Lots of us have teenagers and for those that don’t, yet, you will! Before this, you’ll think that the terrible twos, the constant questions or the sleepless nights are soooo difficult, however nothing quite prepares you for the teenage years! 

With many teenagers becoming increasingly stressed, it's no surprise we often feel the pressure too. Sound familiar? Here's some ideas on how you can help your teenager cope:

Try to stay calm: When parents are struggling with work/home/family issues, we can raise our child's stress levels, because emotions are contagious and create atmospheres. If you’re feeling stressed, make sure you talk to your teenagers about it, if you can, so they understand why. This can also kick start their ability to link emotions to behaviour, helping them to empathise with others later on.

Be proactive: If you are feeling anxious and worried about their future, your children naturally pick up on your non-verbal communication signals (sighs, eye rolls, hand wringing). Worry is rooted in fear, resulting in the brain focusing on what might happen if things go wrong. Teenagers can easily misunderstand communication signals. Try to replace lectures with short conversations about Their Future, with a "Can we talk through...?" kind of approach. This can help encourage future collaboration and team playing.

Keep talking: Keeping lines of communication open is vital. I know that teenagers don’t always want to talk but knowing they can and that it won’t turn into a lecture makes all the difference. Children are encouraged to learn by having opinions/views, argue/debate, weigh up & decide. Growing up and becoming independent means being able to know where you stand on key issues, which in turn will help you to make decisions for yourself. My 3 couldn’t be more different! One loves Art, the other is super sporty, the youngest plays cello, guitar and piano and they all can’t believe that the others don’t like their particular passion and sexuality, well that’s a whole blog in itself!

Gain a focus: Once your child has started to express their opinions, we can help teenagers to create a focus on their own interests by encouraging them to talk and share their views. The area of their brain, which will boost motivation and energy levels, is kick started through curiosity.

Encourage good routines: this one is tricky!! Daytime TV and screen time can zap motivation & enthusiasm, because it interferes with dopamine in the brain. Encourage your teenager to limit screen time. Easier said than done, I know!! 

Tempting as it is to micro manage/push/advise when your child is facing life decisions, aim to get them in the driving seat, taking responsibility and thinking things through. I struggled to learn this one, but got there in the end. (I think!) My stand out example ( although there are many 😳) is when I tried to persuade my eldest to go to Oxbridge like some of their friends! They resisted but we spent many hours “discussing” the reasons that I thought they should!! I “lost” and they received an unconditional offer to attend their 1st choice university, to study, illustration for graphic novels! After a couple of weeks they called and said “I’ve met the people that I’ve been waiting to meet all my life!” My next 2 children benefitted greatly, from my life lesson here! 

Expect mistakes and failures: Children will get things wrong: we all do. By letting them try new things it will help boost their confidence. My motto has always been if you don’t try you don’t know! Whether that’s food, activities etc, etc. We can help them learn and grow by encouraging them to try and try again. 

Focus on their strengths: identify your child's skills (kind/good with people), interests (enjoys sport/countryside) hobbies (artistic/practical/music.) This boosts confidence, self-esteem and self-worth. Allow time and encourage them to join in anything (preferably not screen based) which they enjoy. 

This all sounds doable doesn’t it?! 

We know that hormones, peer pressure, I know it all and you know nothing attitudes, all impact our relationships through these, sometimes troublesome years, but just stick in there. Keep talking, when they let you, keep hugging, when they let you. Keep the faith and your often, fractious teenagers will emerge as kind and loving young adults. In the end! 💕

Now that school’s out, let’s think about what to do with the kids! 

It’s worth remembering that it’s not only the “big” days out that make memories, it’s the time spent together that makes it special.

I love the story of the grown up who was talking to her elderly Mum and said that it was as the “picnic TV dinner nights” that she loved the most. Her mum said, "but they were the night she that I was feeling tired and low and didn’t know what to cook, so I just cut up lots of little things that I could find, like bits of cheese, some fruit, frankfurter, crackers, whatever I could find. Those were the nights I was failing."

Her daughter said, "no Mum those were my favourite nights!" 

So those days when you have a picnic in the garden and a hose pipe to play with are as precious as the “big” days out! 

Here are just 10 ideas for things to do- some free, some less than £10 but all ideas to keep your little ones happy and happy entertained this summer. ☀️ HAPPY HOLIDAYS ☀️

1) Spend the day at the amazing Barafundle Beach! Golden sands, turquoise water, it’s beautiful and all for free! 

2) Visit St Fagans near Cardiff. See living history with houses and artifacts brought to life in this amazing open air museum. It’s a great day out, with FREE ENTRY! 

3) Go Dolphin Spotting in New Quay, Ceredigion, West Wales. Go out on one of the boats for a day to remember. Prices from £5 per child. £10 for adults.

