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.

Selfish mums and free school shoes…

School shoes from online store Jakes Shoes

Have you ever been cheated by your Mum? As a parent have you ever felt guilty for putting yourself before your child? Meet my mother, who managed to turn a shopping expedition for school shoes into a trip which was ALL ABOUT HER! Ad/Gifted Both the Bug and I are in need of new school shoes. The Bug, especially, has been out of his shoes since last half term. That’s six weeks he’s been going into school in his trainers, risking the tuts of teachers as he fails to pass muster in the uniform stakes each morning. In fact, it …

Read more

#Expressions 17: Erm…

Silly expressions

I don’t really know what to call this. Basically, I haven’t taken many photos this week, and I’ve been struggling to know what my Expressions post should be. Over breakfast this morning I confessed my dilemma, and this is what my family did. I suppose, if nothing else, it serves of proof that you don’t need an immaculate portrait shot to join in with the Expressions linky.  

My writing process blog tour – tips for creative copy

Sculpting confusion There is a thing going on with bloggers and writers at the moment. It’s called a blog tour and it works like this: Each blogger involved answers 4 questions about how and why they write They then pass the baton to another writer, who publishes answers to the same questions the following week, thanking the person who tagged them. It’s that simple. When Sophie, of Franglaise Mummy, asked me if I’d like to be her ‘tagee’ I hesitated. I’m not normally a partaker of memes and tours; I don’t enjoy writing to a prescribed structure; and I’m so …

Read more

The practicalities of driving an electric car

Go Ultra Low with a Renault Zoe electric car

Over the last 5 weeks we’ve been road-testing an electric car. You know, those cars that you’ve seen on the news occasionally, read a bit about  and wondered, but always thought were a bit of a non-starter? Yeah, me too. But we agreed to take temporary ownership of a 100% electric Renault Zoë to really understand the deal. And do you know what? We were massively surprised by how much we liked it! Here’s what we learned: Driving an electric car – the fun bit. The first thing that freaked me out about an electric car was how quiet it …

Read more

How to park for nothing on a London day trip

  Yesterday we had a day in London with the kids. We took the car, and we parked it totally free of charge, all over the capital, while we explored some sights, sounds and smells we’ve never discovered before with the kids. We were able to do this because we have an electric car. Read on to find out how it works. How to charge an electric car Over the last few weeks we’ve been road-testing the Renault Zoë on behalf of Go Ultra Low. Until 31 March 2015, British Gas will install a charging point at your home free of …

Read more

Expressions #16: Over the moon!

There was an incident on Wednesday. A 7 year old’s head came into contact with a rifle butt – not a phrase I ever thought I’d type.  Complaints that the girls had an unfair advantage, being older and bigger. Anguish at being shot when out of ammo. Angst at being on the team that was lagging behind at half time. But miraculously (*winks*) the announcement came, when the laser party was over, that the birthday boy’s team had won by a whisker. And I managed to catch the expression of joyful disbelief as those words were uttered. Not very well, …

Read more

The day they stayed off school: Somerset Yurts review

Camping is cosy at Somerset Yurts

Last Monday I did something I’d never done before. Just as all the children were lining up for registration, I called the school: Erm, the kids won’t be in school today… No, no they’re not ill, it’s just that, erm, well, you see, we’ve been away for the weekend, and, well, we haven’t come home yet… Somerset Yurts – it’s camping kids, but not as we know it! We’d arrived late Friday evening at Somerset Yurts, after the usual rush-hour chaos, and it was raining. Now, we’re reasonably seasoned campers, but no-one likes unpacking camping gear in the rain. Which …

Read more

Expressions #15: Mischievous

Every time I see a picture of this boy I’m struck by what a character he is. Often intensely shy when I’ve met him face-to-face, his personality just sings in the photos I see of him on Annie’s blog. So I was delighted, when I sifted through the pictures I took on our meet-up at Hitchin Lavender, to find that I had one of my own. He and his sister, both trying desperately to escape from their mother’s camera, and mine; he couldn’t quite quell that fizz of mischief that is his very own brand of fun. He’s a total …

Read more

Hitchin Lavender Farm #HDYGG

  By GG… Now, anyone will tell you that we are not gardeners in our family. Daddy occasionally plants a vegetable and then hapazardly sprays the hose in its general direction on random days, wondering why our table is not resplendent with home-grown produce at the end of the season. Mummy limits her gardening activity to spraying the patio with weedkiller, and hacking the shrubs into submission twice a year. No, we do not DO gardening. Unless you count the #warnonants that takes place every Sunday evening, which leaves our lawn looking more like a green dalmation. So we never …

Read more

A great family break (Sands Resort hotel Cornwall review).

  By GG… It’s a long way to Cornwall from where we live. It is, in fact, far enough to exhaust the battery capability of one iPad, one Samsung tablet, two DS consoles, an iPod, an old iPhone 4 that has seen better days but still has the Sims app on it, and half of my Mum’s smartphone. A break for eating Quavers (one of those giant grab bags you get from the service station, not just the ususal flimsy little pack that wouldn’t feed a flea) barely distracts for a moment, before the “are we nearly there yet?” chant begins again. And …

Read more

Expressions #14: Extreme thrills on the Flowrider!

