Anyone else's DD/DS start Secondary school in September ......

[2sugarsandapuppy]

.... and feel they've lost their little girl/boy?

A few weeks in, and she seems like a different child. 'I'm not cudddling you, I'm not a baby', discovering Facebook and being all Secret Squirrel about it, cycling to and from school on her own, meeting up for a Costa with chums after school, etc etc.

What happened to my little girl that hitherto had enjoyed Webkinz and Club Penguin?

Sniff

[Pyrocanthus]

Your baby's still in there, 2sugars, she's just trying out a new self for a while. Some of it will stick, like the independence, but I bet she'll come back round to the cuddling again.

Club Penguin's probably had its day though.

[fircone]

"Stop babying me, Mummy, I'm eleven And NO COAT!!" bellowed ds the other day as he disappeared down the drive.

Last night he's cuddled up with me asking for a Just William story.

[bruffin]

I think I lost my little baby in yr6, but she is one of oldest in the year and is 12 already and as tall as me(: and very hormonal

The one time I get a lovely cuddle and a smile is when she is asleep. I go in ask for a cuddle, she doesn't wake up just gives me a soppy grin and puts her arms up for a cuddle.

She is having a wonderful time at school though, it's all a huge new adventure with new friends and lots of clubs.

[Pyrocanthus]

My will still have a cuddle, but is loving her new independence and demostrating organizational skills that didn't seem at all likely in year 6 (I think that's the new person she's trying out at the moment; I hope she hangs on to her).

I just have to be careful to kiss her before she opens the front door in the morning, and I've not even broached the subject of coats yet.

[Pyrocanthus]

My DD will...

[RatherBeOnThePiste]

Initially in Year 7 it did feel like that, she was suddenly very independent and grown up ( in some ways ) and sometimes I felt I could do nothing right. Looking back, it felt like she believed she had something to prove to me.

...But that was last year and it has settled down again. Now it seems much more like the old days although hormones are flying around for sure!

[liliputlady]

Funny, my DD1 has just started secondary school and I almost feel as if I've got my little girl back. Because she has a long tiring day with lots of hard work and having to be independent, she's much more appreciative of home and our support than she was. But I'm under no illusions here - it may well be short-lived so I'm making the most of it!!

[Lancelottie]

Fircone -- I see your Just William story and raise you a 'Magic Kitten' story, as requested tonight by my 11-year-old DS.

Shhhhh...

The No Coats thing is universal, isn't it? Arriving at school soaking wet is obviously a modern rite of passage.

[Pyrocanthus]

One thing less to lose, as far as I'm concerned.

[2sugarsandapuppy]

Aw, some lovely posts on here.

I really don't get the coat thing. Surely when it gets really cold they'll buckle?

I was really never very good at Maths at school but things have come to a pretty pass when you have to say to your only-just 11 year old 'Wait till daddy comes home'.

The stroppy hormonal thing has been going on for quite some time in the 2 sugars household .....

[Pyrocanthus]

Oh I sometimes hav to say that to my 9 year-old, 2sugars.

[GhostlyPixieOnaPumpkin]

Sometimes I wish that DD2 was like this - she's at prep until Year 8, and only moves up to secondary when she's Year 9. She's still very much my primary school baby, and sometimes when I see some of the children from our village going to the bus stop by themselves in the morning, I wish that she was one of them!
Actually, the Prep school children seem to get all hormonal a lot later - most of them don't start being stroppy until they start at the new school, apparently, and this is definitely what happened with DD1 - maybe it's the change of scenery/expectations, and not puberty at all?

[MarsLady]

My third one has now started at Senior school. She's very young in the year (end of Aug birthday). She's the most independent of all of mine and the one that I've tried to keep little the longest iyswim.

I found the beginning of senior school the beginning of a lovely new independence and I've watched them grow and go, albeit nervously at first. They all come back and they all still need me for the things they've always needed me for. I just stand back and wait. They know I'm always there to catch them.

[cloelia]

Glad I found this thread, this is exactly my problem. 11yrold started secondary school in sept, 270 children in year, huge. Has suddenly become interested in boys, sex, thinking about sex ( I only discovered this by seeing a google trail by accident)> any of you more experienced mothers know any good web sites I could direct daughter to, a bit like Sugar or Shout magazines but on line?

[teameric]

this is how I feel about DS and he's still only in year 6 He has just started to walk to school on his own, and the other day I offered to walk with him cos I needed to go to the shop, and he went off on one!! I did end up going out the door with him but he couldn't get away from me quick enough.
I've apparantly become an officialy embarrasing parent.
He won't wear a coat either .
He still likes club penguin though