4) Visit the spectacular Tintern Abbey and find out more about the Cistercian Monks that lived there.  Only £6.90 for a Family ticket. Lots of lovely space to have a picnic and for the kids to run off some energy.

5) Canoe in the River Wye or simply take a picnic and splash around near the banks, in the shallow waters near Monmouth or Ross-on-Wye.

 6) Visit Dan-yr-Ogof Caves, the national show caves near Swansea. These are part of a large cave network stretching from Brecon. Under 2s are free. £12 children up to 16. Adults £15.

7) The Sculpture Trial in the Forest of Dean. Great fun for all ages to go exploring. Don’t forget to take a picnic. Another fun filled FREE day out.  Just pay for parking.

8) Visit Clearwell Caves and Ancient Iron Works. Especially on a rainy day! Family tickets from £24.00 

9) Perrygrove Railway and Treetops Adventure is a great day out for all ages. Find it in the beautiful Forest of Dean. £25.75 for an all day family ticket. 

10) Visit the lovely market town of Monmouth. Take in Monmouth Museum, The Shire Hall and make time to watch a film in the gorgeous Savoy Theatre. Free Entry to the museum and the Shire Hall. Ticket prices for the Savoy- Under 3s Free, Children £5, Adults £6. This fabulous grade 2 building is well worth a visit.

So whatever you do this summer have a wonderful time and cherish every bit-even if that’s a challenge at times! 😘

There are lots of lists of baby names as you’ll all know. They all differ a little but will have the same names at the core! 

Let’s be honest, choosing a name for your baby is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make!

One of the big trends for 2018 is gender neutral or unisex names. These are very popular amongst modern parents and celebrity mums and dads.

Celebrities like Kim Kardashian, with North, Saint and Chicago, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively with a daughter called James and Ashton Kutcher, whose daughter is called Wyatt. Other popular ones are :-

Alex- Alby- Addison-Archer-Blair-Brady-Casey-Cody-Dakota,-Devon-Dylan-Eden-Florian-Harper-Kerry-Lane-Logan-Lumi-Morgan, Marley-Piper-Reese-River-Scout-Taylor-Xen. 

So lots to choose from and plenty more if you look!

The more traditional boys and girls lists have been fairly predictable in recent years with ARIA being the only addition to the girls top 10! 

The top 20 are:- Olivia- Sophia-Amelie-Lily-Luna-Ava-Isla-Aria-Mia-Isabella-Nora-Ella-Charlotte-Grace-Evie-Maya-Violet-Harper-Sadie-Stella 

For the boys the most popular is Muhammad with Oliver and Noah close behind. 

Top 20 for boys are:- Muhammad, Oliver- Noah-George- Harry- Leo- Charlie-Jack-Corin-Freddie-Jasper-Oscar-Arthur-Henry-Jacob-Archie-Joshua-Theo-Ethan-Lucas-Logan.

As you would imagine Royal names are eternally popular like Victoria and Elizabeth with Meghan starting to grow in popularity. Fictional character names are showing an increase too with Atticus- Darcy-Eloise-Esme-Kairi-Holden-Katniss and Zuzu.

The names may change a little over the next 6 months of 2018, but we all know that it’s fun trying to find, just the right one for our little bundle of loveliness! 💕💕

Now there’s a question! 

It makes me.....happy, sad, excited, worried, proud and even panic stricken sometimes and I think that I’m fairly stable, emotionally, well mostly!!😳

Parenting doesn’t come with a manual or a how to guide, it just happens and we all muddle through the best we can! 

What I have learned over my 26 years of being a parent is that, if it did come with a book, it wouldn’t be particularly useful, as kids just aren’t all the same! What one loves another hates, what suits one doesn’t suit another and that to get the best out of one means treating them in a completely different ways to their sibling(S)! 

I’ve discovered this after having 3 completely unique kids! 

This always makes days out and holidays particularly complicated because, 1 wants to be active 24/7, another wants to read, listen to music and watch the world go by, and the other wants to be quietly creative and contemplate the meaning of life! None of them can understand how the others don’t want to do the  same thing! 

I have tried everything! “Let’s take it in turns to choose something we want to do and everyone has join in, with no moaning!” That didn’t really work, because someone usually moaned and spoilt it for the rest. “Ok, I’ll do something with each of you, separately” This never went down too well either. I would feel guilty about not being with the others or they’d be bored and a little bit jealous! I spent years trying to please everyone and not really succeeding!

What I eventually learnt was that, if you give them space, let them figure things out together and back off a little, tensions lessened and with the parent not being at the centre of it all meant that the dynamic changed. There were no “buttons to press”, no vying for attention. I don’t mean disappear and leave them to it, just give them space. 

