A Room fit for a Teenager with The Fine Bedding Company

{This is a review post - we received a duvet free of charge for the purpose of an honest review}

 

My twin girls are now 14 and boy are they growing up quickly. Both of them are absorbed by Tik Tok, Instagram and everything glamorous, shiny and modern. If we had infinite money I can just imagine what their bedrooms would look like, they'd be beautiful; but this is real life and we don't have loads of disposable income. So it is time to makeover the girl's bedrooms in a creative way.

Miss E has been asking for a double bed for a long time now, she even started to save up her own money to buy it herself but I was loath to waste a good single bed and thus we have held off. Then JJ's bed broke and was beyond repair so he happily had Miss E's bed base and a new mattress as he can't fit a double in his room and this left an opening for us to get a new double bed for Miss E. 

She knew exactly what she wanted and we shopped around and found a good double divan with drawers and pocket sprung mattress for an excellent price, so we were very pleased. Of course, she then needed some new bedding to go with it and luckily The Fine Bedding Company had been in touch with me about reviewing one of their duvets.

11 Boxsets to Watch with Your Teenagers

Mollie Sivaram on Unsplash

As the children all go back to school and restrictions are starting to ease I'm sure that those of us with teenagers will start to see a lot less of them at home. That seems like a real shame, as we've developed a special closeness over the lockdown periods and as such I'm keen to still spend time with my teens just relaxing and at home.

With that in mind, I thought I'd compile a list of great boxsets that you can happily watch with your teens. I've put the official age guidance next to each one and of course, you as the parent can choose if the program is suitable for your child or not. I have to admit I'm not particularly strict on these age restrictions when we are watching something together as even the most challenging of topics can be a great in-road to a tricky conversation. 

Cobra Kai - Netflix - 15

It was one of my daughters who introduced me to this as I hadn't even heard of the series but as someone who adored the original Karate Kid film, it was always going to be a real hit with me. I love the way this appeals to teens and adults alike as it focuses on both age groups. Basically, you roll forward 34 years and Daniel (son) is a married successful businessman who uses his love of karate as a gimmick in his car sales business. Then we see his old arch-enemy Johnny who is a bit of a loser and ends up reopening a dojo. Of course, the two styles of karate come to war again. It's fabulous, have a watch!

Vicar of Dibley - NOW TV - 13 (suggested by Common Sense Media)

This is an old classic. I do love Dawn French and I think she portrays the boisterous and lovable Vicar Geraldine so well. As a Christian family, I think we enjoy seeing the church references but the show is definitely fun for every Brit who has lived in a small village or finds old-school British stereotyping quite comical. It's a super easy watch and you'll find yourself wanting to know how the characters lives pan out.

Lockdown Exercise Options Recommended by Teenage Girls

Miss E is enjoying her resistance bands from Neon Sheep

{This is a review post, we were provided with the items from Neon Sheep for review}

This lockdown seems to be so much harder than the original one last Spring and as such motivation can be lacking to get outside and do all the things we enjoy and most importantly keep us fit and are good for our bodies and minds. 

I'm lucky that my twin girls have been enjoying having the time to focus more on their fitness but it is just such a shame it keeps raining so much at the moment. I asked my girls to share what they (and their teenage friends) have been doing to exercise during this lockdown -

Chloe Ting Workouts on YouTube

Miss E is loving the Chloe Ting workouts, there is a massive variety and they all seem easy to do from home, all you need is an exercise mat. There are workouts to target all areas of your body and challenges that last a few weeks, so the variety is good and will keep you going for some time. Best of all, her content is all free.

Miss E didn't have an exercise mat so she was chuffed when Neon Sheep sent her a grey yoga mat for use when she is exercising. She was also really pleased that it is a good size, as at 5ft 7" tall she wondered if it would be long enough for her. This lightweight mat is currently on sale at £10.

The Body Coach Workouts

Joe Wicks, AKA The Body Coach is another person with a great YouTube channel. My girls were keen for me to emphasise that it is not the PE with Joe Wicks that teens like but his other workouts, especially the 7 days of sweat. Have a look on his chancel and again, you'll see a great variety of workouts. 

Roller skating

Miss E loves to rollerskate and this is great for your core strength and general balance. It's something you can do alone or with friends and you don't need much space outside. Paths, parks or cycle trails are all good places to go skating and if you manage to improve your skills during lockdown, it will be useful for when the roller discos open up again later in the year.

