The Spark Blog

Category: Society

  • A Nation of Unhappy Men?

    A Nation of Unhappy Men?

    The theme of 2017 Mental Health Awareness Week is ‘surviving or thriving?’ In the context of men’s mental health in the UK in 2017 it feels like a perfect question to pose. Data – and there is lots of it – points to only one conclusion: many men are, at best, just about surviving and…

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  • Holidays Highlight Relationship Issues

    Holidays Highlight Relationship Issues

    Holidays are important. Especially since we only get a few each year. They can be fabulous times packed with great memories we will cherish forever. Whether we get to enjoy some family fun over Easter or the summer school break, holidays are one of the biggest (if not the biggest) motivation for working 9 to…

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  • Sexting: 5 Ways to Protect Your Child

    Sexting: 5 Ways to Protect Your Child

    Raising children in the digital age brings with it a host of challenges previous generations never faced. One such high profile and extremely distressing issue is sexting. Sexting is an issue that is fast becoming a common problem. As the lives of young people become ever more embedded in social media, its significance and the…

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  • Coping with Life Transitions

    Coping with Life Transitions

    Benjamin Franklin famously wrote: “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”. Change is an inevitable part of life. It is as inescapable as the passage of time and is often the precursor to a significant life transition. Life transitions are typically the most significant milestones in our lives.…

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  • Top 5 Kids’ Easter Holiday Activities

    Top 5 Kids’ Easter Holiday Activities

    How to keep the kids busy during the Easter school holiday The Easter school holiday is nearly upon us. Parents can look forward to asking the same big question a dozen times: what do I do with the kids today? To help ease the pressure on stressed-out parents, here are our top 5 things to…

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  • Relationships and Social Media

    Relationships and Social Media

    Social media is becoming ever more intertwined in our lives and relationships. In an earlier blog we looked at the concept of the ‘digital shadow’ and the risk to relationships between parents and children. The conclusion being that parents who share every aspect of a child’s life on social media risk damage to their future…

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  • A Greatness for Lateness

    A Greatness for Lateness

    When you type ‘why are some people always…’ into Google, it finishes your question by supplying the top ranked query which is ‘why are some people always late’? Rightly a lot of people want to know this. RESPECT In 1818, in his seminal work “The World as Will and Representation”, Schopenhauer says: R. E. S.…

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  • Is it time for a ‘Family Day’ in the UK?

    Is it time for a ‘Family Day’ in the UK?

    We celebrate some elements of family in British life. We recognise Christmas Day as a time to spend with family and enjoy a public holiday in which to do it. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day recognise the contribution parents make to society. But the family unit itself does not get as much as a party…

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  • Can We Cram Our Relationships?

    Can We Cram Our Relationships?

    Humans love to cram. We cram for exams, cram for interviews and cram before that big presentation at work. A whole 24-episode TV boxset gets crammed into a weekend and we cram our plates at the all-you-can-eat buffet. Our modern lives are often described as ‘time poor’ leaving us more inclined, or feeling we have…

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