A new study has found that, for the first time ever, Canada is home to more unmarried people than married ones. Canada’s divorce rate now stands at a whopping 40 per cent. The study also found that most couples are increasingly likely to be childless, and that common-law families are the fastest growing type of family. Why is all of this happening?   The experts point to the recession as a source of stress on families…it suggests debt and poverty are driving men to work longer hours away from their homes. What is also worth noting, though, is what our younger generation thinks about marriage. Which is to say, not much.  Our kids (and even a big part of our generation) feel, increasingly, that marriage isn’t old fashioned…it’s just not necessary or necessarily permanent.  Though I don’t blame the media for things…it really is just a reflection of us…just look at TV recently.  The Bachelor and Bachelorette…and shows like them make marriage into a game show. Even if the couples do end up at the altar, no one expects the marriage to last into the next season.  But they also play into the old stereotype of a wife as property and not a partner.  People Magazines headline this week quotes this seasons Bachelor as saying “This Time I’ll Find a Wife”  not because he fell in love and wants to spend his life with someone…he wants a wife…a thing…because that’s what the script says.  No wonder some women resist that sort of thing. If that’s what we’re watching it should come as no surprise that people don’t take marriage seriously anymore.