And then, I started reading my journal from age 10 and 11 and wasn't that surprised anymore
Age 10 "I love Johnny. BUT I hate Sally. She's a snot. If I could swear I'd call her a b."
What? I thought I was a nice girl. I still think I was, but... "a b"?
And then, I read a little further in my journal
Age 11 "On Monday we went to Target. And we bought...oh no...it was Mom's choice...2 BRAS"
Age 11 "MOM'S GOING TO BUY ME BIRKENSTOCKS!!!!"
Really though, some of the stories I heard from these moms were just heartbreaking. Do you remember how fraught those years were? I don't, until I hear from moms of girls that age. Or read my old journal. Which is apparently a little out of date.
I pray that Ida's journal is filled with exultations over Birkenstocks. Realistically I think it will be dotted with those along with some of the more nasty stuff. And did you know about texting and social media? Turns out those are pretty tough to navigate when you're 10. Be kind to the next tween you meet. She deserves it.
(Doesn't Ida remind you of a blonde Ramona Quimby?)
Age 11: "I'm scared to go to bed now, sometimes I'm afraid that some maniac, a Night Stalker II, will come in and kill me. I can't bear the thought of Dad, Mom, any of my family, and friends crying. Because of me. Dying, I mean. When I'm only 11. I still love Johnny. Kind of. More like, LIKE. I don't actually love him. Not anymore."
8 comments:
I hated middle school. I can not even imagine how much worse it would have been with social media. I really feel for girls that age. It has to be really hard.
So sad to think our girls will deal with that! Already I am trying to teach Mads that mean girls are not worth being friends with. Ida is adorable!
I work with these girls every day - some of them handle it well. Some are just oblivious - they are the lucky ones!! We try to keep an eye out and try to help them navigate - I recall junior high being a fun, happy time - I think my friends and I were oblivious!!
I feel like things have gotten much harder for tweens and teens with facebook, texting and internet in general. I worry about this stuff often, and I am trying to be grateful that at least for now my kids don't have to deal iwth any of that.
I agree with Katie. I can only imagine how much worse junior high/high school would have been if Facebook was around.
Let me know how your program went to day!
Oh my gosh. Your journal KILLS me. So hilarious.
I didn't respond to your email because I wasn't sure what to say. My experience with my own daughters has turned out better than I could have hoped. Aspen and Hazel are friendly easy going drama avoiding girls. Aspen has tried very hard to avoid friends and their drama. And perhaps that's her personality. I hope that part of it is that we have actively taught our children to include everyone (so much girl drama seems to involve exclusion of some kind) and that we don't do the "if you don't do X then you can't be my friend" kind of stuff. And my girls tell me that the girls around them do that kind of thing. But I have been proud of them that they don't. But it is sad that girls don't rally around one another more. Tween and early teen years are so frought with emotional ups and downs and so much self discovery and change that isn't always joyous, that they need all the support they can get. As a YW president I have tried really hard to bring some unity to the girls in our ward. Especially since, often, they are the only members in their school classes and are watched by those around them. The youth have it tough. But they are stronger spirits. They can make it!
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