Christmas Gift Guide for Older Teen Girls

 {Many of the items in this post have been gifted to me in exchange for inclusion in my gift guide. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, any affiliate links will be marked with #ad}

If you've got a teenage girl (or two in my case) to buy for then you'll know it is a bit like walking a tightrope. If you have hundreds of pounds available to spend and you can treat them to high-end tech, designer trainers or a holiday with their mates then you're made! If, like me, you don't have that kind of money and need to find some smaller items to go alongside their main gift then read on and check out my recommendations of some of the items my teenage girls will be enjoying this year.

Bijoux De Mimi Ear Cuffs and Huggies - from £14.50

Earrings, ear cuffs and huggies from Bijoux De Mimi are all the rage right now. My teenage girls have been seeing their products on Tik Tok and are loving them. The brand is such a fabulous success story to come out of the pandemic.

Miss M choose a pair of Camilla cross dangle hoops with classic white sparkle gemstones. This retail for £20.50 and are 14ct gold plated. The hoops average at 1.5cm across. They have a pivot fastening, quite different to other earrings we have chosen before, so they look like a complete hoop through the ear. 

Miss E went for a Christina turquoise huggie hoop and cuff, as she'd love to have her helix done but I've said not until she is a bit older. This is a really good compromise as she can wear the design she likes but there is no permanent change. At first, she found the cuff a bit large as she has dainty ears but it was easy to squeeze the cuff and make it a better fit. It is £17.50 and 14ct gold plated with turquoise gemstones. There is a selection of colours that this style is available in - something to suit everyone.

Do check out their Instagram page for loads of great inspiration on how to wear your huggies and cuffs. 

Tips for Remaining Confident as a Teenager with Psoriasis

I'm really proud of my 17-year-old son, not only because he is super smart and already has his career with GCHQ mapped out in his mind, but because he is living with a long-term chronic skin condition and he does it with such good humour.  You'd be forgiven for looking at that photo above and thinking he is just a pretty normal teenage lad, perhaps a bit geeky or a nerd, but there doesn't look as if there is anything out of the usual, does there?

However, look a bit deeper and you'd see red or scaly white patches covering most his body. Why? Because he has plaque psoriasis. 

Living with Psoriasis

Until JJ started to develop psoriasis three years ago it wasn't something I knew much about. I had no idea that it is estimated around 2 - 3% of the UK population are suffering with it (according to the UK Psoriasis Association), and it's only in the last year that I've seen just how bad it can get, both on JJ and by joining some online support groups. 

Psoriasis is a particularly difficult skin condition as there is no cure for it, and it presents differently on each person. I'm also learning that what works to helps relieve it at one point may stop working, and there is a massive range of treatments to choose from. It can be quite overwhelming if I am entirely honest.

JJ's psoriasis started off on his back, behind his ears and a patch above his left eye, then over time it has spread and worsened. Whenever I read about psoriasis there is always a description of it flaring up and being worse for a while and then subsiding again. Sadly, this hasn't been the case for JJ, the psoriasis on his body has been progressively getting worse over the last year or so. The plaques on his face do seem to go down with topical steroid creams but we are really trying to limit the use of those.

You can see the from the zoomed-in photos below the reality of how psoriasis can look when you are up close. JJ's daily reality is a scalp that itches and flakes excessively leaving him with 'dandruff' shoulders, red or scaly white patches on his face and his body, constant moisturising to help take away the tightness, itchiness or even pain of his skin, a floor that needs hoovering almost as soon as you've just done it and bedclothes that end up covered in emollient. 

He doesn't have the luxury of most teenage boys, that of choosing if he has a skincare regime, without looking after his skin he'd be uncomfortable all the time.

Christmas Gift Guide for Teen Girls - 10 Great Ideas

{This post contains samples given to me for review and also affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, any affiliate links will be marked with #ad}

Teen girls can be tricky to buy for; I have two of them and they really are chalk and cheese, so it is clear to me that no one solution suits all of them. The thing that they do have in common is that they are like magpies and are attracted to pretty, shiny things in beautiful wrapping. 

My girls still badger me to do them a stocking each and apparently it is the best part of the Christmas presents but I am finding it gets more and more expensive as they get older, so you have to become creative and make sure your stocking is a realistic size!

e.l.f Make-up sets - From £6

My girls are going to be thrilled to receive these elf cosmetics (#ad) sets. The prices are so reasonable with the pack of three lip balms and 3 eyeshadow duos both selling for just £6 each at Boots, and the Haute chocolate eyes shadow set is £12. Extra good is that they are all included in the Boots 3 for 2 gifting deal. The colours look really pigmented and totally on-trend. 

Personalised Notebook from Norma and Dorothy - £22
This is a really stunning notebook (#ad) that Miss E will love using as her artist's sketchpad as the pages are blank. It has a nice hardcover and is spiral-bound, so it is easy to use and firm to lean on. The personalisation is in real gold foil and makes the book unique and special. There are loads of gorgeous personalised gifts on Norma & Dorothy and they all come beautifully packaged.

