I had an unnerving experience two days ago and haven’t quite yet recovered.
This thing happened in the changing room of my local gym.
Here’s a meme I made for the occasion. It might give you a clue as to where I’m going with this…
We have a lovely little castle with proper history that has been nicely converted into a 5 star hotel and in fairness, many celebrities have indeed stayed there. Disappointingly I missed, by mere minutes, an afternoon with a very sociable Bruce Springsteen last summer. And so when it became clear that the newlyweds, “Kimye”, (we can nickname them now ‘cos they’re practically locals) flew into Cork airport, Castlemartyr was the obvious choice destination. So we all went mad looking to confirm that we were hosting new sparkly guests, albeit briefly. It was most entertaining!
This conversation was sparked by the publication of a new study on sibling configurations and looking at whether aspiration and achievment of children is dependent on ‘order’ in the family. Interestingly, the researchers in this case also found a gender difference – specifically, that eldest girls aspire to, and achieve more academically than eldest boys. Naturally enough this sparked much media debate!
Sharon Ní Choncúir, freelance journalist with the Irish Examiner was interested by a large research piece done by Open University that suggests that childfree couples are happier than parents. We talk about why that might be.
SO, Jay-Z lied about his age – why does he care and why do we love that he cares?
This was a piece for which Chrissie Russell, freelance journalist with the Irish Independent interviewed me. She was interested in the revelation that Jay-Z lied about his age and more importantly – why anyone cares!
Read on the full text of our conversation
Grim figures released today by the NAPD (National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals) show an increase in over 30% in cyberbullying.
Grim figures released today by the NAPD (National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals) show an increase in over 30% in cyberbullying in a survey of Irish second level students.
Figures also show an increase of 5% in students admitting to bullying bringing the new figure to 9%. This is big news, with most papers reporting the figures and talk shows discussing the meanings of these findings in the lead up March’s bullying awareness month.
There are some basic things we can all do to combat bullying and if you are a parent reading this I encourage you to share this information with your son/daughter. If you are being bullied please, take note of these tips and report your experience to someone you trust.
Here are two particularly good sites that have dedicated space to cyber bullying: Do Something and Spunout , and I’ve also made a list of my own quick tips – I hope you find it helpful. You may also be interested in the #DeleteCyberbullying campaign. Their Twitter page is here:
This is serious business. Be mindful of what students are being exposed to. Educate yourself and protect yourself and them.
This is a conversation with Chrissie Russell, freelance journalist, about some of the positive and negative impacts that technology can have on our relationships. You will notice that I caution strongly against vilifying technology – partially because I have deep love of my own iPhone!!
An article caught my eye on The Good Men Project last week: 30 Ways to Make Yourself Miserable (Along with Everyone Around You). Good title isn’t it? It’s a wordy one though, and being a fan of the bottom line I decided to make a meme and share it here, with kind permission from Lion Goodman, the original author. He even posted it on his site which is nice. Thanks Lion!
Far too many of us devise a long list of resolutions every New Year’s Eve. Many of them are good ideas, really good ones. Like quitting cigerettes, drinking less, eating more healthily, saving money, giving more time to study/ family/ friends, cutting down on road rage … Then you have a bad day, a stressful one. You allow yourself to indulge in just one smoke (sure what harm can ONE do??!), or a giant lump of salty saturated fat, a little tantrum…. then enter your three familiar companions: judgement, guilt and the feeling of failure…Well, you get the idea, you’ve been there no doubt!
So this year, I respectfully suggest we all keep it simple. So I’ll keep this short:
Picking realistic goals makes success more likely, and we feel good when we succeed. (Not rocket science, I know, and that’s what I like about it!).
Allow for mistakes, because changing a behaviour takes time, effort, and slip-ups. This is normal and OK. Guilt is unhelpful and unnecessary.
Accessing support is helpful too – changing a behaviour or starting a new one is a lot easier when we have company. Again, it’s not rocket science. So start thinking about who you know that may have similiar goals (or established expertise) or someone who is simply supportive of your desire to change. If you don’t know anyone in real life who shares your goals, you might find an online community, group or individual.
And bottom line, if you resolve to be kinder to yourself, then all else will fall into place more easily.
Happy New Year to you all!
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