Tag: tweens

Tweens are emerging teens, but they’re still children. They’ll astonish you with their ability to conceptualize, to argue brilliantly, and then to do foolish things.

The biggest danger for tweens is losing the connection to parents while struggling to find their place and connect in their peer world. The biggest danger for parents is trying to parent through power instead of through relationship, thus eroding their bond and losing their influence on their teen.

I’d like to be able to tell you that teens don’t use drugs. Unfortunately, that’s not true. I wish I could assure you that tweens—kids ages 9 to 12—wouldn’t think of using drugs. But I’d be lying.

In my practice, I see tweens every day who are experimenting with alcohol and drugs, always without their parents’ knowledge. It’s not uncommon for tweens to first try drugs in middle school. Even if they don’t become hardcore users, just this short exposure can have dire consequences for the rest of your child’s life.

Yes, Mom and Dad, the phenomenon of "sexting" is taking off (no pun intended). If you don’t know what sexting is, it involves people taking nude pictures of themselves and sending them via their cell phone to others. This action has resulted in some teens being charged with violations of child pornography laws. These laws can carry some serious penalties, the most serious being registration on the Sex Offenders databases for 10 years. With this in mind, what would happen if the offending material was found on your personal computer?

So, why is this happening and what do you need to be aware of to keep you and your kids safe?