It's Hard to Be the Mother of An Eleven Year Old Girl

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Sheryl Bone is a full time, online professor in the Department of Student Success at Kaplan University. An active member of professional organizations, she makes presentations on a variety of topics related to education. Sheryl serves as a regional leader for the College Reading and Learning Association. She is a full time mother to three children, ages 14, 12 and 10 and one little dog, as well as a full time wife to a busy, supportive husband. Always driving someone somewhere, she is sometimes frazzled, usually tired, but generally a very happy woman. Follow Sheryl Bone on twitter at http://twitter.com/MomandProfessor

It's Hard to Be the Mother of An Eleven Year Old Girl

Posted on February 23, 2012

My daughter is eleven, soon to be twelve. She is in sixth grade. Wow, can girls be mean ! We have been dealing with sixth grade drama, resulting from some girls eavesdropping on a conversation between a parent and a teacher after school.

This all began last Thursday when I spoke to a teacher about some angst my daughter was having. She has told me that a student in her social studies class has been looking at her quiz papers. After hearing this several times I passed the information as I had it along to the teacher.

Several sixth grade girls saw me in the hallway chatting with the social studies teacher, leapt to all kinds of conculsions and there have been girls crying ever since. I am uncertain how my conversation with a teacher has turned into a sixth grade melodrama, but boy, has it ever !

My poor girl cried herself to sleep tonight, begging to stay home from school tomorrow to avoid the "mean girls" and the "annoying girls" and "the drama". I feel like she has told me the truth, but honestly, how do I know she isn't giving me her version of the truth ? How do I know that I am doing the right thing as I try to help her negotiate the rocky waters of adolescence ?

We all know that parenting is full of challenges and questions. I'm not sure what to do with this drams, which in my opinion has escalated to a ridiculous level. How do I help my daughter learn from this experience ?

After my girl cried herself to sleep, wedged into bed between me and my husband, I slipped out of bed. I emailed the teacher involved and the assistant principal. I asked them to help me better understand the situation so I could better help my daughter. Now, because I'm worried about my girl and can't fall back asleep, I am writing this post.

Parenting little kids is hard. Parenting tweens is hard. I bet if I asked my mom, she'd say parenting is always hard.

Whatever our careers might be, for working moms, isn't the mom part what tugs at your heart ? I'm distracted from my work because I'm worried about my daughter. Motherhood is a big job.