Teen and Tween Round-up: New Starts

Half-term is over and the nights are drawing in. Our kids have settled into their new schools, new year groups and even university.

Here’s what our Britmums teens and tweens have been up to this month…

It’s hard when your kids go away for the first time. I can so relate to this post from Kate at V Family Fun about her daughter’s year 5 residential trip.

Sometimes it’s not just the parents who get upset about kids going away, sometimes it’s the children themselves. Stevie from A Cornish Mum shares her experiences of dealing with separation anxiety in an older child.

I’m sure we all know where The Mulk is coming from as she shares the heartbreaking tale of her son turning into a tween and thinking he didn’t need her any more.

Don’t you love it when your kids surprise you with their understanding of the world? Kate on Thin Ice’s 9 year old son does just that in this post. What a bright and thoughtful boy!

Most of our year 7s are so settled in secondary school now, they probably feel like they never even went to primary school. Here’s Siobhan at Everyone Else is Normal’s take on her daughter’s first few weeks of secondary school.

Over at MumofThree World, my 12 year old son has just started secondary too. He hasn’t been quite himself over the last few weeks and I’m wondering if it’s exhaustion from school, puberty or something else.

Last month saw the introduction of the 5p charge for carrier bags, aka another opportunity for Best Dad I Can Be’s son to be sarcastic towards him…

The teenage years seem to bring one dilemma after another – and this is one I hadn’t thought of just yet! Over at Emma and 3, Emma is deciding whether or not she should give her teenage daughter alcohol for a party. What would you do? As a lifelong teetotaller, there’s no way I would give a child of mine alcohol, but I know my views are pretty extreme!

Suzanne from 3 Children and It never fails to make me smile and this post is no exception. How many other parents of teens have ‘forgotten’ that they used to eat chocolate rather than sandwiches and did their homework on the bus in their youth?

Having battled acne myself for 30 years and seen my own son start to suffer, I found this post from Mum in a Nutshell to be very helpful. My own advice would be not to dismiss acne as ‘normal’ and to seek medical help early if it is affecting your teen’s confidence.

Enjoying family time with a teenager? That’s impossible, right? Apparently not – Anita at Thinking Parenting shares her fantastic tips for a stress-free day out with a teenager.

Parenting teenagers isn’t easy. Parenting several of them is very difficult! So it’s great that Suzanne at Chicken Ruby has shared her tips on persuasion, negotiation and co-operation with teens. I’m taking very careful note!

Plenty of parents are still struggling to come to terms with the empty nest after their teens have left home or gone to uni. So it’s nice to read this positive post from Mad Mum of 7 on how it feels a year on.

That’s about all for this month. If you would like to be included next month, please tweet me your links for consideration any time. And please add any teen and tween posts to the linky below!

About Sarah Wood

Sarah is mum to a teenage boy and a tween boy and girl. When it comes to primary school stuff, she's got it sussed. But she's realising that as secondary school and puberty hit, she's still got a lot to learn! Between tweeting, blogging and parenting, Sarah is a freelance PR and copywriter, who still finds time to run long distances and eat a lot of chocolate. It doesn't leave much time for housework.