Making a Smooth Transition to Middle School

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The middle school years are marked by change but you can help parents and their students cope. This Parent Guide explains to parents that middle school students are expected to adapt to an atmosphere that requires organization skills and higher-level thinking. Parents are alerted that the many changes may stir up their child's emotions of insecurity about their outward appearance, academic, social or athletic abilities.

By providing a copy of this Parent Guide, you can help parents smooth this very difficult transition with ideas that will help calm their child's fears. Parents will get a list of the common gripes of teens, the reasons for each and how they can cope. To help them understand and assist their child, it discusses characteristics of adolescents. For instance, middle schoolers: have high levels of physical and emotional energy, take risks, want to be independent from their families, worry about being accepted by their peers, can easily become depressed, need new responsibilities and encouragement to try new things, and need explicit instruction, coaching and support with regard to organizing time and resources for homework. Parents will also get tips on how to stay connected with their child.

With this Parent Guide, parents can help their children cope with the new changes so their child can enjoy the passion and enthusiasm that comes with adolescence and hopefully leave behind the feelings of awkwardness and insecurity.