Helen

Colourful midlife mum to two teens. Determined not to do as she's told and slide off into invisible old age. Much cooler at 50 than she was at 15. Host of the Teenage Kicks podcast, about mental health for teenagers.

Why cheesy holidays are good for your soul

Family travel tips - find a good water park

A long time ago, I used to write in the voice of my child. A bizarre concept, I admit, but it made me laugh, and preserved my memories. It made other people laugh too. Either that or they all commented because they were building their own fledgling blogs, just as I was, and needed the visits! I like to think it was the former. Anyway, I was cleaning up my draft posts – organising the loft, as it were – and I came across this. I think she was around 6 years old. It made me smile. So indulge me, …

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Minecraft or Minefield? Essential Help with Parental Controls

Parental Controls – Simplified It’s a nightmare, isn’t it? Knowing what your kids are doing online, and more importantly, knowing that they’re safe. Our children have grown up intuitively knowing how to operate devices, seeing them as sources of fun, interaction with friends, and even – as they get older – educational tools. They’re not scared of them, they’re not nonplussed by technology, and so it stands to reason that they’re not worried about living their lives online. But for parents – many of whom have had to learn alongside their children, and with media horror stories in mind – …

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Travel: how to reduce the pain of coming home from a holiday.

Is there anything worse than the blues you get when you come home from a holiday? You’ve had a week of sun, or excitement, with great friends, or much-needed down time with your family. And then you get home. And you’re left with just a huge pile of washing, a dead pot plant, and a cold shower. If you’ve travelled long-haul it’s even worse. You’ve had to attempt sleep sitting up, with someone else practically in your lap, and the person behind using your seat back to haul his not insignificant ass up and down all night long. Beauty sleep, …

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How to Create a Stop Animation Film for Christmas

Don’t you love a good Christmas advert? As much as The Snowman, and Elf, waiting to watch the newest Christmas adverts has become a marker of Christmas – the start to the festive season, and our kids want them played again and again throughout December. But this week has been even more exciting, as they’ve had the chance to make their own, courtesy of a fab stop animation kit from Sainsbury’s. Sponsored post with Sainsbury’s. Inspired by the stop animation film of their own Christmas advert, and its message around spending more time with family and friends over the holiday, …

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Do you really need a car dashcam?

A review of the Mio Mivue 688 There are a number of car dashcams on the market; a recent addition to the car tech available, a dashcam is basically a small camera that records footage of your journey, essentially to be used as proof in the event of an accident or insurance claim. Think of it as a kind of aeroplane ‘black box’ for your car. But it’s not an inexpensive item, so the question is, do you really need one? We reviewed the Mio Mivue 688 dashcam to find out. Why have a dashcam? It will reduce your insurance …

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Turning 50, Feeling Hotter

The time has come for expensive jeans, and comfy shoes. I took my daughter to our local catwalk show last month. As I gazed at the models – all local girls, some of them mums I knew from the playground – something clicked in my mind. All ordinary women, looking amazing in interesting clothes, holding their heads high, knowing they looked good. Wearing gorgeous throw-on knits, skinny jeans, sparkling pantsuits, and exquisite blouses. Yes, blouses. Time was, a blouse was a thing you wore to tea with your grandmother, not an article of chic glamour, but times have changed, and …

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Wicked: an Alternative to the Panto at Christmas

When my kids were young they loved a pantomime at Christmas. It’s the slapstick, the limerick nature of it all, the cheesy jokes, and the audience participation – it never fails with younger kids. But Maddie is now 12, and though she still wants a special trip to the theatre at Christmas time, she has outgrown the panto, seen the Snowman, and is not yet old enough to really appreciate a full ballet production of the Nutcracker. So we went to see Wicked. It has exactly the right amount of fairytale and costume excess to fit the bill of a …

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St Albans Restaurants: a Family Dinner Busaba Thai

When you think of family dining you’re not likely to have Thai food at the top of your list. Children and spices don’t make a natural pair, especially if you have traditional eaters. We’re unusual, in that the Bug is a huge lover of chilli, and seafood; however Maddie prefers straightforward English dishes – a roast and a crumble is probably her favourite option – and will admit to liking standard children’s menu fare. As parents it can be tricky to find a restaurant that suits your own tastes, but also caters well for (and challenges the taste buds of) …

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8 ways to Style a Christmas Jumper

I am loving my Christmas jumper this year! It's going everywhere on me. Hopefully today it will distract the opposition football team and the boys will get a win!

People come in two types. Those who wait for the weekend before Christmas to start celebrating. And those who don’t. Guess which one I am? This weekend I could resist it no longer: my Christmas jumper went on, and Spotify switched to the Christmas playlist. I know, I will be bored of Mary’s Boy Child by the big day, but who wants to eat leftover mince pies in January? I say bring it on right now! How to Rock your Christmas Jumper Advertorial post with Matalan – gifted products.  This year, we got our Christmas Jumpers from Matalan. They have a huge …

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Could you have Chefs of the Future? Tefal Cook4Me review

Review: The Tefal Cook4Me We’ve been letting the kids loose in the kitchen recently. They’re old enough now to know a few of the basics of preparing food, and both of them are really interested in creating meals, so cooking with the kids is much less stressful than it used to be when they were very young. What’s really made the difference though, is the addition of a new gadget to our kitchen. We’ve been working with Tefal to promote the Cook4Me, showing how easy it is to use by turning over the kitchen to the kids. Looking for more …

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Kidzania London review

A review of Kidzania London, where the kids are in charge of learning about real life on the job.

