My daughter just finished her first year of middle school and it was a roller coaster. There were good days, bad days and jaw dropping days all because we were now in this new world, called middle school. The best thing you can do for yourself and your child is to gain as much information possible to help you both navigate through this new phase of life.

Middle school is an adjustment and the adjustment can be hard. Simply, because there is so much that comes with this new stage. Your child is leaving the baby phase and entering into the self discovering phase. As parents it’s our job to help them through this process, but still let them determine who they want to be.

If your child is already in middle school or the sixth grade year is quickly approaching, I’m going to give you some tips that will help you adjust to these three years of education that comes along with an eye opener to the real world.

Tips On How To Navigate Middle School.

As parents, we have to prepare ourselves.

Entering into this new phase, we must understand that our children will now be exposed to an entire new world. One that you may feel they are not ready for. One that you may feel you have sheltered them from and tried to keep them young as long as possible. But they grow up and as much as we want to keep them in our arms, we have to prepare them for the real world. We prepare ourselves, by sharpening our parenting skills. We must manage our own emotions and be involved in their lives. Allow them to experience life with you by their side.

Open communication is necessary.

This is the stage in life where it is okay to be their friend. The old school term was, “I’m not your little friend.” The term I use now is, “I’m your best friend!” You want to develop an open communication where your child feels comfortable to come and talk to you about anything. Let them know that no topic is off limits. And this can be really hard in the parent world, because we want our babies to stay babies forever. But at the same time, we want them properly and fully educated on life altering situations. We don’t want society, friends with little to no knowledge or google being the one to talk and educate our kids. That’s our responsibility. It will be scary and awkward, but once the conversation has happened, you will feel better knowing they received the correct information from you and it will be harder for them to be misguided.

Teach them to stay out of drama.

Middle school is full of drama, especially for girls. The best thing I did for my daughter was to make her aware of what drama was and how to stay out of it. There’s a mean girl phase that’s common during these years of school. And this can be tough. Teach them what a real friend is and how friends should treat each other. Every situation that your child brings home is an open conversation that should be concluded with an example and a lesson.

Discuss the social media rules for your household.

Social media is the biggest impact on kids these days. If your child has a phone, they have social media. There is no way of getting around that. Set boundaries and rules so they understand the dos and donts of social media. Make sure it’s clear of what they can and cannot be a part of. Teach them phone safety and make sure they have internet and text awareness. Make sure they understand that once it has entered the internet world, they cannot get it back, even if they delete it, someone still has it.

Give them constant affirmations.

During this time, the kids are trying to find themselves. They are discovering their own identity. It’s easy to get caught up in things that may not be for them while on this journey. Affirm your kids frequently to remind them who they are and what they stand for, because they are looking for acceptance. Speak positive things over them that will build them up and make them proud of who God created them to be.

Allow them to find their own identity.

This stage of their life, kids are finding out who they are. They are realizing what they like and what they don’t. Who they are and who they would like to be. We have to give them the time and space to be able to do this. The hardest part of this process is realizing your child is not you. What may come easy for you, may be a struggle for them. For example, you may be a social butterfly and finding friends may come easy for you, but your child may simply struggle with walking into a room full of people. Try not to push them before they are ready, just because it’s easy for you doesn’t mean it’s the same for them. Encourage them and allow them to grow at their own pace.

If you have a middle school girl, teach her about her period.

Most girls will start their menstruation cycle during the middle school years. The best thing we can do for our girls is to prepare them. Eliminate the fear, embarrassment and the unknown by simply talking to them about their body and informing them of what’s to come. Explain the process is normal and happens to every female and then teach them what to do so they are prepared when that time comes.

Involve both parents in the journey.

Having the help of one parent navigate a child through middle school is great, but having the help of two parents is even better. This will give the child two different point of views and allows the child to have options of who they want to confide in. The advice from mom is going to be different than the advice from dad and they can both have a monumental impact on the child.

The middle school stage is where you will watch your child grow and change a lot. Embrace the change and help them to stay inside the given boundaries. Enjoy the journey and be there for them as they experience all of these life changes that will be the beginning stages of them developing into the adult they want to become. Love and support your child and enjoy the ride!!