I just got back from chaperoning the Element Middle School Beach Trip…22 kids and 5 chaperones. When people found out I was going, the overwhelming question was “WHY would you do such a thing?” Having a rising sixth grade daughter was the number one reason. But having been involved in the middle school department at my last church and having another daughter actually survive middle school, I have learned a thing or two about that age group:
Middle school can be hell. I don't know any other way to put it. I hyperventilated more during the summer before Kacie went to middle school than the summer before she started high school. It is a scary place where kids first experience puberty, peer pressure, social stress, bullying, and cliques. Then there are locker combinations, seven different teachers, changing classes, and (gasp!) dressing out for PE.
The terrible twos weren’t so bad. It’s the terrible 12’s that can be more challenging! You know the attitude…hand on hip, finger pointed, neck moving in circles saying “Oh no you didn’t just sing in the car in front of my friends, Mom!” When Kacie did this to me, I ran straight to the bookstore with tear-stained cheeks, looking for a self-help book for parents of middle schoolers. I ended up with “When We’re in Public, Pretend You Don’t Know Me” by Susan Borowitz. What I learned was that they don’t want us around, but they don’t want us to get too far away either!
Middle schoolers are fragile. It doesn’t take much to tear down their self confidence. They want to fit in. They are little kids in big kids’ bodies. And the choices they make during these years will put them on the path of who they will become in their high school years and beyond.
I had fun hanging out with the TNC middle schoolers this week. I fit in better with them than I do some adults! Please pray for this group of kids as they begin a new school year of good times and trying times!
I miss them already!
Middle school can be hell. I don't know any other way to put it. I hyperventilated more during the summer before Kacie went to middle school than the summer before she started high school. It is a scary place where kids first experience puberty, peer pressure, social stress, bullying, and cliques. Then there are locker combinations, seven different teachers, changing classes, and (gasp!) dressing out for PE.
The terrible twos weren’t so bad. It’s the terrible 12’s that can be more challenging! You know the attitude…hand on hip, finger pointed, neck moving in circles saying “Oh no you didn’t just sing in the car in front of my friends, Mom!” When Kacie did this to me, I ran straight to the bookstore with tear-stained cheeks, looking for a self-help book for parents of middle schoolers. I ended up with “When We’re in Public, Pretend You Don’t Know Me” by Susan Borowitz. What I learned was that they don’t want us around, but they don’t want us to get too far away either!
Middle schoolers are fragile. It doesn’t take much to tear down their self confidence. They want to fit in. They are little kids in big kids’ bodies. And the choices they make during these years will put them on the path of who they will become in their high school years and beyond.
I had fun hanging out with the TNC middle schoolers this week. I fit in better with them than I do some adults! Please pray for this group of kids as they begin a new school year of good times and trying times!
I miss them already!
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