To help individuals and society cope with [divorce], we need to move beyond sweeping generalizations about the "average" outcome of divorce and conduct more fine-tuned investigations into the full range of family processes and events that increase the risks of damage or augment the resilience of children and adults.

Should we therefore be concerned about the accelerated uncoupling of marriage and childbearing? The statistical correlations seem clear. But interpretations also have been made ambiguous by the rise in cohabitation. A growing share - perhaps even a majority share - of children born outside of marriage live with both biological parents.

I did not intend to write a book about aunts and uncles or their nieces and nephews, at least not initially. I began with a simple interest in uncovering instances of men in caregiving roles, other than fathers. My own uncles were positive influences in my life, and I simply wondered if uncles were important in the lives of others.

The idea that ending spanking and other legal corporal punishment by parents can make a major contribution to preventing physical abuse of children seems preposterous to all but a few of the parent educators, child psychologists, pediatricians and other professionals I talk to. Paradoxically, it is rarely because they are in favor of spanking. Even more paradoxical is that most also think that spanking is an undesirable mode of parenting and many advise parents to use alternatives to correct misbehavior.