Yoga

Yoga is not only great for helping with your physical fitness, but it is also a wonderful way to help calm and centre yourself. You can feel the stress leave you and a new sense of mental clarity take over, which is just perfect for this unpredictable and stressful time we find ourselves in.

We have been using Yoga with Adriene on YouTube and again it is free content. She has a great 30-day program on there at the moment, called Breath. Miss E is loving the cute little pink yoga socks from Neon Sheep, they are £3 and have little rubber dots on the bottom to ensure you don't slip. 

She also received these workout leggings and matching bra top. The leggings are available in size XS to L and they retail at £19.99. Miss E is wearing a size medium. They have sweat-wicking and quick-drying properties and Miss E says they have been really comfortable to wear. I can confirm they have also washed well too. The sports bra is available in the same size range and sells for £16.99. I really like the mesh detailing on the back and it gives good support in the bust area. 

Cycling

Cycling is another great form of exercise during this lockdown as you can do it alone or with members of your family. Or even meeting with one other person for the purpose of exercise outside. Start small if you haven't cycled for a while as you may find you'll ache in odd places the day after and then slowly build up your stamina, distance and route. 

Going for a Run

The Couch to 5K app is really useful for people just starting out on their running journey, as it gives you a safe way to build up how far you'll run and with what intensity. Of course, your teen may already be quite fit and not need an app like that, but always remember to do some stretches and a short warm-up before any exercise.

Footwear is the most important thing when running so make sure it is comfortable, well-fitting and not too heavy on the foot. Then why not grab a running armband to put your phone in and head off to enjoy some music or a podcast as you take in the fresh air. 

Create your own Workout

There are loads of great article out there about creating your own HIIT workout and it is easy to do this as you don't need any equipment. You can even use a site like Interval Timer to plan your time intervals and have an auditory reminder of when it is time to change activities.

Miss M likes to plan circuits with her twin. So she'll get out any exercise equipment they have like a gym ball, weights, kettlebells or resistance bands and then they decide which exercises they'll do in which order and sort times out. This kind of workout is good as you can change it every time and it stays fresh and fun. It is also nice to do it with another member of your family, as you can then have a bit of friendly competition and compete against each other. 

You can see Miss E with a resistance band in the very top photo. This is one of a set we received from Neon Sheep. For £12.00 you receive five different length/ resistance bands, a door anchor, 2 padded foam hand grips and 2 ankle straps, all supplied in an easy to carry nylon bag.

There really are so many ways to keep fit during lockdown, it doesn't have to be boring and even if the rain never lets up you can exercise in your house or even the garage if you want a bit of fresh air but to stay dry. 

Do share with us any different ways you've been keeping fit during lockdown.

Why not pin this post for later?

Review: Ticket to Ride - Europe Board Game - Great for Teens

{As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, any affiliate links will be marked with #ad}

I first played the original Ticket to Ride (#ad) board game about five years ago with some friends and I've been hooked ever since. I'm not quite sure why it took me until the first lockdown last year to actually buy it, but I am so glad I did as myself and the children have played it so many times. I am a bit dismayed that they can all beat me quite so easily but it is still a lovely way to spend time together.

There isn't that much that can bring all the family together for an hour or so, but this is one of them. Ticket to Ride Europe really is a hit with the teens, I suppose it is a game that is a great blend of strategy, fun and luck that only takes an hour or so.

Useful information

Recommended age: 8+ years

Number of payers:  2 - 5

Length of play: 30 - 80 minutes

Time to learn the rules: 10 - 15 minutes and the booklet is super easy to navigate

Time to set up the board: 5 minutes

Cost: You can normally pick the game up for around £30, although I notice it is sold out in many places as I publish this. The RRP is £39.99.

Aim of the Game: 

To score the highest points by collecting and paying the coloured train cards, so you can place your train pieces on the board and complete the routes on your route cards. 

I think having four players is my favourite for this game, as it offers a better level of challenge on which routes we all try to claim and makes the gameplay about an hour long. Basically, the gameplay on the Europe edition is the same as the original North America version but there are also a few added features like completing a tunnel, where you have to be lucky or you'll end up playing more cards than the train pieces you'll lay; taking a ferry, which requires you to have a certain amount of locomotive cards as well as the necessary coloured train cards; or using a station to give you access to a route that is already blocked by another players trains. 

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.

