point that not everyone should be lumped together based on superficial commonalities is a good one. I’m glad your marriage is a happy one, as is mine. I know of many that are not, and in my experience, marrying young is often a contributor to an unhappy alliance.

There’s a fine line between exploring and growing as a young adult and squandering your youth on that which is of little (or no) worth to avoid responsibility and adulthood.

I adore my husband. I’m still glad we were brave and faithful enough to make a commitment young.

About success in the business world -vs- motherhood: I think the two are completely separate entities. I didn’t see the PBS special but I imagine the interviewee might have been trying to say that women who can’t cut it in the business world end up opting out of it due to lack of success there and staying home. It’s a cop out, rather than a real choice. Perhaps that was the gist, because I would hope no one would say that success in business is more important than their families and loved ones.

I do love being married. I love my family. I adore my husband (we’re still newly weds, though, at coming on our 2 year anniversary in Aug). But I’m also a big fan of singlehood. I loved them both and appreciated the importance of both. I seriously wouldn’t sacrifice a single day of my unmarried life. In fact, I wish I had waited a couple more years before getting married the first time (I was 6 weeks shy of 29). I still had more I wanted to do– like move to New York City for a couple years. I had almost 2 years of singlehood between marriages and it was a happy, peaceful, simple life that I loved. I only left it because my amazing husband popped into my life.

I, too, travel with my husband and kids. Last summer, I had both of my kids in Eastern Europe with me. But traveling without kids is fantastic, and traveling with friends (no hubby) is, too. Why, can someone PLEASE explain to me, would anyone rush past an important life phase to hop into a marriage. Why date anyone ‘seriously’ at a young age when the focus should be on being single and savoring that time? There is a season for every life phase, why rush out of one? It’s what makes me CRAZY about our cultural church. Ever time I get wedding announcements from 18 year old girls (and they are still ‘girls’) I want to cry. It’s one of the primary reasons I do NOT want my daughters going to BYU– I don’t want them living in a culture that encourages or advocates that.

I went to BYU for a few years and transferred/graduated from another university. One of the reasons I left was because at 21 I was feeling a bit like an old maid and the cultural pressure to find a husband was intense. And I did a little introspection and thought “this is insane” and left. At my new university, hardly anyone was married. The students were focused on being students– as they should at that age!!