We have been to lucky to have psychotherapist Penny, Kate from the Young Minds charity and secondary school teacher Kat give a talk about parenting teenagers to our customers in store.
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If you attended the talk we hope you found it useful and informative, and Penny and Kate have given us a list of books, Youtube videos and websites that you can go to for help:
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Books
Steve Biddulph, 10 Things Girls Need Most
Steve Biddulph, Raising Boys
Steve Biddulph, Raising Girls
Dan Siegel, Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Adolescent Brain
Lorraine Candy, ‘Mum, What’s Wrong With You?’ 101 Things Only Mothers Of Teenage Girls Know
Diane Poole Heller, The Power Of Attachment
Rosalind Wiseman, Queen Bees And Wannabees
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Youtube
Carol Dweck, The Growth Mindset
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Websites
youngminds.org.uk/
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In addition to this, Penny has kindly bullet pointed they key takeaways from her talk:
- Make space and time to listen and connect, with your ears and your heart!
- Learn to respond and not react
- Notice when you or they have been triggered. Make space and time for rebalance
- Our kids need to borrow our thinking brains (prefrontal cortex)
- Our kids need help learning to know and tolerate their feelings
- Influence and steer, not control and demand
- Keep working on your relationship with them even if it looks like they don’t want you…they do, they just won’t tell you!
- Respond to the person they can become not the stroppy teenager in front of you!
- You don’t need to have all the answers just a willingness to learn.
- Using “I” rather than “you” This respects the difference between you.
- Name what you see and hear to show emotional resonance.
At SheenUncovered we are proud to be women who support other women, and we know how much our customers value the talks we organise. The number of tickets to this events was more limited than usual due to current social distancing restrictions, and we appreciate you may not have been able to come along this time. We hope to have more talks in the future, so keep your eyes peeled for event updates either on our Instagram or by signing up below to our weekly newsletter.
]]>Handily, we've had a delivery of bright and beautiful lingerie which is guaranteed to get you in the mood for spring - and nothing quite lifts the spirits like a pop of colour (which we could all do with right now!) So if you're ready for the lingerie equivalent of a Vitamin D boost, read on...
Booklyn in Tutu Pink
Our customers go wild for Brooklyn - it’s not difficult to see why it’s popular with mothers and daughters alike. The deep V neckline is very flattering, subtly enhancing the bust without giving too much push up effect. The smooth underwired cups are undetectable under tight fitting clothing, making Brooklyn perfectly practical, while the lace detailing and graphic tulle overlay are ridiculously pretty. As well as basic colours Brooklyn is now available in ‘Tutu Pink’ for spring - we are obsessed!
Orangerie in Sea Green
Chantelle’s best selling bra, Orangerie is beautifully feminine thanks to the floral lace that delicately overlays the cups, coming ever so gently onto the skin for a soft and elegant finish. We also love the adorable bow in the middle and the Chantelle ‘C’ medallion at the centre point. The plunge neckline is flirty yet offers perfect support up to an F cup, meaning Orangerie will fast become your new favourite every day bra. Now available in stunning shade ‘Ocean Green’.
Thelma in Tangerine
If ‘Thelma’ in tantalising tangerine doesn’t make you long for summer then we don’t know what will! The mesh detailing adds a sassy-yet-modern touch to this very cool bra, and we love how the lace detailing on the cups extends up onto the straps and sits softly against the skin. Thelma naturally redraws and shapes the chest while providing comfort and softness all day long. This fabulous new bra offers amazing support up to an F cup.
C Magnifique
There is a myth that lingerie to support larger cup sizes isn’t fashion forward. We’ve proven this wrong on a number of occasions, but Chantelle’s new bra ‘C Magnifique’ really blows that theory out of the water! This moulded bra boasts a fun leopard print design, and cleverly has a minimising effect on a larger bust. The smooth foam cups give a clean line and make this bra perfect for wearing under tight clothing, plus the adjustable straps offer custom support and ultimate comfort.
]]>Here are some of the ways we love to workout and make ourselves feel good - including a few local suggestions for you to try!
Start with a sports bra
A sports bra should be your number one piece of kit before you start exercising. Not wearing the right sports bra can lead to back and breast pain, discomfort, reduced confidence and performance. The breast is only supported by two weak structures: the skin itself and tiny Cooper's ligaments, so a good sports bra is needed to give support, prevent pain and limit breast movement when exercising. The right sports bra will really elevate your workout - even if you are a small cup size. We have a number of different sports bras available, in a wide range of sizes. Please feel free to email us if you would like advice on what size to buy.
Frankie Arpino Yoga
Yoga not only increases your flexibility but gets you to focus on your breathing. Our favourite fabulous local yogi Frankie Arpino is streaming online classes - she does incredible meditation style yoga, a combination of Yin (longer held poses) and as well as Nidra (meditation) as well as wake up flows which help the mind as well as strengthening and stretching.
Running
Running is cheap, time effective and studies show it can make you live longer. You don’t have to run fast or far to feel the benefits - if you’re a newbie just try running one or two kilometres and walk if you need to. Invest in a good pair of trainers to avoid knee-related injuries and of course a good sports bra.
