Fifth of UK families liken themselves to the Royles?

According to a recent survey by Vodafone, one in five British families liken themselves to the Royle Family, while just over one in six saw a likeness between their own family and The Simpsons.

TV soap families like the Battersbys, Mitchells, Gallaghers and Trotters were among the families Brits thought they were the least like.

The strong traditional values of the Waltons made it the family that over half of Brits would most like to emulate even though only 16% could say they were actually like them. Only 32% of families say they are part of a family that follows Waltons-like traditional family values, even though 92% of people have a good idea of what makes traditional family values.

The survey reveals the top three most important things for a family to do is to talk regularly (90%), eat dinner together (71%) and celebrate special occasions together (69.%).

Also underlined by the survey was the old adage you can choose your friends but not your family. Two-thirds of the UK population would love to be able to choose their family, with over a third wishing they had a personal friend in their family and 15% even wanting a celebrity to be a relative.

Ian Haynes, Head of Product Marketing for Vodafone UK, said, “What’s clear from our survey is that while there are many different types of families in the UK, everyone wants to keep traditional values alive. Talking regularly to one another is voted as really important. Not everyone can always sit together at the dinner table, so whether by voice or text, family communication is generally made easier with the mobile.”

Of course, that leads nicely onto a plug for Vodafone, who has just introduced the Vodafone Family tariff, where one person pays £5 a month and can nominate three contract or pay as you talk people to join their “Family”. They can then make unlimited calls between each other. There’s also a £7 per month package for up to six people to join.

Financial problems: make your partner your first contact

Professionals who offer advice to people in financial difficulty state how important it is to maintain active and open communication with those with whom you have a financial relationship with.

This is usually taken to mean creditors, your mortgage lender, your bank, and your landlord, but if you are married or in a committed long-term relationship, the person you should have the closest financial relationship with is your partner.

Regardless of how you have decided to run your financial lives together - be it completely joined, completely separate, or somewhere in between - you still have a commitment to one another in every area of your life.

It’s no surprise that money can cause all sorts of relationship problems if not dealt with openly and honestly, and yet a survey last year showed that many people would not share their credit score with their partner.

That’s just one example.

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Parents believe their kids’ mobile phone use is “out of control”. Enter OmegoMobile

This post was first published at Tech Digest

Parents are increasingly concerned about their children’s use of mobile phones.

Research published today suggests that over four in five British parents (81%) are worried about their children being contacted by strangers, of having their mobile phone stolen, or being a victim of cyber-bullying. That’s despite 71% saying that the phone would be vital in the case of an emergency.

Conversely, 58% of children would hate to have their mobile phone taken way.

The research leads nicely to OmegoMobile, the mobile phone for kids which has been designed to address the concerns of parents.

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Teens and pre-teens increase cell phone use during the summer

When school’s out, children and teenagers are increasingly to be found using their mobile phone, according to a new Disney Mobile Cell and Tell survey by Harris Interactive.

Teen and tween cell phone use in the summer jumps to more than 3 hours and 45 minutes a day, an increase of more than an hour a day as compared with a normal school day.

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Building Up Your Marriage with Healthy Communication

Would you like to have a stronger, healthier, more enjoyable marriage? I am sure that you would. And yet we live in a culture where about half of all marriages will shatter and end in a divorce, leaving behind the wreckage of broken adults and broken children.

If we are to build healthy marriages, we much do so “on purpose.” We cannot just hope that it will happen by accident. “Hope,” say the generals, “is not a good strategy.” Planning, work, and the investment of time, are much better strategies for any important endeavor of life. The first characteristic of a healthy marriage for us to consider is the way that we talk to our spouse, and the way that we talk about our spouse.

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