Improving interpersonal relationships
Using these blog posts
The FT articles I am writing, the original articles that generate them, and the blog posts here all combine to make an ideal choice for a ready-made cover lesson. If you visit the FT online and register your students and yourself for free access to FT articles, then all your cover teacher would need to do is supply the links to the students and monitor the lesson. This could be helpful as ever more of you are involved in end-of-term “busy-ness”.
Fathers and sons
If you’re based in the UK, you may have already seen that the John Lewis Christmas 2025 TV advertisement has just been launched. This year's theme is the relationship between fathers and sons, with a focus on communication. It emphasizes that sometimes we may struggle to find the words to express our feelings, and that we instead show our emotions in other ways.
FT Online has also explored this theme of communication between fathers and sons in a recent article about the advertisement, discussing its implications for family relationships. Click on the link to read Fathers and Sons — A Two-Minute Television Fable, and then check out my article and the accompanying questions. Suggested answers are provided below. Your students may well come up with other responses.
Suggested responses
Q1. This article is about “the power of fatherhood.” Choose two quotes from the article that illustrate the writer’s concern regarding the lack of a “father figure” for boys.
“[A] void in good parenting makes space for so many negative and damaging influences, in the real world and online.”
“[In the UK] 2.5mn children do not live with any father figure, that’s one in five of all dependent children.”
“Boys look to be fathered, and when they find no one who can perform that vital role for them at home, or school, or clubs, they move on to the ones we don’t want...”
2. What does the author mean when he writes “someone will father your son”?
3. Click on the link to the Lost Boys project and read the three short paragraphs on the website home page. What environmental factors are given as affecting some teenage boys?
4. Now you have watched the John Lewis advertisement, what clues are there in it that the father and son have a difficult relationship? [This is a good discussion group task.]
They are avoiding each other’s gaze.
The father opens the son’s present last, as it is pushed well under the Christmas tree.
The boy is glancing nervously at his father as he removes the wrappings from under the tree.
His sister glances up and sees that there is something tense in her brother’s face.
The father touches the word “Dad” on the label with his forefinger.
The boy comes halfway down the stairs to see if his father is pleased with the gift.
The “dancing” scene reveals that both father and son realise the distance between them.
The hug that the father gives the son is awkward at first, but the son then hugs the father back. This is the first time in the film that they have each looked directly at the other.
5. How did the advertisment make you feel about the prospects of this father and son improving their relationship? Explain your answer.
6. In psychology, one of the concepts we use as a lens is change. How is this article recommending (directly and indirectly) that fathers, governments and local councils help change the “underachievement of boys in school” and their subsequent unemployment, poverty and over-representation in the criminal justice system?
Be present in their lives, even if divorced.
Use sports to be a good role model.
Encourage more male teachers into primary (elementary) schools.
Open and run youth clubs.
Prospective fathers should attend antenatal classes.
Suggested extension task: If your class has time, working in groups to design a poster or short video to improve communication and the relationship between two friends, siblings or mother and daughter would develop a deeper understanding of the relevance of communication in relationships.
Reference
Davies, Ed (8th November 2025). Father and sons – a two-minute television fable. Financial Times online, Accessed 28th November 2025 at https://www.ft.com/content/79d1b620-f909-413c-a79a-29c850bdaa6c