better
FAMILY
t wasn’t until Beth Harpaz saw
her son’s first high school
report card—mostly C’s and
D’s—that she knew he was
struggling. “Taz always said
things were going fine, but he
-----
H I!— clearly wasn’t learning the
material,” she says. “About the only thing he
was doing right was showing up for class.”
For Harpaz, author of
13 Is the New 18:
And Other Things My Children Taught Me
While I Was Having a Nervous Breakdown
Being Their Mother,
the solution offered at
her first parent-teacher conference was
almost worse: Taz’s adviser announced that
parents should always check their child’s
homework. “I was offended,” Harpaz says.
“This was high school. I didn’t want to act
like the police, and I didn’t want my son
doing something just because I was
checking up on him.”
One of the biggest dilemmas for parents
of tweens and teens is how to help their
child successfully navigate increasingly
rigorous academic challenges and greater
social demands—without nagging, cod-
dling, or fighting. Experts agree that the
toughest school transitions are from
elementary to middle school, middle to
high school, and high school to college.
Here are strategies you can use to help your
child become more independent and
succeed during those crucial years.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
In middle school, recess is a thing of the past.
Homework demands ramp up. Plus, she’s
expected to switch classes every hour—with-
out forgetting her books. Whether your
middle school starts in fifth, sixth, or seventh
grade, you’re probably worried that your
child can’t handle these new demands.
Fortunately, “Middle school is often a lot
harder on parents than it is on students,” says
Eileen Vickers, middle level vice-president of
the American Association of School
“Middle-school kids want to
feel their own power and be
independent, but they still
want to know that their
parents are there.”
JANET WEISBERG, PSYCHOLOGIST
thcmotherboard
a m illion w om en strong
Don’t forget tim e management in your back-to-school
prep. W hen we asked the m om s on o ur online
com m unity, The M otherboard, what their kids’ biggest
concerns were when transitioning to a new school, we
were surprised to learn that it was time. Specifically,
they w orried about having enough time to get to class
and com plete their workload. Kids— just like us!
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SEPTEMBER 2010 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
