Because I needed an overgrown mouse with a plastic head to remind me that my baby girl is growing up. She's 8 1/2. My oldest is almost 10 1/2. We've moved from playing with Little People and eating crayons to dealing with mean girls and looking for just the "right" pair of jeans.
I'm not sure where the time went, but I sit here this morning with two girls firmly ensconced in their tween years. I love the ages my girls are now, but I have to tell you that I think the tween stage is a whole bunch harder to parent than the tantrum-throwing 2-year-old stage. I knew what to do with a temper tantrum.
Some days I feel completely inadequate as a parent. I can't always fix the problems my girls are facing. All I can do is offer support and love and hope they make the best decisions they can.
I think the tween years are confusing for all kids. They're not quite teen-agers, yet they're no longer little kids. As a parent, it's hard to know what's going on in their brains. Getting a handle on who our tweens are and what they are becoming is difficult.
It's a difficult time for our kids, as well. Being stuck in the "in-between" is often a confusing and uncomfortable place to be.
Understanding our tweens, especially girls, is something that today's Friday Introduction excels at. If you have a tween girl, you need the resources that Nancy Rue provides.
Nancy has been writing about tween girls for decades. She has amazing insight into what's going on inside their heads and their hearts, and she has practical advice for moms and dads to nurture their girls through this "in-between" time.
If you have a tween girl, the single best thing I've ever read on them is Nancy Rue's book, Moms' Ultimate Guide to the Tween Girl World
. This book offers insight into your daughter's thought process and into the issues she's facing in her world today.Nancy also has a book for dads of tween girls called What Happened to My Little Girl?: Dad's Ultimate Guide to His Tween Daughter
, which offers insight into tween girls for dads. It reiterates how important a dad's influence is in his daughter's life, especially during the tween years.These are the years when we must talk to our daughters about their changing bodies and sex. Nancy offers some great information from a Godly perspective that speaks right to tween girls in her books Body Talk (Faithgirlz!)
and The Body Book: It's A God Thing! (The Lily Series)
Nancy also writes fiction for tweens and teens in her Lily, Sophie
and Real Life
series of books. These are stories of girls who are facing problems similar to the ones our own girls face every day. Her characters solve them in a Christlike way that offers the reader wisdom and insight into solving their own problems.Check out Nancy Rue's website for tweens that includes a blog aimed just at tween girls. You'll find a complete list of her books and some wise insight into how tween girls think.
When we're at a loss as to how to deal with an issue, especially ones that deal with our kids, it only makes sense to seek out some resources that offer Godly wisdom. Proverbs 3:13 says "Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding."
Gaining wisdom and understanding about our kids makes us better moms and dads. Seek out God's wisdom in the Bible and look for Godly instruction from those who have already walked the road you're on.
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