Question for unwed couples with children together... (long-term, marriage, woman)

[ElizaTeal]

Do you introduce your significant other as your fiancee? If so, how long have you been engaged and when do you plan to marry?

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by zonababe

Do you introduce your significant other as your fiancee? If so, how long have you been engaged and when do you plan to marry?

Seems like these days too many woman are content to be the perpetual fiancee'

[TaoistDude]

Perhaps they're not engaged and have no plans to marry. The main thing is that the children are well cared for, and having both parents in the picture is a major plus. Their relationship status is rather irrelevant in that case.

[darrensmooth]

Originally Posted by zonababe

Do you introduce your significant other as your fiancee? If so, how long have you been engaged and when do you plan to marry?

I would suspect they dont unless they really are engaged, because to call someone a fiance without the proposal, doesnt really make sense.

[JustJulia]

I can see the merit in "engaged," which pretty much just means "busy" or "taken," and that fits for people in long-term committed relationships. But "affianced" means "promised" or "pledged," and if you are going to make that pledge then you are marrying.

[sierraAZ]

No matter how it's called, in most cases it just means "I want to have one foot out of the door at all times."

[miyu]

Marriage is an outdated idea for many people in many Western European countries. People can be lifelong partners without the label of civil or religious marriage. They don't even bother with the engagement/fiancee stage nor buying some lame ring. They just don't want to deal with the bother of going to court and paying that marriage license fee. And they do very well with their children. I see nothing wrong with that. The less bureaucracy in our personal lives, the better. Many of the unmarried longterm couples I know have outlasted the married ones. Hehe. We are too much a marriage-happy culture - we think that by getting married we are accomplishing something extra, when in reality we aren't.

[sydney1987]

Originally Posted by TaoistDude

Perhaps they're not engaged and have no plans to marry. The main thing is that the children are well cared for, and having both parents in the picture is a major plus. Their relationship status is rather irrelevant in that case.

eh kids might be confused as to why their parents aren't married...... it's very unconventional.

[TabulaRasa]

Geez, we DON'T have kids, and my BF's grandparents are ALWAYS asking if they can introduce me as his fiancee, because they don't understand how we've been together for years and are not engaged. His grandpa's always fishing..."What should we call [TabulaRasa]? Your fiancee?" He's like, "Well, you could always just call her [TabulaRasa]. It is, after all, her name."

[Osito]

I guess it's possible that not being married makes it easier for the couple to split up in the blink of an eye and move on than it would be to go through a divorce. But marriage doesn't necessarily make a couple closer. Like another poster said, as long as the children are cared for.