Tweens – The Never Ending Mood Swing
Honest look at Parenting Tweens!
I have two Tweens – but they refer to themselves as ‘Preteens’. They think the term is ‘stupid’, and I sort of understand their take. It’s a weird time. For all of us!
My oldest will become a teenager in a few months…she is psyched! There is something about finally becoming a teenager that is VERY appealing. She is convinced that there truly is a difference, like being a tween is some sort of purgatory, waiting for everything to find a place, establish a rhythm…and she has something there.
 |
| My girls! |
It is a blend of awkwardness that I’m still trying to figure out. Parenting such a stage is a challenge. It really is!
The journey is NOT for the weak of heart. This IS the most challenging time, and it’s the time when I feel like I’m on constant alert. While I give my girls more freedoms, they seem to need me, WHEN THEY NEED ME. Like Pronto. Stat. Now!
And this most often happens around 9:30 at night when things bubble up. They sit on the edge of my bed, and they purge. Sometimes it’s with a bounce as they jump on the corner of my bed with a silly story or idea, or it’s with the feeling of heaviness and of heavy heart that they come to me with a challenge and lay there on their back with tears streaming down their faces.
I have become a family CHEERLEADER. More than ever before. I have to be on a constant rally!
I think they just want to be heard. And I’m learning to not project and add my fears or make quick judgments when they are just trying to connect the dots in their head out loud. They are processing…they are figuring things out…and sometimes silence is a virtue.
Often the discussions are about friends and issues around that. About school. About their future. It’s really a hodgepodge of things, and I’m so glad that I’m here to be the sounding board for them.
Someone told me this quote, “You are as happy as your most miserable child!”
I completely agree! But I’m so fortunate that my girls bring so much joy and light to our lives…we just have to LOVE it when the smiles show up and they are feeling all is right in the world…I LOVE THOSE MOMENTS and I cherish them!
Leave a Reply