My friend recently told me that she had read somewhere that ‘Tween is the new teen’. She was amused by it and so was I, since both of us have girls.

Later, it got me thinking; and I realized it was true. Then a few things happened that proved just how true it was.

There was an increase of eye rolls, annoyed sighs, and slammed doors. I did use my mother voice to put a stop to it. I really did. Then I was told I know nothing, I don’t understand life, despite the fact that I’ve been around for decades.

This morning, my almost 8 year suddenly was no longer my little girl anymore as she declared she was an independent individual, and mature to do her “stuff”. As my husband and I were still trying to process what she had said, my almost 14-year-old asked her sister if she knew the meaning of any of those words, for which the younger one threw her usual fit, screaming and crying for being treated like a baby. And all was well in my world again.

I do understand especially since I have one teen already that throughout the tween years, she will be going through big changes. She might enter puberty, undergo significant brain development, her social life and circle will change, and will begin to crave independence and individuality. All of these changes are preparing them and their bodies for the teen years, which is where they will shift from childhood to adulthood. Yet that first jolt was a wake-up call, I guess.

I know that day isn’t far away when my young ones will eagerly fly out of the nest, I selfishly want to delay that inevitable.