"This is like... date night", I said to my husband as we were sitting in the bleachers, watching our four-year-old at her weekly evening swim class. Maybe that realisation should have made depressed — with so much going on, I couldn't remember the last time we had a proper date night — but it didn't. We were nestled hip to hip, talking about our days, with no child asking us to adjust her sock or turn on PJ Masks or spoon-feed her because she lost her arms.

If you suspect that the way you were raised has had an effect on your ability to maintain healthy relationships, you're probably right. That particular can of worms is addressed in all manner of self help and mental health practices, but as of late, you've likely been hearing about most in relation to something called "attachment theory."

When you fall in love, it feels like you never want to spend a moment away from your special someone. How fun for everyone else you spend time with.

Small talk gets a lot of backlash; most people seem to think they’re too important to discuss the weather. It’s true that some small talk can feel shallow or boring, but it serves an important purpose. That’s why everyone should learn how to do it well.

Given all the controversy surrounding Facebook and how third parties have been slurping up up our data and using it in ways that fall outside their terms and conditions, it would have seemed prudent to hang back from releasing any new services that might be considered sensitive. But Facebook is pushing forward with testing of its new dating service.

Dating terminology has gotten a lot broader - and a lot weirder - since the advent of smartphones, social media and online dating. It seems like every other day there's another pithy metaphor, slang word or acronym to jot down or brush up on.

Whether you're trying to keep up in the Gen Y dating scene or just want to decipher your teenage kid's wholly alien vocabulary, this glossary of love lingo is here to help.

It’s wise not to put so much pressure on a first date that you create impossibly high expectations. You’ll only make yourself nervous and likely make your date uncomfortable. But have we gone too far the other direction? It’s time to stop treating every first date like the first pancake in the frying pan. Do not feed it to the relationship dog.

How do you deal with a psychopath? What if you realise you married one? This week on The Upgrade we’re joined by Jen Waite, author of A Beautiful, Terrible Thing: A Memoir of Marriage and Betrayal, and Dr Michael Stone, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and author of The Anatomy of Evil, to talk about psychopaths, sociopaths and narcissists: How to recognise them, how to avoid them, and how to disentangle yourself from them.

You can trace a lot, and perhaps most, of what is happening in a culture through the words people choose to cloak their most terrifying and terrible instincts. And there are, right now, few self-chosen labels with worse connotations than "involuntarily celibate" or "incel".

Open relationship, ethical non-monogamy, polyamory, monogamish: there are so many words for telling someone that when it comes right down to it, you’re dating someone else. Here’s how to do so in a way that is respectful of their time and energy.

This week we have a guy who keeps jumping from relationship to relationship, but he's been dying to see what the single life is like. Will he figure out how to live it up solo? Or will he realise there isn't always a right way to do everything?

What's worse than being catfished? Being scammed out of money by someone you thought liked you. Romance scams are on the rise, and these shameless grifts cost consumers more money than other kind of internet fraud. Here's what you should watch out for if you're looking for love.

I once briefly dated a guy whose entire Twitter feed was about biking. He spent his day posting links to cycling routes, talking about his bike, communicating with other biking enthusiasts, advocating for cyclist safety efforts, and putting up photos of cars obstructing bike paths. All of this is admirable, of course, but the problem was that I didn't have a bike, like to bike, or care very much about biking at all.

This week we have a lady who can't stand it when her boyfriend gawks at other women. Will she finally tell him how it makes her feel and get the respect she deserves? Or will he be too busy staring at other girls to see her walking away for good?

This week we have a newlywed woman who's desperate to get some time to herself. Is there a way for her to ask her husband to leave her alone? Will her husband finally let her get her game on in peace?

Nobody enjoys being with someone who is always passive aggressive. If you're not sure what that looks like, here's an excellent, and funny, demonstration.

We know that some postures and gestures, like genuine smiles, increase attractiveness and a sense of connection. Daily Infographic has rounded up in one visual ways that your body might speak louder than words on a date.

Dr Nikki Goldstein is a sexologist, relationship councilor and author of Single But Dating: A Field Guide to Dating in the Digital Age. She knows precisely what causes relationships to flourish - or descend into disaster. If you never seem to get past the first date, you're probably guilty of one of the following behaviors.

What exactly is a dating sim and why are they so weird? Why do we define ourselves by things we hate, rather than those we love? Should you trust Facebook to be your dating app of choice? And what is your best online dating story?

On this episode of Static, we are talking about love.