4 Stressful Reasons Parenting A Tween Is Exhausting

Are you a tired tween mom? Is this an age you're really not looking forward to?

This is not, however, the tired that comes with a toddler running over both your psyche and your body nonstop. While I found the potty training phase stressful and at times embarrassing, I think that deep, deep down I knew that at some point, she would use the bathroom solo.

What I feel now is a different kind of tired than what I felt a decade ago.

I feel guilty saying that I’m tired at all because my child is a tween. In fact, my daughter is counting down the days until she’s a teenager. She dresses and bathes herself. She would be disturbed by the idea of climbing into bed with me in the middle of the night. She not only feeds herself, but can whip up a meal if pressed to do so.

This fatigue is the result of more than just staying up longer than I’d like because I have to pick her up from a friend’s house after a late-over on a Friday night or getting up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to drive her to an early activity.

This tiredness is rooted in more than just the physical. It is the emotional kind of exhaustion that is the result of larger worries. It is from the worries that come with discussing domestic violence, sexting and drugs. From the knowledge that those are realities now for kids the same age as my child, that they happen in my child’s school.

You can find the rest of her thoughts on Scary Mommy. When you're finished, leave a comment and share your take on being a tween mom.