If you have children, Kidzania must be on your radar. Mine had been begging to go for a while, so over the half term holidays we booked in, and I have to tell you, they were really excited, especially my eldest, who was looking forward to the independence of forging her way in a mock-up of the real world. Billed as a ‘real-life role play experience,’ Kidzania offers children the opportunity to get a feel for what it might be like to take on over 60 different workplace roles, earning money in return for tasks completed. Here’s what to expect …

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Meet Meerkats: Fall in Love (review of Paradise Wildlife Park)

The meet the meerkats experience at Paradise Wildlife park is a very special treat

Have you ever been this close to a meerkat? I snapped this picture over the half term holidays at Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne, and I wasn’t using my zoom lens. I was actually sitting on the stump right next to these two guys as they got up close and personal after their feed. Aren’t they adorable? The Bug has long been a fan of meerkats. My self-professed ‘next David Atteborough’ boy loves anything about animals and nature, and whilst he might struggle to remember what 7 x 6 is, the space in his brain reserved for creature trivia is …

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Keep Bodies Real, for the Sake of our Girls – Sponsored by Dove

When she was 7, my daughter came home and asked me if she could shave her legs. My heart sank, because I knew we were on the brink of a lifetime of concerns about her appearance. She had been teased at school, and in an afternoon, she’d gone from not caring two figs about her legs – beyond how fast they could carry her round the playground – to wanting them to conform to someone else’s expectations. Over the next few years, a whole bunch of other perceived flaws found their way into her awareness of herself, from moles to …

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Recipe: Unbelievably Easy Sausage and Bean Stew (Tefal Cook 4 Me)

Recipe: a sausage and bean stew that's so easy the kids can make it

If you follow our social media accounts, it will not have escaped your notice that we have a new kitchen gadget. I have waxed lyrical about the Cook4Me by Tefal, to the extent that several of my online friends have gone straight down to Argos to buy one for themselves. Still others have added the intelligent multicooker to their Christmas list. I’m pretty confident that it will live up to expectation, and very excited to have one to give away today. I’ll be reviewing the Cook4Me fully next week, when you will find out how we got on handing the kitchen over …

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An Open Letter to Type 1 Teens

Type 1 diabetes is as much a psychological condition as it is a physical one. In this letter to type 1 teens, a grieving mum tells other sufferers what she can no longer tell her son.

On 22 July this year, Connor lost his life to type 1 diabetes. He was a normal teenaged boy, with everything to live for. But he had diabetes, an incurable condition that is relentless in its need to be managed, every hour of every day, for life. It is a difficult physical condition, yet what you very rarely see is the emotionally exhausting psychological burden of living with type 1, that is every bit as tough as the medical. In the weeks following Connor’s death, Nicky, his mother, wrote this letter in the hopes that if just one young person read …

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Skydiving without Fear

I swore I'd never go skydiving, but an indoor skydiving session with my kids almost saw me signing up for the real deal! Here's what we thought of iFly at Milton Keynes

Indoor Skydiving with iFly I swore I would never go skydiving. We’re pretty adventurous in our family, and between us we’re up for most things. But jumping out of a plane? No. Not for me. My daughter claims she would, and also thinks that bungee jumping is something everyone should try. (Also not happening in my lifetime). My son is the most sedate amongst us, and probably won’t be testing my parental panic meter with daredevil activities any time soon, but with a husband who’s planning to throw himself off a mountain for his 50th birthday, it’s fair to say …

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The new Steve Backshall Kids Clothing Range from Mountain Warehouse

The new Steve Backshall kids clothing range at Mountain Warehouse is cool, and hard-wearing, to cope with life's outdoor adventures.

There’s something exciting about Autumn. When you finally concede that the weather is too cold to go without socks, and pack away your summer clothes, it’s tempting to feel sad, especially when you’ve had an amazing summer at home with the kids. But once I’ve committed to it, I start to get excited about the clothes that have been stashed away at the back of the cupboard – the cosy fleeces and padded mittens – and I greet them like old friends. Even better, though, there’s a new season of clothes to be had! When it comes to buying clothes …

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Daddy’s Girl: How a Father’s Support can Help a Girl Achieve her Dreams

Do you have a Daddy’s girl? Does she twist him round her little finger, engaging her best smiles just for him? Does it drive you mad that he can never say no, or manage any semblance of discipline when his daughter is around? Well read on, to find out why that may not be such bad thing. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the classic father daughter bond between my girl and my husband. It’s a common theme in parenting, the adoration that fathers have for their girls, the ability girls. The two of them are regularly in cahoots over …

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