Walking
We are so lucky to have Richmond Park on the doorstep, and it’s been proven that spending time outdoors does wonders for one’s mental health. If you’re aiming to get your step count up we suggest getting lost in a good podcast (Jackie recommends listening to ‘The Kindness Economy’ by Mary Portas) and keep walking until you finish the episode.
Evolution
Our favourite local fitness studio Evolution are bringing fitness classes to your living room. If you have a compatible bike you can join your regular spin class online, or they have a wide selection of other fitness classes (including core, HIIT and interval workouts) which you can do at home whenever suits you. Their instructors are really excellent, very technical and they are all about motivating and uniting their community.
]]>We share, we talk, we walk, two by two in the park, we keep each other sane and when all our mental capacity is at bursting point & being tested to the max, we share, we laugh, we support, we virtual hug! What would we do without our girlfriends?
We are so lucky to have Richmond Park as a sanctuary, being up there walking through the gate releasing the pressure valve, and yes, breathing.
My last visit up there struck me as we walked, there was a Noah’s Ark two by two procession criss-crossing the park of women walking together. It is a good feeling seeing two women you know individually walking together as friends. I think to myself “that makes sense they should be friends”
It feels now more than ever we need our female friendships, and this activity is happening more than once a day with different friend combinations, that’s how good it is!
Another thing about female relationships is that if you like woman’s company you can have more than one! They come in all shapes and sizes and can be called upon for different reasons at different times. Friendships can be equal, giving supportive, informative, complicated, fun, frivolous, fickle passing, insuring, empathetic, reflective, dutiful, reliable - the list goes on, but now more than ever the whole plethora is vital
We need the whole fruitcake. With icing and a cherry.
Talking to women every day is one of my greatest joys, over the 30 years that I have been selling lingerie, I have never tired of it. Sharing in woman’s lives even for a short while, is a privilege, selling what is sometimes called “intimate apparel” and it is. There has to be a professional trust on both sides.
Like any good friendship, to give good advice to someone is to listen first - find out what’s really going on and what the real need is as it could be what’s not said is the most valuable bit of information to help someone.
I learned very early on that what is said in the changing room stays in the changing room. It's private. We can be amongst the first people to hear very personal news, in sickness and in health, “I’m pregnant, I am going on a first date, I’m getting married”, during illness, grief, divorce, injury and family crisis.
I am daily in awe of the strength, beauty, the kindness, and the sheer willpower of women. The shop has always been my happy place, although at times that idea has been pushed to the limits. I have seen many happy tears, and sad and frustrated ones as well, and that my shop is seen as a positive and safe place is something that brings me huge pride and I consider it an honour to be able to offer that.
So keep walking and talking, supporting and putting this crazy world to rights, you lovely band of elizabethandrebecca women!
]]>I have never been one to write blogs, as my dyslexia often prevents me from feeling confident in doing so. Reflecting on this crazy year, along with watching reruns of Sex And The City, I have decided to channel my inner Carrie Bradshaw and attempt my first ever blog! So here we go…
Another 3 weeks of not being able to do what we love in the shop has given me extra hours that I don’t really want, to fill them doing things that I don’t want to do. Things I find difficult and, frankly, things I'm not so good at. Many of us have been pushed to the boundaries of what we thought we were capable of, and certainly have had to take on jobs we did not believe we were designed for. Basically I miss doing what I am good at but most of all, I miss the human interaction of my shop.
You see, I’m a shopkeeper. The definition of which is, according to the Oxford English dictionary; ‘…a person who owns or manages a small shop’. That’s me!
That’s what I am. I like people. I like talking to people. Most of all I like helping people and making them feel better - which is why I own a shop. If you cut me in half like a stick of rock it would say shopkeeper all the way through, and I'm proud of that.
Yes I sell products for money but it’s never really about the money for me, it’s whether I’ve done a good job and made somebody feel better. Of course I want to keep the shop going and employ the people I love working with, but I also want you to love what we have chosen for you. That’s how I feel about my shop; it’s a people place, human to human.
This is where it gets tricky - because along with jobs, our freedom and health (and in many cases, lives) this virus has also robbed us of the ability to be human with each other. Almost every aspect of our lives has become digital. Despite this, I firmly believe that virtual bra fittings will never work. There is no getting around it. A proper fitting is so much more than the actual bra. It’s a positive experience to make you feel better, like a hairdressing appointment or time spent with your beauty therapist. It feels like these sorts of experiences should be a basic female human right.
Until we can start doing what we do best again I'll sift through the endless emails on my computer, as picking up the phone and talking to another human seems to become increasingly difficult these days. I get it, on the phone you can’t go away and think about it or ask someone else. So I’ll sit here with my emails, helping you digitally wherever possible, with my fingers crossed hoping that very soon we can all get back to doing what we do best.
As I sit here looking at the screen of colourful dots, choosing the colour palette of t-shirts for the next Spring/Summer season, I am hopeful that next year will be fabulous for all of us. We will get back to something nearer normal life. We will look forward to hugging, laughing, special events, holidays… everything that we have missed beyond belief in 2020.
Thanks for reading, sending virtual hugs to all of you. Jackie x
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