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.

Teaching Your Kids In Different Ways During Coronavirus

The pandemic is a hard time for everyone, but especially for parents who have kids that are of school age. It can be difficult to keep up with all the requirements for the things you should be teaching them, especially when your kids are getting bored because they’re at home learning. Your child learns quite quickly that school is the environment for learning, and home maybe for a little bit of homework. But otherwise it’s for relaxation! That’s why you’ve got to come up with some creative ideas about how to teach kids right now, and that’s what we’re going …

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Your Pet Doesn’t Care. And that’s what makes them so adorable.

As people, we go through our lives, dancing from one worry to another. We fear losing our jobs or that our partner will leave us. And we worry that we’re never going to get what we want out of life.  Pexels – CC0 License As the years go by, we get this gnawing sense that we’ve somehow failed. With youthful exuberance in the rear-view mirror, there’s a grinding existential dread that grows within us. We wonder what it’s all about! Dogs, though, don’t seem to mind. They’re not concerned about producing a report by the next deadline or raising trauma-free …

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A Level Results 2020 – Next Steps

Students celebrate getting A Level predicted grades

From the moment 2020 exams were cancelled due to Covid 19 I’ve worried about year 11 and year 13 kids. I’m SO relieved that neither of my children have been affected, but the rug has been pulled out from under these teenagers’ feet so many times that I’m surprised any of them still have the energy to get up, never mind to move forward with their lives. But they must, and every new development in the A Level saga brings new processes to navigate, and new decisions to make. I’ve been chatting with Jemma from The Education Hotel, who is …

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How to Make Glasses Cool

(Image Credit)   Getting children to wear glasses can often be a challenging game. Not only will they find it uncomfortable when they first get started, but it can also be hard to escape the fact that most of their friends won’t wear them. They may not know it, but even young children are drawn in by fashions and trends, and this means that they won’t want to wear something if they don’t think that it’s cool. Thankfully, this post has everything you need to get started on making glasses seem cool to your child, giving you an excellent opportunity …

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Teens and Pets: The Perfect Match

Pixabay – CCO Licence Welcoming a new pet into the family is always an exciting time. From puppies and ponies to reptiles and rats, animals inevitably make life fun and fulfilling. There are numerous benefits associated with pet ownership, regardless of your age. For teens, however, owning a pet can be particularly beneficial. If you’re unsure whether or not to give in to your teen’s requests for a pet of their own, take a look at the benefits it could offer:   Constant Companionship Even in today’s digital world, being a teenager can be lonely at times. When you have …

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10 Tips to Teach Your Kids Responsibility

Image credit All parents want to raise responsible children. They want to be able to trust their kids when they go out for the day, and they want to make sure they have all the tools they need to succeed in life. However, responsibility is not something that comes naturally, at least not to everybody. Instead, responsibility is something that kids need to learn. If you’re a new parent or at least one with young kids, you might not be sure where to begin. But don’t worry, there are plenty of ways to teach your kids the responsibility they need. …

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Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle with a Tight Schedule

Picture Credit We’re all aware that we need to eat well and that we need to exercise thoroughly and regularly in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This is a given and something that has been drilled into us from childhood. But when you have kids of your own, you can quickly begin to find that maintaining and managing a healthy lifestyle alongside an often hectic and cramped schedule is a lot more difficult than it sounds. So many of us slip into bad habits – skipping workouts, opting for junk food or convenience food to cut down on cooking …

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Should you get private tutoring for your child when schools go back?

