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EASTER TEEN DIY PROJECTS TO DO FOR FUN

March 19, 2018

I just love crafting. It’s also a great activity to do with your teen. These Easter teen DIY projects will keep your teen occupied and hopefully have some fun. It’s also an excellent way to stay connected to your teenager. Let’s face it we all love to have some fun.

Paint Filled Eggs

Found on Play Learn Grow

Easter Egg Bath Bomb

Found on The Suburban Mom

Sparkly Dot Easter Eggs

Found on Domestifluff

Painted Easter Bunny Jars

Found on Make Life Lovely

These are just some fun crafts you and your teenager can do together. Other tips can be found on my other posts such as:

TURN OFF YOUR TV & SMART PHONES

We give so much attention to the TV and our smart phones these days. It’s important to protect family time together. So prioritise having dinner together as a family after all the world will still be there after 30 minutes!

REMEMBER TO LISTEN

Do you know that your teenager wants to talk to you? Remember to listen to what your teenager has to say. Don’t offer advice unless you are asked. I know it is difficult as a parent not to go in to advice mode but it does make for a better relationship if you hold off until asked and just listen.

MAKE IT FUN

It doesn’t have to be a serious chat if it isn’t needed. Take turns to select music or choose dessert. It really doesn’t matter as long as you chat and spend time together.

5 Mistakes I have made as a parent of a teenager

When is the time right to take a step back and let your teenager take the lead?

5 Things my teenager needs

How to stay connected to your tween

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TOP ONLINE STORES TO BUY CLOTHES FOR YOUR TEENAGE SON

March 16, 2018

The teenage years are stressful. They are stressful for teenagers but they are also stressful for parents. It can be tough allowing your teenager to find their style and even more so trying to find a place that is good value for money. But don’t worry I’ve put together a handy list of top places to shop.

ASOS

There are hundreds of different brands to choose from on the ASOS site. They also have an array of prices too. You can get the basics here from plain t-shirts to more branded fashion wear.

River Island

River Island offers original fashion, lovely designs and cutting edge styles for teenagers. A great choice from casual basics to going out fashion styles.

TopMan

Topman is a fashionable brand. Stocking a wealth of on-trend items from school wear through to going out wear. A great variety of choice online and instore.

New Look

New Look offers a great range at a very affordable price. The range is extensive from school wear, fashion wear, weekend wear and summer wear.

Next have a older boys range which caters for teenagers although the range isn’t as extensive as some of the other stores mentioned. They do have a great offers though on bulk buy t-shirts and long sleeve t-shirts.

H&M

H&M have a range for age 8-14 year olds but the size of these would probably suit up to 16 year olds. A great range of basics as well as hoodies, jeans and summer wear.

Zara

You may not have known that Zara offer a range for boys up to age 14. They offer a very stylish range from hoodies to their new 80’s range!

These are just some of the fashion stores that cater for teenage boys. Of course for the majority of teens love sports brands which can be purchased directly from the likes of Adidas, Vans or Converse.

I hope the above suggestions of where to shop for teenage boys helps you no matter what your budget. Are there any other shops that should be in this list? Just let me know below!

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TIPS FOR HOLIDAYS WITH TEENAGERS PLUS OUR HOLIDAY PICTURES

July 12, 2017

We are just back from a family holiday to France and Germany with our teenagers. I wanted to share with you some tips I have come back with! It wasn’t all plain sailing to be honest but I do believe we all had a good time.

Below are some suggestions if you are planning a holiday with teenagers.

EVERYONE NEEDS SPACE

Of course they are still young but we opted for some of the trip to have the teenagers in their own hotel room. It seemed to work well and not just for our boys but for us too! Having the space after dinner certainly helped us and them. As we all know teenage years are difficult, so having space for them to go to their own room is a great solution.

IT’S ALSO ABOUT SPENDING TIME TOGETHER

It doesn’t have to be an expensive holiday or you don’t have to fork out a small fortune to keep them entertained. The majority of our favourite things on holiday were spending time talking and going for walks in the forests and taking pictures. It also helped one of the hotels had a swimming pool for the boys to go and get a good work out!

GUIDE YOUR TEENAGER

Just like at home you will need to guide your teenager. We found that being allowed to have free reign over the buffet was not the best thing we could have done! This resulted in an upset tummy! It might be helpful to guide your teenager through the food options and while they may wish to be adventurous, hopefully they won’t feel too bad after eating something they don’t normally eat!

BE PREPARED

The key to our success on holiday was being prepared, packing together, talking about what everyone should bring and allowing the boys to take responsibility for their own items and luggage. My advice is to be prepared but also involve your teenager in the decisions – including times and places to visit!

HAVE A GOOD TIME

Your teenager will be free from all the usual pressures they normally have at home. They will also be without their favourite games console so be prepared for a little grumpiness! Having said that being on holiday with teenagers is a great time to reconnect and talk about things without the pressures of home life.

If all else fails you can console yourself that soon you will be able to holiday without your teenagers!

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REVIEW OF EXPLORIS AQUARIUM PORTAFERRY

May 8, 2017

The lovely people at Exploris kindly provided us with tickets to try out the new and improved Aquarium in Portaferry. It is Northern Ireland’s only aquarium which reopened after a £2m refurbishment, having been closed for almost two years. It was also threatened with complete closure back in 2013 but thankfully it remains open.

Exploris is located in County Down in the lovely little town of Portaferry. We decided to take our boys there as we haven’t been in many years – since the boys were very young. Our day started by getting the ferry from Strangford over to Portaferry. The boys were extremely excited but so was I – it was a big adventure as we normally don’t travel by ferry unless we’re going on summer holidays.

We visited Exploris during the Easter holidays so it was pretty busy but there was still plenty of room to get a good look at all the fish with staff available to answer any and all queries that we had! Our boys were thrilled to see the sharks and be able to get up really close and personal.

They were also delighted to see the new reptile section with snakes and alligators. This is a welcome addition as the boys would watch Steve Backshall in Deadly 60, so seeing these animals up close was a welcome surprise.

At the time we were visiting we also got to see a baby sea otter being fed. Of course this attracted quite a crowd but our boys are so tall they could see fine! Another favourite was getting to see the seals swimming especially when they came really close to the glass-sided tank.

No visit to Exploris is complete without taking time to have a hot chocolate in the restaurant. While it was busy, there was no waiting time as staff were very quick at serving.

I have no hesitation in recommending Exploris for kids of any age and with lots of other things to do nearby it is the ideal place to visit as part of your day out exploring Portaferry and the surrounding areas.

Parenting Teens

A Parenting Blog