Saturday, October 10, 2009

Introducing Our New Tween Blog

My eleven year old, Alexis, and I would like to welcome you to our new blogspot. We've created this space as a tool to share the experiences of tweens and the journey into adolescence or as Alexis calls it, "tweenism".

tweenism n. a state of being in between a child and an adolescent (teen).


This is a very impressionable time in which the child becomes more independent in thought, requires more personal space and begins to detach from parents whom they once idealized as their own personal "super-hero". I personally loved playing this role. Over the years I became amazed at even myself for these feelings of protection and offering such insightful direction (OR so I thought). Alexis would look at me as if I had these amazing powers of secret force shields surrounding her by just my presence of sleeping next to her, with eyes in the back of my head, super-human hearing, and it was back then I could heal all hurts with simply a kiss. Wasn't long until she found me out, realized I'm not supermom as she had once believed. She began realizing that I, too, am figuring it out as I go. When this happens, it is typical tweens begin to pull back becoming more independent in their own ideas, thoughts and opinions...

As a parent, we often react to this newfound independence from a place of fear that our little girl/boy is growing up. Our hero-like qualities are fading away. We become more confused holding onto the image of that little bitty that still needs us....right?

The truth is, this power we had felt, was simply the power of unconditional, pure love. Maybe what we were fearing was the possibility of this amazing unconditional bond between us and our child is what could actually be fading away.

Alexis assures me that's not true, not the case, nor even possible. If anything the bond grows stronger as tweens test their boundaries all while knowing they can rely on their parents if they stumble along the way. It is then our role to offer acceptance, love and direction only in a less hands-on approach. The true challenge lies in the parent letting go and allowing their little super-heros the space to find their own powers within.

Our hildren are angels sent here for us as parents to learn the true meaning of unconditional love; raising a tween is a period of time when we are presented with many opportunities to truly demonstrate the power of this love.

I don't know, maybe it's been Alexis protecting me all along.....

I hope you enjoy our postings and we encourage sharing your stories too. This is an amazing journey watching our little bitties grow into their own super-hero selves.

Let's enjoy the journey together!

No comments:

Post a Comment