Tween Trouble: What Happens When they Turn Eleven

chillibreeze writer — Shalini Agarwal

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, I had a daughter, and then, she turned eleven.

I haven’t erroneously put in eleven instead of the something teen. That’s just the way it goes, my friends, as of this day and age. It was the terrible teens some decades back, so what? Weren’t there dinosaurs too, some years back? It’s a re-emergence of the dinosaurs in the form of TWEENS. Which started maybe at eleven for my older daughter, and now I see some signs in the middle one at six(oh yeah! hang on and don’t die of shock, because I have three) most definitely, hints of it in my three-year-old as well.

It’s like suddenly there is this strange person in the place of that lovely child you gave birth to. She challenges your decisions and tests your every limit. It’s an advanced course of the terrible two’s (actually they seem lovely, in retrospect, because at least there was that option of being able to physically pick them up for time outs). Everything you do is obligatory and your duty to them, and every chore they do is done under such heavy huffs and puffs, and lifted eyebrow expressions that you actually want to say enough, I’m sorry I asked you to clean your room princess.

Their friends suddenly fill that space that was once yours and hers alone, you see the gap widening with jealousy and also with sadness. Especially, when the laptop screen randomly picks out her toothless grins and the adorable expressions meant just for you. Her friends are her anchor right now, and as my friend told me (my anchors, of course) this age is an age where they explore and learn independence. This is in preparation of adulthood and a part of the necessary learning to survive independently without you.
As my friend puts it, enjoy your little ones as long as you can, because once they grow up, all they do is glare at you. And as another sad case expostulated, all I hear is heavy breathing and sighs, when I tell her to do something. Of course, there is light at the end of the tunnel, because an experienced mother told me that everything reverses when they reach age eighteen. Oh, just a puny eight years, eight multiplied by 365 days, it’s just a blink of the eye. No big deal.

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Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in July, 2010. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

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—About our writer:

Shalini Agarwal has a Graduate degree in English and Economics, and a post graduate degree in Finance. A mother of three, Shalini loves to read and write, especially about human quirks and sometimes about matters that plague her! Reading and writing represent an "oasis of sorts" for Shalini.

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