Working with a private tutor can help after lockdown

How are you feeling about your kids’ schoolwork right now? I don’t mind admitting that – despite friends telling me not to worry, that Covid 19 lockdown is unprecedented, that just surviving and staying happy is the most important thing – I have spent a little bit of time wondering how my children will fare when they go back to school. Have they done enough schoolwork to keep on track for their GCSE’s?   I have teenagers, so you can imagine how well it would go down if I offered to sit next to them at their desks and have …

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Six Lessons Learned in Lockdown

Parenting teenagers - there are precious few opportunities to relax

Image Pexels CC0 License If someone had told you a year ago that people would be wandering around Tesco in face masks, and that your hairdresser would need to don full PPE just to touch up your roots, you undoubtedly, and quite rightly, would have thought that they had lost the plot. In fact, you would probably have smiled politely and backed away slowly so as not to provoke this clearly insane stranger. But, here we are, living through a time that resembles a disaster movie, but with no sign of the credits rolling anytime soon.  There is nothing like …

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Reminding Yourself Of What Matters In Life

  Whenever we watch the news or take a step outside our front door, it’s easy to be reminded of the unpredictability and chaos of how things can go. However, despite the news, or despite the difficulties that you may face, it’s important to note that you can always take refuge in the things that matter. Does this mean we need to become wilfully ignorant in order to be happy?  Of course, it’s impossible to completely avoid real life, yet many of us can find some kind of relief and comfort in remembering what actually matters in life to us …

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Glampervan Adventures: 7 Ways To Add Luxury To Your Camper

It’s no secret that each year millions of people enjoy traversing the length and breadth of the British Isles and beyond in a campervan. That’s because it’s a fun and affordable way to explore new places with family and friends! Plus, it’s way better than camping with a tent! As the UK’s coronavirus lockdown restrictions begin to ease, more folks are thinking about taking a break and getting out and about in their campervans. You’re likely here reading this article because it’s something you’re planning to do as well. Image Credit The only trouble is some people’s campers are devoid …

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Why kindness matters if you want more White people to speak up about racism

Be kind is still an important message as we take on anti-racist work

  Kindness matters, whatever your argument Why we must reclaim the Be Kind message “Be kind.” It doesn’t seem to be a popular message at the moment. There’s a devastating social justice crisis happening, and anti-racism work is absolutely the most important thing any of us could be doing right now. But there’s a large section of the White population who aren’t doing the work, and it’s not because they don’t believe in it. It’s because they’re scared. Why? Because all too frequently, as people try to do right, and inevitably get it wrong, they’re faced with recrimination and shaming …

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Creating a Pinterest Worthy Home When You Have Kids

Do you love looking through Pinterest and Instagram at beautiful interiors, and find yourself wondering how it’s possible to make your own home look as good? The images we see of interiors on social media are taken by real people in their actual homes, and while they’re often staged they’re much more real than what we tend to see in home magazines, and so although they look incredible it shows that it can be done. Whether you want to impress guests or just to enjoy your home as much as possible, here are some ideas for going about it.   …

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8 TV shows that are helping teenagers to understand racial injustice

Black Lives Matter posters

  When you’re living with a teenager there’s a lot of debate. That’s a good thing. Young people in 2020 are massively well-informed, and for the most part pretty thoughtful about what’s going on in the world. When you talk current events with them, you will get hugely impassioned conversations – sometimes rants – from your young person, but if you persist, and hold your frustrations sometimes, it’s so worth it. Teenagers can be idealistic, but these conversations are a wonderful opportunity for them to explore what they really think, understand their parents as adults rather than Mum and Dad, …

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Is Chaos Affecting Your Mental Health? Top Tips For Organizing Your Family

It is a familiar feeling. That slightly claustrophobic and panicky feeling when every surface in your home is covered in stuff, you can’t find anything that you need, and you are late for the school pick up run again. Every time you tell yourself it is time to get organised because the way you are living now makes you feel anxious and overwhelmed pretty much all of the time. If this is the case, and clutter, chaos and general disorganisation are having an impact on your mental health, what can you do about it?   Think about what is stopping …

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Life: Rediscover Your Own Self-Care Schedule

Hey, how are you doing? Really? Now is as important a time as any to make sure that you are properly looking after yourself. Of course, it’s always important to do that – but given that there is currently a global pandemic going around, anything you can do to remain healthy is likely to be a good idea. If you have noticed that you have probably stopped properly taking care of yourself recently, then you might want to think about starting this up again as soon as possible. There are many things you might want to do, and it all …

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