The happiest girl in the world on the Flowrider!

 Thrilled. Just look at that happy face. She’s a thrillseeker, my daughter. She does have a safety gene that kicks in occasionally, but if an instructor tells her what to do and says it will probably be fine, she is first in line to give it a go. I love that about her. Actually Daddy works on the Marketing team at Thorpe Park, and had been considering installing a Flowrider continuous surfing wave at the park, so he booked us all in to check it out. Immediately we arrived, I knew that myself and the Bug would be sitting it out with a …

Read more

Whose responsibility is it to keep your child safe online?

Whose responsibility is it to keep your children safe online?

 The internet is very dangerous. Children should be banned from computers until they’re 18. I have no idea what I clicked, but the damned computer just took me away from what I was viewing, and onto some totally random site! Snapchat isn’t dangerous – the images are gone in an instant. Don’t worry about Facebook. As long as they’re not on Grinder you’re fine. All things that have been said to me recently. As a parent who knows a fair bit about social media, I thought we would have it sorted when the time comes for our children to begin their …

Read more

Wot so Funee? A promise…

Can I stay in the car while you’re in the shop? Pleeease? I really want to read my book… I’ve debated this recently. She’s nearly 10, I was only popping in for 3 items, and the car park wasn’t busy. I let the idea waft through my over-nervy parenting psyche, and said what I always say. No. That will only happen when I’m ready to spend 5 minutes knowing she is alone, without tearing my way through the checkout queue with the demeanour of a rabid dog. And in case you’re reading Actually Daddy, that time has not come, so …

Read more

Quick answers from the Portland Hospital

Post written in partnership with the Portland Hospital. Is there anything more frightening than your child falling suddenly, and dramatically ill? When all the relaxed parenting attitude you’ve carefully cultivated over the years evaporates and you’re reduced to pacing and biting your nails as you try to figure out what’s wrong with your baby. This happened to us a few weeks ago, as GG went to bed with a couple of raised, itchy bumps on her tummy, and woke 3 hours later almost completely covered in allergic hives. Piriton barely touched it, and I spent the next two nights sponging …

Read more

Chilling out on Fistral Beach

Surfing on Fistral Beach

I love this photo. I know so many things about it that quite simply aren’t visible to everyone else. That my daughter, who loved pink, and once selected outfits on the basis of how twirly they were, now prefers blue. That blue, especially this periwinkle shade, is so totally her  colour. It’s the colour of her eyes when she was a newborn – indigo eyes, black hair, hard to believe now. You can’t see it in this picture, but this colour brings back the flecks of that baby in her eyes and I remember… Or that this messy hair isn’t …

Read more

I’m sorry… #BritMumsLive

I have wanted to write this post for a long time. I have tumbled thoughts around in my head for months, not sure how to articulate them without risking a nasty backlash. I have privately raged about the ‘voices’ that other writers have appropriated on the subject, but not had the confidence to add my own. It’s only now that I know the right words. Feminism. God what a frightening word that is. On Friday I had the pleasure of speaking on the opening panel of BritMumsLive. Alongside journalism icons Eleanor Mills and Bryony Gordon, as well as Stella Creasy, …

Read more

Expressions #12: Let it go for #BritMumsLive

"Britmums brilliance in blogging awards"

My mother has done it again. Embarrassed me. I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s an almost daily occurrence, with her gaffs, and her love of oversharing. I have perfected my warning glare for use on the playground when faced with an imminent faux pas in front of my friends, and actually, much of the time it works. But she has out done herself today. Unbeknownst to me, she and Annie have been putting together a short video detailing their nerves over the forthcoming Brilliance in Blogging awards. Now I love Annie, but she has led my mother too far over the cliff …

Read more

Everything is awesome (in our new electric car)

We’d been waiting to climb inside for days. It had been sitting on our driveway, declared awesome from the moment we saw its shiny – almost golden – silver bodywork. Sooo awesome when we discovered the really nifty door handles that open like no other car we’ve seen. These things matter to children. We ought to have explained them to Daddy, who, after years of having a two-door car, couldn’t work out how to pull the seats forward in order to fit our carseats in the back… Today we took our first ride in our new Renault Zoe. It was …

Read more

Expressions #11: Too much too young?

Happy My children are lucky. Whilst we’re not well-off, we are able to afford occasional extravagances. My children are also blessed with an over-excited Dad, who spent one morning back in October refreshing his screen, determined to secure tickets for One Direction at Wembley stadium. The date rolled around last Sunday, and together with 79,996 girls and their Mums we made our way to Wembley stadium. I was never allowed to go to gigs and concerts when I was young. The Manchester Apollo was a hive of criminal activity and any young girl going within a 5 mile radius was …

Read more