Parent Gossip

My babies are growing up.  The Witchlings are both in that no-mans land called the pre-teen years. I don’t remember being a pre-teen.  I was a child then I was a teenager.  This new scary middle ground simply didn’t exist for me or many of my innocent(ish) generation!  They say children are growing up quicker these days and the fact that we have a whole set of ‘issues’ surrounding the pre-teen is certainly evidence of that!

Well Witchling 10 and Witchling 12 are well and truly into their pre-teen years here I stand, amid the ranks of other dazed and confused mums out there who are suddenly faced with their 10 year old looking up from their dolls house and demanding kitten heeled sling backs and talking about boys! It’s difficult to remember that these independent little miniature grown ups were once so dependent on us for everything. The secret is to remember that now, as much as ever, they are still dependent on us and are still in need of all our unconditional love, acceptance and support.

Witchling 12 wants to be a Goth, and Witchling 10 wants to be… well I’m not sure what she really wants to be! Some days it’s a punk and other days she’d quite like to be a cat! There are experiments in the art of make up, forays into manicure and pedicure territory (why must it ALWAYS be RED!?) and a definite tendency towards ankle breaking, toe deforming high heels. But beneath the funky punky clothes (which personally I rather like so long as they cover everything that ought to be covered and aren’t carbon copies of inappropriate clubwear such as I have cringed at on 11 year olds recently) and the altered attitudes towards everything (especially loading the dishwasher and excersise) the Witchlings are still the Witchlings. They’re still my little girls most of the time and I’m still their mummy – for now.

The pre-teen years, as far as I can make out, combine the onset of puberty (hormone cocktails ahoy!) and masses and masses of insecurity and fretting about identity. Suddenly ‘Who am I?’ ‘Where do I fit in?’ and ‘What will other people think about me?’ become all consuming worries. But on the plus side, the Witchlings are developing truly wicked senses of humour and I have to say, shopping with two Witchlings who have just discovered clothes and oooooh, shoes, can be a great deal of fun. We’re steering away from pretty in pink as they begin to carve out their own identities. Its a priviledge to be allowed to be a part of it! Mind you, at 5.30pm on a Saturday, after 8 hours of shopping in a busy shopping centre, it takes rather a large glass of wine to make me remember that!

The bottom line is that they may harp on (and believe me, they do!) about mobile phones, clothes, and boys (Boys! Heaven help us!!!) and the like but these are really just the first baby steps on the journey away from childhood into the big scary world of adulthood. There is still a long way to go but I’ll be there for them every step of the way.