The Awkward Years

[sboman]

Junior High sucked.

That's what I remember about seventh and eighth grades. Kids from several different elementary schools converging to be educated in six separate periods a day, with dress down P.E., combination locks and no outdoor recess to speak of, was way too overwhelming for me. Just the concepts of a before and after school snack stand

Comments

[robinellen]

I think it makes a huge difference for pre-teens/early teens to have that parental support and understanding! Plus, when parents have been through tough times, I think the kids can sense that they truly empathize (and they can see that their parents survived it all somehow, so they will too). I hope it goes well!

From Cari

[anonymous]

Oh the countless AWFUL memories of junior High! I rate those two years as the hardest of my life. Having not been taught any social skills (my mother's bi-polar and lives in her own world and my dad's a moderately severe narcissist - his coffee and cigarettes always came before his children having enough food or decent clothes), it was like being thrown into a pool of piranhas. That first day was hell! In my PE class there were less than a dozen 7th graders, none of them I knew...the rest were 8th graders. On finding myself assigned to a smaller group of strangers (for the square dancing torture) one the 8th grade boys singled me out by suggesting I be the group mascot...ie that I was a dog. He then went on to torment me the whole year. Looking back as an adult I'm sure he actually liked me, not that he would have admitted liking a super-freak. That would have been social death! I was a pariah. My life would have been easier if I'd dressed "normal" (whatever that is), but we were really poor and I was really creative...not a good