Best Practices for Middle School Parents

You're the parent of a middle school child. You're proud of what your child is becoming and are constantly amazed at the new skills and knowledge he/she is developing: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, decision making skills, and relationship skills. This is a time when you want to maintain the closeness you shared in the past, but find that your adolescent seems to be pulling away from you. You miss that special bond that used to happen so effortlessly. The times your child will talk to you about things seems to be less frequent, as he/she has begun to separate from you.

This can seem to be a difficult time for parent and child. Communication can begin to break down and as a parent you notice the changes:

• Greater need for independence
• Less parental control
• Greater dependence on friends
• Less dependence on parents
• Greater social circle, including social networking sites and cell phone use
• Less family time

Are you craving quality time with your preteen? Do you feel that your communicatins are less frequent and far too short? Do you want to find a way to keep your relationship nurturing, encouraging, and meaningful?

OR have you found a way to keep your communications strong and relationship close?

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