20 Educational (and Great) Films for Teens to Watch during Lockdown

Lockdown is lasting us a fair while and I think it is safe to say that life will not go back to normal for many months yet, so I think we'll still be having our kids home with us for long periods of time to come. If your tweens and teens are anything like mine they are happily watching a lot of TV, with box sets being high up on their hit list.

I don't mind the kids watching TV at all, but it is nice to sometimes direct their attention towards something that is educational as well as being really enjoyable to watch. Here I have collated together a list of films that I have loved over the years and all of them have great lessons to teach - whether they are about life lessons, morals or maybe just giving an insight to our history.

These all offer guilt-free screen time and (I feel) could count towards their education -

Rating PG

1.   Dead Poets Society (1989)
Run Time:  140 Minutes
Themes:  Live life to the full, challenge the norm

When an inspirational and unorthodox teacher joins the staff of the elite all-male prep school, Welton Academy the students are inspired to be different and to break away from the norm. It's amazing to see the young men realise that can break from tradition and make their own choices. Rebellion isn't always a bad thing, especially not when it allows you to seize the day!


2.   Soul Surfer (2011)
Run Time: 106 Minutes
Themes:  Perseverance, overcoming adversity, hard work

The true story of Bethany Hamilton, who was a champion teenage surfer, when a shark attack took her arm. Her faith and the support of her friends and family help her to surf again and go on to be a professional surfer.

Keeping your Teenager busy during Lockdown - Over 50 Ideas

 (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, any affiliate links will be marked with #ad}

It looks like lockdown will go on for another few weeks yet and who knows when school will recommence. I've been gentle with my 16-year-old JJ for the last few weeks, he has had some leeway to play games online, chat to his mates and just sleep (Isn't that what teens do best?) but now I need to get tough and get him doing some different things.

He'd have me believe that because he doesn't have to take his GCSEs I should allow him to wallow in his bedroom for the next five months, but that can't be good for him, so I revisited the posts I'd already written about getting your teen off their screen/ tech (you can check them out here and here) and enlisted my girls to think about all the different tasks we could get JJ involved in.

These are things all teens (or maybe even tweens and twenties too) could do and will hopefully either enjoy, learn something new or get a sense of satisfaction from. I suspect many of them will get an eye roll and the declaration of 'lame' but still, I'm on a mission to get JJ doing some different things.

I'll start with the activities I have already managed to get him to do during this lockdown -

1. Go for a walk and chat to whoever you're with. Try a new route and discover your neighbourhood
2. Play outdoor games with the family - frisbee (#ad), football, handball
3. Teach your siblings to whittle wood and make skewers for toasting marshmallows, or create a carved walking stick
4. Light a firepit or small campfire and toast marshmallow, or make easy dough to cook on a stick
5. Play board and card games. Favourites recently have been Catan, Azul and Ticket to Ride
6. Watch a film with the family
7. Watch a theatre show with the family (The show must go on is showing an Andrew Lloyd Webber one each weekend)
8. Cook us all dinner, or lunch, or yummy waffles (we have this fabulous Waffle maker #ad)
9. Bake some treats - we've had courgette and cheese muffins, Easter chocolate cake and fruit and nut flapjack so far
10. Do housework - Empty and refill the dishwasher, hand-wash the pots, change his bed, hoover and dust his room. Of course, none of these are particularly exciting but I find he'll do them fine if we work alongside each other and chat as we go
11. Do the recycling
12. Hoover, wash and polish the car. Ours looks great now and we have nowhere to go! lol
13. Do an M.O.T on the family computers to check they are running optimally and free up space
14. Sign up for the daily newsletter from TEDed, so he has good content dropping into his inbox that will inform and engage him each day
15. Create a family music playlist. We enjoy him playing random songs and the rest of us have to be quickest to guess the song title and the artist. This was something we used to do in the car, now it is home-based. 

Be Happy, Be You - A Great Resource for your Teens Happiness #BeHappyBeYou

{This post contains an affilate link - as an Amazon Associate I earn from 

qualifying purchases, any affiliiate links will be marked with #ad}

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Be Happy, Be You before Christmas and I've enjoyed reading it, sharing it with my twin girls and trying out some of the suggested tasks. Instantly when one of my 12 year old's picked the book up, she commented on how nice the cover was. Apparently it is a good font, and then upon flicking through the book, she liked the layout as it wasn't just words. So well done Becky and Penny, you've done good for pick-up appeal, but then of course you would, you're both parents of teens.

