Let's Talk Tween

Information and insight about kids ages 8-12 (the "in between" years)

Jennifer Powell-Lunder Psy.D.

Helping Your Homesick Tween

Your tween is crying on the other end of the line, begging to come home from camp. Your heart breaks for her. You are paralyzed. What should you do?

School Avoidance: My Tween Won’t Go to School

Occasionally your tween told you she couldn’t go to school but the days began to pile up. Now you don't know how you will ever get your tween back on track at school.

Your Socially Sophisticated and Street Savvy Tween

Socially mature tweens usually present as wise beyond their years. These are the kids who always seem to be in the know.

Back-to-School Angst in the Age of COVID

As the Delta variant continues to cause a surge in cases, school-aged children everywhere are faced with a multitude of uncertainties.

Where Did My Happy Pre-Pandemic Tween Go?

If your tween seems less than enthusiastic about re-entering post-pandemic civilization, don’t panic: This is not as atypical as it might sound.

Pandemic Burnout: Your Tween Is Over It and So Are You

As a result of readjustments required during the pandemic, both you and your tween may feel hopeless, helpless, and burned out.

COVID Cocooning: Understanding Your Tween’s Isolation

To your tweens, the COVID pandemic may seem like an outbreak described in their favorite dystopian graphic novel.

What If I Hate My Tween’s Friends?

What should you do if your tween makes choices you don’t agree with? Making bad decisions is one thing, but concerns about who they pick as friends is something quite different.

COVID-19: Understanding Your Tween’s Onset of Anxiety

If you or your tween suffer from anxiety, the road back to regular may indeed be quite difficult. The goal is to avoid allowing pandemonium and panic to block your path.

Homebound: Managing the Monotony and Mayhem

The dog is barking, the dishwasher’s leaking, and your home-schooling attempt feels like an epic fail. The novelty of being at home all together wore off about a week ago.

Social Distancing: Making the Most of Life at Home

Your responsibility as a role model and guide cannot be underscored enough. If you present in a frenzied panic, your kids are sure to follow.

Is My Tween a "Mean Girl?"

Teenage girls can move through stages of relational aggression. Here are strategies for guiding them when you notice mean behavior.

Keeping Up with Your Social Media-Savvy Tween

At the tender age of 12, she already knows her way around the digital world.

Your Lying Tween

The number of lies and tall tales a tween tells can seem excessive, and the reasons why they lie are varied.

The Unintentional Cyberbully

The unintentional cyberbully does not have the same perspective as their unintended victim.

My Tween's a Holiday Horror!

Do you cringe and hold your breath when it’s time to open the presents because you can’t anticipate your tween’s reaction?

Yes, You Are That Embarrassing!

As parents, we like to revel in the idea that our children are a reflection of us. In reality, however, this is not how tweens see things.

College Bound: The Tween They Left Behind

With so much going on, parents may overlook what their tween is experiencing when an older child leaves home. But it's hard to watch their role model leave.

The Fortnite Phenomenon

I recently posted a comment on social media about Fortnite, and the response I got was overwhelming. Friends and family from all over weighed in.

Making #MeToo Matter

#MeToo provides a magical teaching moment. It is an opportunity to model empowerment and change.

Empowering Your Anxious Tween

Anxiety is a beast that can be contained, if not completely slain.

Buyer Beware: Two New Apps Your Tweens Should Avoid

Two apps that have developed popularity among teens and tweens are raising red flags with law enforcement and others.

My Mean Tween Made Me Cry

Seeking to affirm their individual opinions and identities kids start to argue back. These new responses may at first seem sweet, but sassy lacks luster when you're the target.

Caution: Your Tween May be Stressing Over Snap Streaks

Stopping your tween from continuing a Snapchat streak can easily make him feel like you are forcing him to commit social suicide. He will bargain and beg to keep his streaks going.

When His Homework is Your Personal Purgatory

You are in homework hell and the assignments aren’t even your responsibility! As a parent, you feel as if it all falls on you.

Election Aftermath: A Teaching Moment for Our Children

The future is truly in the hands of our children; our response to them should be one of hope and encouragement. We must empower them to have a voice.

My Easygoing Kid Is Stressing Me Out!

If you are a Type A parent, raising a Type B tween can be rigorous. A part of you probably admires your low-key kid, even though his laid back attitude can at times make you crazy.

When Sibling Rivalry Goes Awry

You may remember the days in the not so distant past when you were the envy of friends and family. “Your kids get along so well,” they would gush.

Clark Kent Syndrome: When Boys Are Social Media Supermen

There is a disturbing trend that seems to be whispered about in the hallways of schools.

Digital Age Parenting: Conquering the Cultural Divide

Even the most tech savvy parents still find themselves at a loss, a half a step behind their digital age kids.

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