Navigating the Tween Years

The ‘tween’ years – usually defined as ages 9 years to 12 years – are both exhilarating and daunting. Girls are leaving childhood behind well before their teens. They inhabit an in-between world, complete with rapid physical changes, emotional swings, emerging independence, and challenging questions. As parents, how do we guide our children through these formative years with empathy, wisdom, and patience?

A few years ago the P&F kindly funded a guest speaker, Michelle Mitchell, who wrote the book Tweens and presented on the same topic. I subscribe to her regular emails and this week I read a link to an interesting article in the Sydney Morning Herald for which Michelle was interviewed. I highly recommend reading this article, How to talk to your tween before social media does.

The article finishes off with the following message:

In many ways, and often without realising it, we’ve been having these conversations with our kids since the day they were born. However, around 10 is a good general age for what I call an ‘information update’. Tweens are typically ready for conversations at more advanced cognitive level.

The standout from the article, for me, is to be aware not to leave such information to Google, You Tube or TikTok. Parents are the best source from which our children to learn.

– Joanne Sharpe
Deputy Head of Junior School – Wellbeing