It was no school day due to teacher-parent conference. We started the day with exercise again. Sofia run 20 min on the treadmill, Lizzy walked/hiked for 20 min. Her look was “sleepy messy hair” but so cute, no?
I learned that girls drama at Sofia’s class continued, not what I heard from Sofia thought, with Sofia playing a different role. The teacher is super kind and caring and I have confidence on her to help Sofia to navigate the tricky situation.
Unlike my usual reaction to jump into inquiry about what I heard, I didn’t ask her. I am still trying to formulate my inquiry so it doesn’t come across as judgmental. I realize that Sofia’s entering tweens age and things can be more complicated. She doesn’t present all the things that I read but I want to be prepared. The main shift in my mind is to shift from being the manager to become the advisor. It doesn’t come naturally to me but for the well being of my girls and our long term relationship, I will make the effort.
I listened to this episodes which I found really useful, then I checked their recommended readings and bought this book to start with. In one sitting, I finished almost 1/4 of the book, it is that good! I will read the others too as I am a slow learner to new concepts, like I did at the newborn stage, I read 7 books about babies sleeping.
This will be a new journey and I am excited.
How are you preparing for tweens years? What lessons have you learned raising tweens? Please share.
Our New Journey 
Ooh, that 14 conversations book looks good!! I may need to order that! I guess I’m a little late because I already have one in high school, but I am sure I am missing some conversations that I was supposed to have had… ha. Maybe I can play catch up now!
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I’ve definitely found the tween years harder than any other age! So I have absolutely no advice because I feel like I can’t figure it out at all. I do wonder if I will find these years easier with my son than it currently is with my daughter. I think there is something about the mother daughter relationship that feels particularly fraught.
I really like the Puberty Podcast – I find they have a lot of really thoughtful and compassionate things to say about navigating these years (and beyond).
A friend gave me the Untangled book and I’m a little nervous to read it, but I think it will be very insightful too.
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The tween stage is HARD (at least it has been with my daughter). Lately I’ve just tried to be more present and also to find things that we both like to do. Like yesterday, instead of asking her about her day (which can make her “spiral”) I asked if she wanted me to do a manicure for her. We worked on that together and just chatted when we felt like it. She didn’t feel like I was grilling her about school and it was just a pleasant time together ❤
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I’m having trouble commenting on your blog for some reason. I can only comment if I first log into wordpress. So odd!
Tweens is so far off for us but it’s something I will really dig into when we are closer to that stage. I’ve also heard great things about the book “Untangled.”
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