Lifestyle, Travel & Confident Parenting With Teenagers

Family Travel: Why SeaWorld Orlando should be on your Florida Itinerary

I always knew that this would be my first image in this post about SeaWorld Orlando. Before we visited this year, I had assumed that pretty much the entire park was about whales and dolphins, but I could not have been more wrong. With my kids both now over the magic...

Family Travel: Top 10 Things for Families to do at Busch Gardens

The most amazing rollercoasters, and incredible animal encounters

Family Travel: the Best things to do at Aquatica Orlando

The lowdown on all the slides, and what to do with children of any age

Family Travel: 5 Things you wouldn’t expect at Discovery Cove (Review)

Why it’s not all about the dolphins…

Style: How to look good in photos – yes, even at 50!

Tips for looking good in photos as an older woman.

#50NotOut: Changing the Goalposts for Older Women

It was my first time. No one had ever said it to me before, and I'd been blithely unaware that I was at this point in my life. I'm talking about the day a shop assistant called me 'Love.' Now, you might not see this as a big deal. My friend T says she's very happy...

5 Different New York Trips You Must Do in Your Lifetime

There isn't just one New York. New York is not the trip of a lifetime. For my 50th birthday I took my family to celebrate in New York, and it was a real eye-opener. You see, I'd never been, and always wanted to. It's iconic, one of those cities that just has to be...

How to Survive Secondary School as a Mum

Tips for parents on getting through their child’s first term at secondary school.

Why girls SHOULD be concerned about their appearance

Recently, I've overhauled my make-up bag. I've never been that big on cosmetics, and apart from a brief rebellious flirtation with blue mascara in the school toilets in Year 9, I've worn pretty much the same look for nearly 4 decades. But I have a twelve year old...

Travel: How to Create a Love of Adventure in your Kids

Live Life Adventurously "Owwwoww!" groaned my eldest as she staggered out of bed that first morning. "It hurts so much! Hurry up! I want to do it all again!" We were on our first ski trip as a family, and she hadn't wanted to stop, racing her dad to the last lift of...

Parenting: How to Rock the Period Talk

The Period Talk I'm pretty sure I had the period talk with my own mother. I imagine it would have involved phrases like a little bit of blood, no it doesn't hurt, and, they're in the airing cupboard. I think the next time anything 'like that' was mentioned, was when...

Why a Puppy is Exactly Like a New Baby

Things to think about before bringing one home!

Family Travel: the Best things to do at Aquatica Orlando

The lowdown on all the slides, and what to do with children of any age

How to be a teenager in 12 simple steps

A guide to what’s really going on in your older child’s mind

Style: How to look good in photos – yes, even at 50!

Tips for looking good in photos as an older woman.

Hi! I’m Helen.

I’m a lifestyle blogger and a (sometimes terrified) mum of two kids hurtling headlong into their teens. Some days I survive on really good coffee. On others, only a sharp Sauvignon will do. I love bright colours, a good gossip, and clothes shopping with my girl – she’s my very own personal stylist! I’m #50NotOut, going up a gear in life now my kids are older – who’s with me?

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How to Get a Better Night’s Sleep – £75 off Simba Hybrid mattress (review)

A review of the Simba Hybrid mattress

Eurocamp with Teenagers: Camping Le Soleil in Argelès

Why our teenagers are always so keen to go back to Eurocamp

The Secret to Raising Confident Teenagers

A self-help book for teenagers that will really resonate

Why your diabetes jokes are rubbish unless you’re diabetic

How not to offend a diabetic with misconceptions

opinion (n); a view or judgement formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge

Every now and then I get a bee in my bonnet. It could be something ludicrous I’ve seen on social media. It might be one of those no-brainers that drive everyone insane – like the amount of plastic the world dumps in our oceans. Inevitably, I’ll end up here, writing it out onto the page. Bear with me – we might just be on to something..

Are you a Bully?

Why more of us need to take a good look at our own behaviour

Work: Why I’m happy to be called an Influencer

What exactly is an ‘influencer,’ and when did it become such a dirty word?

#50NotOut: Changing the Goalposts for Older Women

The Real Life of an Insta-Mum

There's been a furore lately over the Insta-Mum phenomenon. Most of us are on there, even if it's only to stalk our children's accounts. We laugh and nod at someone else's crappy day, and get shopping envy over their new pink boots. The phony Insta-Mum claim...

Parenting: Teenagers need you more, not less as they grow up

When you’re in the thick of looking after your young child, and someone tells you teenagers need you more than toddlers, you laugh. But here’s why it’s true…

10 Things you should Never Say to a Diabetic if you Value Your Life

In our three years living with Type 1 diabetes I've learned a fair bit about myself. Not just my capacity for complicated maths in the middle of the night after a bottle of Prosecco; nor my propensity for hurling my diabetic child into every potentially dangerous...

What’s all the Fuss about 13 Reasons Why?

Everyone is talking about 13 Reasons Why. Have you seen it? Have you deliberately avoided it, not wanting to go to that place where your child is 17 and no longer tells you anything? Has your 12 year old seen it? Did you ban her from watching it? 13 Reasons Why - the...

How to Survive Secondary School as a Mum

Tips for parents on getting through their child’s first term at secondary school.

Judgement – a Life Lesson for those who are judged, and those who judge

A few weeks after my daughter was diagnosed with diabetes she attended a disco. Shell-shocked by the realisation that Type 1 diabetes was not at all what we had thought it was, I was terrified. I had visions of her collapsed in the toilets in a coma caused by...

Tips for dealing with mean girls

My darling girl, the time has come for me to tell you about girls. Girls are complicated creatures - I know you've got that nailed, you are complicated yourself! Girls can be wonderful, loyal, warm, supportive, nurturing, caring, and funny. They can share...