Involved Fathers - A new image that reflects real change

Watch a few hours of television and you will be convinced: the father who is involved and dedicated to his children is no longer a marginal figure or a lofty ideal beyond the reach of common mortals. The advertising industry-always the first to catch the waves of social trends and ride their crests-no longer hesitates to use the image of the involved and committed father. In doing so, advertisers not only promote this new notion of fatherhood along with their products, they also demonstrate that the image of the dedicated father no longer even needs to be "sold" to most men. If advertising-that supreme arbiter of society's values and a key influence on its ideology-uses the "dedicated father" to sell its products, it is because this has become a positive image with which men like to be associated, a social standard to which they are willing to conform and a behaviour that they want to adopt.

Kids with High Levels of Emotional Intelligence

Having a high level of emotional intelligence in your children is the best way to ensure that they live a happy, successful, and responsible life as an adult. Here are ten ways to help your kids attain a high degree of emotional intelligence:

1. Model emotional intelligence yourself
Yes, your kids are watching very closely. They see how you respond to frustration, they see how resilient you are, and they see whether you’re aware of your own feelings and the feelings of others.

2. Be willing to say “no” to your kids
There’s a lot of stuff out there for kids. And your kids will ask for a lot of it. Saying no will give your kids an opportunity to deal with disappointment and to learn impulse control. To a certain degree, your job as a parent is to allow your kids to be frustrated and to work through it. Kids who always get what they want typically aren’t very happy.

3. Be aware of your parental “hotspots”

Does Media Exposure Matter?

Greetings! A study in the Journal of Pediatrics found that 55% of teens who were exposed to a lot of sexual material in movies, music and the Internet had intercourse by the age of 16. Compare that with only 6% of teens having sex who were not exposed to such imagery in the media. What do we think about this? I don't believe young teens are ready to put sexual content from the media into perspective. If you don't think it makes a difference, you're not opening your eyes. Just remember how much companies are willing to pay for advertising during key shows/events precisely to influence viewers. So it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out a link between media imagery and behaviour.