I have a lovely 12 year old DD. She is kind and fun, she is doing really well at school, gets on with her siblings (apart from the usual small squabbles). She's quite a homebody, very happy to hang around with the family. My worry is that all her school friends seem more 'mature' and independent and that maybe I mollycoddle her. Now she's at secondary school she has stopped hanging around with a lot of old friends - she says that all they talk about is make-up and boyfriends, and she isn't interested in that. She used to meet up with friends to travel to school together but they stopped including her so she goes on her own now. She says she has new friends, but she never sees them outside of school. I worry other girls might see her as immature or a bit weird.
I'm aware I probably do too much for her so have been trying to encourage her to be more independent - doing chores around the house, tidying her room. She has her own doorkey and happy to be at home by herself sometimes. I've tried to teach her to cook and bake and she likes doing it occasionally, but then just forgets how to do it and I have to teach her all over again! I still find myself nagging her to do her homework, and brush her teeth, wash her hair etc, and it drives me mad!
In the school holidays I've suggested she messages friends and arrange to meet up at the pools or shops but she never does, and she's too old now for me to organise that kind of thing for her.
She has some hobbies - plays in a few music groups, loves reading, playing computer games. She's a bit of a daydreamer, and at the weekend she'd be very happy to sit in her room all day reading books! But then when I talk to other mums their daughters the same age seem to be off at shopping centres, or meeting in cafes, or hanging around at each other's houses.
When I talk to her she seems happy, she says everything is fine. I just don't know what is normal this age, and if I am doing the right things!