Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Editor's Picks
Editor's PicksParenting

Transitional Tweens Can be Worse Than Terrible Twos

Posted byBy Stan | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

When my kids were younger, friends with tweens gave me dire warnings: “It’s a whole new world — much worse than the terrible twos.” “You won’t believe the change in your kid — like night and day.” “Just wait until they hit middle school; brace yourself.”

Now my older kids (A.J., 11, and Mathilda, 14) have reached the dreaded tween/teen stage. And guess what? I’m still waiting for doomsday to strike. Don’t get me wrong; we’ve had a few bumps. But there’s more to tweens than hormone surges and moodiness. In many ways, these crazy years are my favorite phase yet. This is why:

The Good News: You Have a New Buddy

Yes, I know, your job description doesn’t read: “My Kid’s Best Friend.” And, no, you’re not equals. But the tween years provide endless opportunities to bond on a deeper level than you did when your child was little. I can take Mathilda or A.J. out to lunch and have a completely different experience from a few years ago, when a trip to a restaurant meant watching them color the kids’ menu and knock over their milk. Now we discuss everything from their friendships to current movies to politics. (And if they have to go to the bathroom, they find it on their own.)

Sharon Pomerantz Strelzer recently experienced an unexpected buddy moment with her 10-year-old daughter, Samantha. “We had a rainy movie day, just the two of us, and the choices were to see either Pink Panther 2 or Confessions of a Shopaholic,” says the Fairfield, CT, mom. “Samantha said, ‘Let’s save the Pink Panther for Daddy and have a girls’ day out!'” The two happily watched Shopaholic together.

Make It Even Better: You’ve got to shift gears during the tween phase, says Susan Kuczmarski, Ed.D., author of The Sacred Flight of the Teenager: A Parent’s Guide to Stepping Back and Letting Go. “Enjoy the changes and be aware that she is entering a new phase…

Read more: Charlotte Latvala, Parenting

 

 

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top