Be Happy, be You is the newest book from Penny Alexander and Becky Goddard-Hill, who also penned the inspirational Create Your Own Happy, which was designed with younger children in mind. This latest book is a positive and insightful guide for teenagers, it gives them the tools they need to build their confidence, eliminate negative feelings and boost their happiness in all areas of their life. Being a teen can bring some real challenges with it, and even more so nowadays with every part of life being on display via social media.

Even before receiving the book, I felt confident it would be a great resource as I've known both Penny and Becky for a number of years now, and between them they have a wealth of experience. Penny as a teacher and writer, and Becky as a social worker and life coach; as well as both being mothers of course.

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.

Should you study A Level Law, if you want to take a Law Degree?

Photo by Giammarco Boscaro on Unsplash

{Collaborative Post}

I can hardly believe I have a 16-year-old son; time really does pass very quickly. We’ve just done the rounds of the local colleges for him to choose where he wants to go on to next and I realise we are very lucky as he made a decision quickly and feels sure of the courses he wants to do.

JJ has always been academic and the STEM subjects come easily to him, so it was no surprise when he put his application in for Maths, Further Maths, Computer Science and Law. We’re not sure if he’ll be taking three or four A levels as yet, this will be decided at his college interview in December.

I was keen for him to do four. I think it was just so I could be a proud mum, with a really bright son. However, when we did some investigating, it turns out that all the uni’s only look for results in three subjects, and they’d far rather the applicant had three seriously good results than four OK ones. We then noticed that where Further Maths is taken the college normally advocate a fourth subject, so we’ll just see what the college says and take their advice, they have done this many more times than us.

10 Ways to get your Teen Away from their Screen this Summer

We're fully into the summer holiday now and I'm sure you might have heard the dreaded words 'I'm bored' so far. No matter what, every kid seems to get in this rut and I've always believed that my kids need to break through the boredom barrier. It's good for them to be bored for a little while, as that is when they engage their creative mind and start to think laterally about what they used to or could do.

It's so easy for teens (especially boys) to get stuck in a rut and end up endlessly playing computer games, surfing the web or getting immersed into social media but we all know that too much of it isn't good for us, on so many levels - our physical health, our mental health and our ability to converse and communicate with others.

Here are a few ideas that aren't going to break the bank, that may just help you get your teen away from their screen. Of course, you have to be realistic, they probably aren't going to thank you initially, as they think they want to spend 24/7 glued to their phone or laptop.

1.  Volunteering / Work Experience
This one will depend on the age of your teen and realistically it probably should have been sorted out before now, but whats friends or family do you have who they could accompany to work for the day? My son has done voluntary work gardening, learning maintenance tasks, working in a cafe and marshaling traffic. Each has been great experience for him and provided something different to his skill set.

Don't just assume your teen is too young or that they shouldn't be working yet (childhood is for fun) these kind of educational days can excite, inspire and develop your teen.

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

You Can Be Who You Want to Be! Stay #PrettyCurious

It was open afternoon at my girls school last week and they were keen to show me all their hard work

I think it is a very sad world to live in where any child has their dreams and horizons clipped and is expected to develop in a certain way and do certain things when they grow older. When my Mum was young (she is now in her late 60's) it was very much expected that once she married and had children she would give up her work and stay home to care for her family.

Perhaps because of this my Mum was determined that I should undertake any career I chose and as such I was the first in my family to go to University, where I studied Hotel Management. My parents have always been very proud of my career and supported my choice to keep working once I had my own children. I did change fields at that time and moved to work in a large entrepreneurial University near my home as a HR Manager. During my ten years at the University of Hertfordshire (UH) I undertook my Masters and worked in HR and training, supporting our staff to deliverer the best education to our students.

Working at UH was very inspiring and an eye-opening experience as the disciplines taught were vast and it was the first time I was seeing women in high level positions in the fields of engineering, medicine, technology and science. I can clearly recall the first time I went along to see Prof. Dr. Kerstin Dautenhahn (professor of Artificial Intelligence) KASPAR showcase and felt so proud that a women was leading in a field that is traditionally dominated by men.

Thank goodness the UK seems to be moving in the right direction and thanks to forward-thinking schools, colleges, universities and employers we are seeing some positive trends for girls going into STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) careers. However it is still not enough, only 1 in 4 people working in core STEM roles are women and this means we are underrepresented (source).

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.

The Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide for Teenage Boys - 12 Great Ideas

Personally I always find girls so much easier to buy for than boys and if you were to ask my 14 year old son what he'd like for Christmas, do you know the answer you'd get? Money. That's all. Everything he wants costs hundreds and hundreds so what he wants is money to put towards his next big purchase and for him right now, that's a gaming PC. He already has a laptop, iPad and phone but apparently none of those are quite up to the job and he needs more ram and a better CPU!

Whilst he will get some money from us for Christmas, I do feel he also needs a few different things to encourage him off of his tech! I like him to have at least a couple of presents to open and then he won't feel totally left out.

So here are 12 ideas of what to buy a teenage boy this Christmas -

Young driver course
I'm keen on giving anything that gets my son away from his tech, so this young driver course is just perfect. There is the option of a 30 minute or 60 minute taster lesson and you can attend at one of 60 centres across the UK. If you live close by and your child enjoys it they can then book more lessons and build on their skills ready for when they are 17 and can get their provisional license and do it for real. It is £34.95 for 30 minutes or £64.95 for a full hour but I've seen cut price deals on Groupon a few times. So have a google and see what you can find.

Derwent Pencil Wrap Set
My son is keen to colour, he finds it therapeutic and it really satisfies his need for things to look perfect. He is happy to sit there and intricately colour an adult colouring book with the most minute details. However he has been moaning recently that he doesn't have any nice colouring pencils. Well I think he'll be super happy to see this gorgeous 24 pencil wrap from the world leading British artists' brand Derwent.

The canvas and leather wrap is very stylish and a great colour for a young guy to feel happy to carry with him. The wrap is available with 24 pencils from any one of the four Derwent pencil ranges - Procolour, Watercolour, Inktense or Coloursoft and there are an additional 6 slots for your drawing pencils or fineliners. This quality wrap retails for £44.99.

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.

6 Top Tips for a Great #TeenTalk #Ad

Mother and Daughter image from Shutterstock

I know some people cringe at the thought of the conversations they need to have with their children as they grow up but I've actually found that having a very honest and open relationship with my children is the making of it. Unlike the 68% of parents (1) who find it hard to broach the subject of puberty I just dove right in and had a really successful chat with my near 10 year old twin girls a few months back.

I don't recall many conversations with my own Mum about growing up; how my body would change, getting periods, having the ability to do anything I put my mind to, choosing to say no, about becoming sexually active, about being responsible with money and all those sorts of things. This seems strange when I think back as I have a really great relationship with my Mum but thinking about it now I don't think she had anyone to do it with her and she wasn't the sort to read parenting manuals etc.

On the other hand, I love to read and to find out information and thankfully I like to talk as well, so I thought it would be useful to share six of my top tips for having those 'can-be' awkward #teentalks.

1.  Talk to your child shoulder to shoulder rather than face to face
I learnt this trick with JJ when he was younger, he would always open up when we were driving in the car. So I used this to my advantage and had some of the more tricky conversations whilst we were driving along.

The first one I can recall was picking him up from Scouts about three years ago (so he'd have been around 11) and there was a bumper sticker on a car that said something about pornography and he was laughing at it. I then asked him if he knew what it was and he mumbled 'not really', so I told him, in language that was appropriate to his age and he was really shocked but this then led on to a conversation about how his body will change and his mind and that one day he will start to find girls attractive. It was all going well and about 15 minutes in he said 'Mum, can we talk about something else now?' and that leads me into my second point

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.

International Thrill Seekers head to Thorpe Park

Earlier this week I lost my husband for the day.... I lost him to taxiing duty for twelve 18 to 24 year olds on a day out to Thorpe Park and you know what? I think it was the best thing, he came back in the cheeriest of moods despite the M25 traffic.

Regular readers will know that I live in the grounds of a very large Christian conference centre and at any one time we have around fifty young adults from all different countries living and working here. It can be quite isolated for them without a car and the bus does not even stop for us so the chance of a trip to somewhere like Thorpe Park was eagerly grabbed. Twelve went this week and another sixteen thrill seekers are going next week.

I know that in recent years Thorpe Park has been remodelled into the ultimate theme park for those who like the big scary rides - it is a thrill seekers paradise. The kids and I like a more serene day at somewhere like Chessington or Legoland but I know that my dh sometimes misses the chance to 'feel the fear and do it anyway!' so it was perfect for him to have some more adventurous companions.