The best advice I was given was “ don’t sweat the small stuff!”. There’ll always be something “big” to sort out so just enjoy the bits in between and if you say “no”, mean it! I hardly ever said/say “no” unless they could hurt themselves or others, if I didn’t! I think that the “no you can’t have a biscuit/ do that/ go there” parents, who the next minute let their kids do whatever it was they’d said “no” to, just make life difficult for themselves and it’s all too tiring to do that! 😴

So enjoy the happy, excited moments, whatever they are for you. Learn from the sad, worried ones, it won’t last and know that the worst thing doesn’t usually happen when the panic hits!! My sister always says “remember it’s only a phase,” whatever it is and annoyingly she’s usually right! 😘

Just keep up the amazing work all you lovely parents, step parents, grandparents, foster parents and every other kind of looker afterer there could possible be! You’ve got this! 💕💕

We are absolutely thrilled to be able to offer you the fabulous kids Levi’s range!! 

We have classic t-shirts and sweatshirts, super soft jeans and shorts and comfy canvas trainers and high tops. 

Take a peep on line or pop into our Monmouth store and fill your kids wardrobes with clothes they’ll love! 

Contact us if you can’t find what you’d like and we’ll try to help! 

In the meantime, enjoy the fabulous weather.

Lots of love 💕

Matti and Caroline  

• We were shortlisted for the National Small Business Awards!
• We excitedly, attended the awards ceremony in London!
• We didn’t win ☹️
• However it was really exciting to have been short and the winners were very well deserved! 
• We might even be nominated again next year, who knows. 🤞
• Back down to earth and back to our lovely shop in Monmouth. 🎉🎉
• 

Needless to say, Tigerbella HQ will be closed again today!  Stay safe! Shop online at www.tigerbella.com 
PS - the snow is nearly up to my letterbox in this pic! 

I tried to make it to Tigerbella HQ this morning, but the roads had other ideas, so we’re closed today! Stay warm and shop online! 

Hi Everyone,

Even though it’s freezing outside this is such an exciting time of year for us ❤️ ( apart from Valentine’s Day obviously!) Our new collections keep arriving. 

I have just opened a box of gorgeous Kanto dresses and leggings from Papu! The colours are amazing and the soft, organic cotton is as lovely as ever. Put the 22nd February in your diaries because we can’t start selling them until then! We know that they fly out so don’t miss your favourite! 

Also arrived today, were 2 more boxes from  Billieblush, a pretty dress with typical Billieblush sparkly bits and some funky boys shirts and shorts from the beautiful Absorba, with vibrant palm prints. Keep an eye on the website as they’ll be going on in the next day or so! 👏🏻 

We’ve also been to our final trade show of the year and we think we’ve found some new, exciting designers that you’ll ❤️. 

I took some cheeky photos to show you, what do you think?

The fabrics and designs are gorgeous and they’re designed by a young Mum for Mums! You’ll be seeing lots more of these! 

Finally we caught up with the lovely Best Years and bought lots of their outstanding, ethically sourced, cuddly toys. They’re a firm favourite with our customers. They are already on line and selling fast, as usual. We’ve got a new Sabre Tooth Tiger for you too!! 

So have a great weekend everyone. We’ll be in the shop on Saturday. If you’re local to Monmouth pop in to see the loveliness, if not sit down with a coffee or a glass of something and browse our gorgeous new collections. 

Bye for now and lots of love

Matti and Caroline 💝

Oops. Well Friday came and went without me saying hello! Sorry! We had a 16th birthday in the house ( my youngest baby 👶🏻 )  where did that time go? 

So we had a very successful trip to the trade show last Sunday and picked up lots of new ideas, as well viewing the new collections from our gorgeous suppliers. 

The show was HUGE! It was great fun, but it made our heads spin, with hundreds of super talented designers showing off their talents!! 

Even though we’re expecting a freezing week, we have started to unpack our Spring collections. Lovely dresses from Absorba, cute pom pom skirts from Billieblush and fun shorts and t shirts from Billybandit! You’re going to love them. Check them out on line and grab your favourites while they’re still there! 

Our January SALE is coming to an end, but we still have some amazing bargains for you, so don’t miss out on these either. 

Today our new Bobux delivery arrived and it’s online already!! Be one of the first to see the super summer styles we have for you. 

I’ll upload some photos to add to this tomorrow, but something’s not working with it tonight!!

So, I’m feeling really relaxed after my weekly yoga class and am going to head to bed soon. 

I hope that you’ve all had a lovely weekend. Wrap up warm and start dreaming of lighter nights and longer days! They’ll be here before we know it! 

Bye for now and lots of love ❤️