January 21, 2030—Mia and Pat Ternell were worried that their six-year-old daughter Annie wasn’t smiling very intensely. So the divorced couple enrolled their child in a special marital education class for preschoolers.
“Annie had a cute smile, but it just wasn’t wide enough, and we know that studies show weaker smiles mean a greater chance that she will divorce in middle and old age,” Mia Ternell said.
The Ternells are among a growing number of parents across the country who are trying to heighten their children’s chances to having happy marriages when they reach adulthood. Parents are responding to numerous studies that link childhood photos with happiness levels in later married life.
“I didn’t want her to suffer the fate that Mia and I did,” Pat Ternell said about his daughter. “Now that I look back at my childhood photos, I see that my smile was kind of crooked, which is probably why our marriage crumbled.”
Scientists believe that the quality of a person’s smile reflects his or her underlying emotional characteristics, and therefore their ability to keep a lasting, happy relationship. Children with half-hearted grins are found to have far more marital discord later on, studies show.
Psychologists have developed therapies designed to prevent future marital problems by helping children develop better smiles.
“We figure if we start working on their smiles at an early age,” said renowned family psychologist Mary G. Savor, “each individual will be better able to grin and bear marriage no matter who they wed.”
