Growing Up Too Fast
I have a 11 year old son (tween) on July 5 will turn 12 years old. Now I am not bragging... so please don't think I am. But you have to know the past to understand the present. He did everything early. He came into life early, walk and talked early, potty broke early. He even hit the hormone part of his life early. So early that the family doctor sent him to a specialist about it. We see kids his age with cell phones, ipods, hanging out in the neighborhood at 10 pm, "little girls" blossoming early and being aggressive towards the boys. It is painful for a parent to watch the transition. He will not even go to the pool alone due to some of the girls down there will not leave him alone. A boy his age even download adult pictures off the net! The children are growing up a lot faster than they ever did when I was that age. I have talked to other parents and some tell me that handing their kid a cell phone is a good thing, they can keep track of them better. My mother keep track of me without a cell phone in my pocket. I was made to check in at certain times. The kids are dressing more like adults, listing to music about love and other adult topics. A little girl (11 yrs old) in the next building even was talking about her 13 year old "making love"... WOW!!! Does anyone have a tween?? How do you deal with everything??? Sometimes he is happy and sometimes he appears to be down in the dumps.
teens
Welcome to the club PhotoMom. It is very hard living with preteens and teens. I have had to turn to Michiana Moms myself for advice and I don't know what I would have done with out them. I had a loving 12 year old son who it seemed like in one day turned into my worst ememy. Once he turned 13 he thought he could go to house parties (without adult supervision) just because all of his friends were going, he thought is was okay for sleep overs and thought he could hang out and come in after 9:00. BOY!!!! was he ever wrong. I threw a monkey wrench in his program and it was war in our house. I didn't understand him, I was living in the ancient years, and every other parent on earth was cool except me. But let me tell you, it does get a lot easier. Stand your ground and don't give in. It sounds like your son is on the right track so now would probably be a good time for that "birds and bees" talk. If you don't talk to him it sounds like one of the girls might. I am quite sure you only want the best for him so give him advice and a little freedom, just be firm with your rules and in a couple of years you will have a great teen on your hands. Mine is 16 now and we had a curfew issue which is going very well. He thought staying out until 1 a.m. was okay since all of his friends could. I said 11 is sufficient and we have an understanding. This year he will be a junior in high school so maybe with some responsibility, we will extend it a little. Just remember peer pressure now days is even harder on our kids than it was on us. I didn't grow up with a cell phone or internet service either. We were to call home or come back and check in now and then. Heck, I remember even collecting records (I never had an MP3 player). Those were the days...
Thank You
Penny,
THANK YOU so very much for your advice. And yes we had the birds and the bees talk already. I pray that keeping him busy will detour him away from the girls for a few more years. Although like I said before he will not even go to the pool alone due to the girls will not leave him alone! They finally stop dropping by 4-5 times a day due to he just wouldn't go out. The computer is a BIG thing in our home. He would play from the time he gets up to the time he goes to bed. He doesn't play high violence games so I am so happy about that. I wouldn't allow it anyways. Just the mood swings! Boy them are SO Much Fun!
Joni Lochtefeld
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