Lifestyle, Travel & Confident Parenting With Teenagers

Parenting: 29 Essential Tips for Starting Secondary School

Invaluable advice for your child, from those who’ve been there

Self Image and Body Confidence in Teenagers

*Updated: Missguided have now taken the item off sale and it no longer features on their website. Let's hope it stays that way. Thanks to everyone who contacted them about this, and for all the support on Instagram. Body Confidence and Self Image. It's a big theme...

#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...

Family Travel: 10 Sights you must see in Cambodia

This summer we took a family holiday to Cambodia. I'll write about our experiences soon, but as an appetiser (a crispy fried spring roll, if you like), I'm going to tell you about some of the weirdest things we saw. The incongruities of life in Southeast Asia,...

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…

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...

Thoughts of a Secondary School Parent

How Secondary School has Changed Me I read an article by a mum of a year 7 child last week and it really struck a chord. She described how much her daughter had changed since moving from year 6 to secondary school, from the changes in her daughter's appearance, to...

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...

Parenting: Why Teenage isn’t a number

"She's SUCH a Teenager!!" I'm betting every parent knows where that came from, even if their oldest child is only three. There's even a term for it - threenager. Every exasperated mother who's ever manhandled an obstinate toddler into a pushchair, or been struck...

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...

Life: Why is it so hard to love yourself?

Do this exercise for yourself. It’s hard, but it’s so worth it

Teenagers, Drugs and Knife Crime – Advice for Parents

All you need to help guide your child

12 Best Family Holidays According to Travel Experts

The best places to go with your family in 2019 according to the family travel experts

Style: Tips to Look Good in Photos

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?

Find me here too

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

A review of the Simba Hybrid mattress

Family food: Why letting kids loose in the kitchen could banish fussy eating

How letting kids get hands on in the kitchen leads to less fussy eating, and healthier food for the whole family

Creating an Inspiring Sewing Space with Framed Prints

Simple steps for a new teenage hobby

Living With Type 1 Diabetes: 5 Reasons to be Glad

At first, it feels like the end of the world. But here’s the upside of a diabetes diagnosis

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..

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...

Thoughts of a Secondary School Parent

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...