ZEYNEP OKUR GUNER, PhD

In middle school, tweens start to have more freedom and less adult supervision, which gives them a much larger pool of potential friends. Until now, their friendships were mostly based on proximity (kids who live in the same neighbourhood tend to become friends) or on their parents' preferences for other parents in their class. With the start of middle school, tweens begin choosing their own friends, and frankly, we don't have much say in it. Around this time, we also see an

Have you realised that the sports activities we did during our school years had a different taste than today’s children’s activities? I remember, being relaxed and having fun whilst I was playing table tennis (even though I was a school team member attending tournaments regularly). In addition to my table tennis practices, I remember playing and enjoying lots of other sports each year. Today’s children’s experience looks and feels far from that of mine and possibly yours. “Yo

One of the worst things we can imagine has happened: our child has told us that they are being bullied at school. Now what? Our first instinct may be to go straight to the school, speak to the principal, and demand the toughest consequences for the children involved. However, just because we are naturally driven to protect our children does not always mean that our first instinct is the best course of action. First of all, we need to set aside our own feelings about our child