PEPPER SCHWARTZ

Holidays in general breed unrealistic expectations. The minute you start wondering, 'is it going to be wonderful enough?,' it never will be.

Parents aren't sex education experts just because they are parents.

In the best of all possible worlds, February 14 is a pleasant and sentimental opportunity to lavish your partner with attention or move your relationship to the next level.

Not only is it not remarkable to be a single woman, there's no stigma attached. You see more and more women choosing to be single as well as happenstance.

Our sexual self is a complex combination of our social, cultural, and biological inheritance.

My word for someone who has a long list of things that have to be in place in order to be in love with someone is "lonely." Because very few people, if anyone, will fit that whole list. They might even seem to, but they're not going to. Most of us have lists that we can't fulfill ourselves and it also places a lot of pressure on the other person. Your partner is just a human being. They can't fulfill it all.

Women may give lip service to wanting husbands who take on an equal role in raising children, but many will pull rank when an important decision, like how to discipline or what baby sitter to hire, has to be made.

I'd say that it's often true that people are attracted to each other immediately and everything lines up, but it's just as true for those relationships to end up a disaster. But people don't think of that as false love-at-first-sight. They highlight the examples that worked rather than the ones that failed.

Not only is it not remarkable to be a single woman, there's no stigma attached. You see more and more women choosing to be single as well as happenstance.

Holidays in general breed unrealistic expectations. The minute you start wondering, 'is it going to be wonderful enough?,' it never will be.

Women may give lip service to wanting husbands who take on an equal role in raising children, but many will pull rank when an important decision, like how to discipline or what baby sitter to hire, has to be made.

In the best of all possible worlds, February 14 is a pleasant and sentimental opportunity to lavish your partner with attention or move your relationship to the next level.

My word for someone who has a long list of things that have to be in place in order to be in love with someone is "lonely." Because very few people, if anyone, will fit that whole list. They might even seem to, but they're not going to. Most of us have lists that we can't fulfill ourselves and it also places a lot of pressure on the other person. Your partner is just a human being. They can't fulfill it all.

Parents aren't sex education experts just because they are parents.

Our sexual self is a complex combination of our social, cultural, and biological inheritance.

I'd say that it's often true that people are attracted to each other immediately and everything lines up, but it's just as true for those relationships to end up a disaster. But people don't think of that as false love-at-first-sight. They highlight the examples that worked rather than the ones that failed.