(Potentially running) thread: Help! My daughter is a tween and the Mean Girls Era has begun!

So, sadly, she will mostly have to navigate this on her own, but you definitely need to stay aware. It is so easy to get ostracized at this age. And girls are absolutely vicious. Best thing you can do is keep an open ear and eye. I wish my kid had been able to stay home seventh and eighth grades. It was brutal.

 

Am I the only person on this board who saw this thread and screamed, “Wait. That kid is how old?!?”

 

It does seem like she was born just eight seconds ago, right?

Seriously, it these things do seem to move quickly. I have always referred to my daughter as Little OOP on this site. When I joined, she was a toddler. Now she's a freshman in college.

 

NOPE!

 

When I joined, my son didn't exist. He's in 7th grade next year.

 

I just realized that in my account of the little discussion on the sidelines, I mixed up the twins, SisA and SisB (which everyone does). The point was the suddenly snippy attitude.

Mom StarSis mentioned it to me the other day; it's the first time, she says, any friction beyond "who ate the last slice of pizza" has developed between the two, who have always been like the proverbial bugs-in-a-rug.

The key, StarSis says, is the weight training. This isn't exactly a Arnold Schwarzenegger program, but it includes lifting four days a week for about an hour and chocolate protein shakes every day.

The weight training has worked to the tune of about 18-20 pounds. It's not like SisB looks like a roid rager or even particularly ripped, but she has visibly bulked up around the shoulders -- she's no longer "willowy." Which she's showing off, much to the nose-crinkling displeasure of her twin.

SisA missed out on most of this weight work doing the rehab on her knee surgery, so she's still sitting at right around 5-4, 100 pounds. SisB is about 5-5, 120.

"When you're 16, 18-20 pounds is a huge deal," StarSis says, explaining SisA's suddenly snooty attitude toward her identical twin.

The upside to that of course is that now with SisB undergoing her own ACL surgery in the next week or so, SisA will have 4-6 months to hit the weights herself and put on however much muscle she wants.

 

When I joined the first incarnation of SJ.com -- wasn't that "sports journalism.com" ?! -- none of the StarSis brood had been born, and I was still in the midst of my own marriage- that-didn't-quite-click, so maybe the prospect of my own munchkins was still somewhat on the radar screen.

And then one day you find, 25 years have got behind you ....

 

My bad, I misread your post as the girls playing the same sport together. Our middle school, I believe, has the kids going to each class separately (English, Math, etc) with a few minutes each day in homeroom.

 

My view about parenting (boys are now 23 & 20) is that you can only control so much. I don't sweat what I have no control over.

 

Y’know, he and BGH are each just a few years away from needing a prom date.

 

My daughter is not going to be a sophomore going to some troublemaking senior boy's prom!!!!

 

My nephew's the same age as your daughter, which means my time here predates his birth (and hers!). How does that happen? (Me wasting time, as well as time flying)