Is It Selfish to Break Up a Happy Family Just Because You’re Unhappy?

Should You Stay in an Unhappy Marriage for the Sake of Your Children?

Is it better to stay in a loveless marriage for the sake of your children, or walk away and risk breaking up an otherwise happy family?

In this episode, Niall Boylan speaks to callers about a deeply personal dilemma sent in by a listener who admits she no longer loves her husband.

Married for 18 years with three young children, she says there are no major arguments, no affairs and no abuse. They simply live together more like friends or housemates than husband and wife. In fact, she now believes she should never have married him in the first place.

Her mother has told her to put her own feelings aside and stay with her husband for the sake of their children. But the listener feels life is too short to remain in a relationship without love or passion, and she worries that if she doesn’t leave now, she may lose her chance to find happiness with someone else.

But is that selfish? Should her children’s happiness and stability come before her own? And is the grass really greener on the other side?

Some believe marriage is a lifelong commitment, particularly when children are involved, and that love changes over time. Others argue that children are better off with two happy, separated parents than growing up in a home where their mother and father are simply going through the motions.

**Should she sacrifice her own happiness to keep her family together? Is falling out of love a good enough reason to end an 18-year marriage? Or should she try to rediscover the love she once had before potentially turning five lives upside down?**

Niall opens the phone lines to hear what callers think about marriage, commitment, sacrifice and whether staying together for the children is really the right thing to do.