Fancy Changing your Teens Life with NCS?

If I told you that your year 11 could develop leadership skills, build their confidence and make new friends this summer would you be interested?

Would you be even more interested if I said all this would cost you just £50 (maximum) and that your teen would be fully engaged in the most amazing outdoor team-building exercises, a residential for participants to learn ‘life skills’, a community-based social action project and an end of programme celebration event, all over a period of two to four weeks?

The National Citizen Service (NCS)
It sounds amazing, right? I'm sure you want to hear more about the National Citizen Service (NCS), the providers of all this fun. My JJ isn't even 15 yet but I am so pleased to have discovered NCS as I'll definitely be chatting to him about taking part once he has finished his GCSE's. He despairs of me sometimes as I'm forever on at him about being a good citizen; it is one of the most important values I aim to instil in JJ (and my girls to as they grow) as I feel it is far too easy in this day and age to be self-centered and to forget the value of community and working together for the greater good.

“Programmes like NCS are a good way to develop confidence and leadership skills to encourage a new generation of business and community leaders.” Sir Richard Branson

12 Ways to get your Teen off their Tech this Christmas Break

Teen with Mobile Image courtesy of Shutterstock

In 2017 I think most parents of teenagers are suffering from the same thing. Deaf ears. My son doesn't hear a word I say when he has his headphones on and is in the virtual world of game play with his mates online. Manage to get him offline and he'll wander downstairs grunt a hello and grab his phone from his pocket and be at it again. Sound familiar? Yes, I thought so but fear not as I have some great ideas for you to help get your teen off their devices for at least part of the Christmas holiday.

I wouldn't recommend a full tech-free fortnight though as I think we need to be realistic as parents and nowadays our teens very much live in the digital world. Some online time is fine, that's how many of them stay connected to their friends when there isn't any school but we know that a full-day online is too much and they will just end up withdrawing even more than usual. A good balance is what we're after.

You might find it a little hard to implement changes if you've never restricted your teens tech access before but perseverance and open conversations go a very long way. Make sure you share your concerns about excess screen time with your child so they know why you are doing this and be willing to limit your own time online too, so you are setting a good example.

Try to give your teen the choice of what tasks they want to do instead of dictating to them as they will buy in to it more if they feel they have choices. I always find that once my son gets in to other tasks and puts his tech down he actually ends up enjoying them and starts self-regulating himself on his tech anyway.

How often are you praising your teenager?

Fab backpack from Millets, as shown in my Hard to Buy for Mans Christmas gift guide but modelled by JJ

A couple of weeks ago on my parenting teens course we were exploring the topic of getting your teenager to cooperate and there were some interesting stories of teens being sullen and not wanting to participate in family life. I think those of us with a teenage child have experienced this desire by the teen to just be let alone in their own little world, whatever that may be - gaming, reading, shopping or relaxing with friends.

The course leaders encouraged us to think about praise and instead of keep pulling our teens up for the things they weren't doing or the negative behaviours they were showing, to actually turn things on their head and to start encouraging them more. I think many of us worked to a system of motivation by praise when our kids were toddlers or preschoolers. I recall early parenting courses telling me to encourage the behaviour I did want to see, instead of picking up on the poor behaviour that I wanted to discourage.

It makes sense really as teenagers are very much like their toddler counterparts. Their brains are developing at an amazing rate but things are changing for them and they don't retain all the information they have learnt over the first 13-17 years of their life. The new neuro pathways are all being laid down ready for their adult life and their brain is being pruned, to just retain the information they use regularly. This is why we go back to seeing outbursts or tantrums when they are stressed or can't process the situation.

10 Ways to Improve your Relationship with your Teen

It's hard to believe that the hulking big lad of 14 who won't come out of your son's bedroom without a suitable enticement is the same little boy who used to hold onto your legs and cry when you left him, right? Well, fear not, as your little soldier is still hiding in there and you just need to employ a few tactics to help him (or her, this isn't limited to boys only) be able to show that he still loves you.

1.  Stop underestimating your teen
Your child is more capable, more resilient and more full of ideas than you have ever considered. I think that most parents are guilty of underestimating their child. We see a problem and we want to solve it for them. We have a problem of our own and we try to hide it from them. They show a few emotions and we tiptoe around them. of course, we do these things with the very best of intentions but we actually end up robbing them of important opportunities to learn the skill of problem-solving, to be able to feel useful and to be fully seen, acknowledged and accepted.

12 Signs You're Doing OK as a Parent of a Teenager

My JJ is now 13 and as tall as many kids 2 or 3 years older than him. He is also very intelligent, quite wise and great fun to be around. Yes there are the odd 'Kevin' (of Kevin and Perry fame) moments but generally he is a sound lad and will do what is asked of him.

Who knows if we have all the troublesome years ahead of us, maybe we are just getting away with it easy now and the future will be a nightmare but I won't start worrying about that just yet.