This is the part where we scour the web to find interesting, Swaddle-relevant pieces from around the world, and summarize them for easy reading. Click on the links to read the full articles.

How We Marry The Wrong People

“We have stopped believing in dynastic marriages. We are starting to see the drawbacks of Romantic marriages. Now comes the time for psychological marriages.” This is the conclusion of a nine-point article that lays out all the wrong turns we make on the journey to marital bliss. The tone is a bit (OK, a lot) pessimistic, but it’s interspersed with lovely portraits of history’s most famous doomed couples and is an interesting take on modern love—the expectations we have of ourselves, our partners, and the world.

Finnish Babies Sleep in Boxes

This is one government benefit that might make living in icy Finland worthwhile. For close on a century, Finland’s government has given every expectant mother a box of everything a newborn needs. It’s as egalitarian as it is resourceful, as women make use of every last piece of the package!

Epistolary Mothering

Caitlin Moran plans for the future in a morbid but sweet ‘posthumous’ letter to her daughter. Full of advice and wit, it has all the heart but nothing trite. Print it and tuck it away as inspiration for yourself or your own child.

Let’s Talk About Sex … Or Not

This article on an Orthodox Jewish sex counsellor is an eye-opener into the beliefs and practices of Jewish orthodoxy, but also an interesting read for anyone who grew up in a culture where sex isn’t discussed and women’s sexuality is eyed askance. Bat Sheva Marcus, an Orthodox Jew herself, works with women to introduce the idea of pleasurable sex and fight feelings of guilt or shame.

Get Your Eat On

What do the Greeks, Japanese, and Norwegians have in common? Their diets are all extremely healthy in different ways. While the article has a North American slant, it’s interesting to learn what the world’s healthiest diets all have in common—and note what new ingredients to start incorporating in your everyday meals.

Love In A Lab

Mandy Len Catron writes in “To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This” about recreating a 20-year-old experiment by psychologist Arthur Aron, in which he made two subjects fall in love—and she herself is one of the modern participants. She and an acquaintance ask and answer Aron’s 36 questions of increasing intimacy in an attempt to see if love can be deliberately entered into, rather than a thing that just happens. Read her article to find out the results.

And as a palate cleanser after the saccharine, don’t miss Susanna Wolff’s hilarious counterpoint “To Fall Out of Love, Do This“.