The ParenTribe
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New Tribes Forming--SPREAD THE WORD

We've had many requests for Tribes meeting on days other than Tuesday. Ask and you shall receive! We're launching 2 Tribes this spring--one in Branford and one in Killingworth (very close to Madison). Plus, we have a free introductory Tribe meeting on April 24. SPREAD THE WORD!
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What's Up in Our Tribes
Giving, getting, wanting, feeling--we've covered it all over the past two months, plus outwitted a mad monster and visited a magical forest. Check out the fun and learning that these wise gals do each month. 

Meet our New Teachers
We're proud to introduce our new Tween Tribe intern, Rachel  Seher. Rachel earned a doctorate from Yale University in 2005 and completed the Yale teacher preparation program with a focus on secondary English in the same year. We're also excited to announce that Summer Northup has joined us as a new Tween Tribe teacher. Summer brings years of experience teaching girls.

Mission.

Tween Tribe mission: At Tween Tribe, we turn cliques into communities; celebrate the best in each girl; and create a circle of Tribe sisters who learn tools for life.Parent Tribe mission: Parent Tribe is a an e-newsletter for parents and educators. Its mission is to share our research and observations with parents and caregivers of tweens (whether in our groups or not) to increase positive interaction between adults and tween-aged children. Parent Tribe is available free to all. We hope the insights shared here will enhance communication and understanding. [archive]    Subscribe 

Tween Tribe Stories

Want to see what our Tween Tribe stories are all about? Read a sampling here.

Tween Parenting Tips from an Expert

Marj Adler LPC runs a group called “Tweens” at the Madison Youth services and is full of information about tween age kids and parenting. Last month I went to talk with Marj to hear her ideas on parenting Tweens. Marj is a licensed counselor and exudes such a non-judgmental, open-hearted attitude that I had to stifle the urge to spill out my own parenting struggles and keep my focus on identifying key issues for parenting tween age girls.

Overall, Marj emphasizes communication. She believes parents need to find ways of keeping the lines of communication open as their tweens begin to become more independent and shift their focus to their peers. She suggests learning reflective listening; a tool therapists employ in order to establish rapport and affect healing with their clients.

Psychologists Karl Rogers first developed reflective listening as a dialogue technique which initiates healing by meeting our deep need to be heard and acknowledged. Reflective listening literally means saying back what you just heard another person say without adding in your own interpretation or advise.

Read the rest of the interview.Arrow

What Makes a Lesson Last?

What makes a lesson last? I asked my daughter and a few other members of the Tribe what they have learned. Their answers were heartening. They said they learned about “friendship,” “how to get along,” “how to talk when your heart hurts” and “how to make friends.” Arrow