Childhood's End?

“It’s cooler than ever to be a tween, but is childhood being lost?” – Sharon Jayson, USA Today

Tweens , generally considered to be boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 12 years old, have undergone many changes over the past two or three decades, and not all of them are good. Author Sharon Jayson describes a tween as being one who “…aspires to teenhood but is not quite there yet.” (Jayson, 2009) As such, this group has long been a target of retailers, but recently behavioral researchers and psychologists have begun to study tweens as a unique segment of the population. It is a growing segment, too - one that the U.S. Census estimated at 20 million in 2009 and predicted to reach close to 23 million by 2020.

The article notes that tweens are described as “…torn between family and BFFs, between fitting in and learning how to be an individual.” (Jayson, 2009). This is a description that in previous generations would have been applied to teens, not pre-teens. And at the same time that social pressures are shifting downward, so are scholastic expectations. Kindergarten, once seen as a mere introduction to the social aspects of school, such as waiting in line or raising one’s hand and waiting to be called on, now has a full set of academic standards that must be met. Likewise, middle school, which was once viewed mainly as a way for students to accustom themselves to the concept of multiple classes and different instructor expectations (so as to prepare them for high school) is now a place where high-stakes testing and pressure to perform has become the rule. It is not surprising that academic problems, as well as problems with substance abuse, become increasingly apparent in middle school. (Jayson, 2009)

Two statistics reported in a sidebar of the article have particular significance for librarians trying to determine how best to serve tweens. More than 1,200 tweens were surveyed in December of 2008. Of those responding, 46% of boys and 52% of girls had read a book for fun in the week immediately preceding the survey; during that same week 83% of boys and 39% of girls had played a game on a game console system. While it is encouraging that nearly half the boys and slightly more than half the girls actually read for fun, we also need to acknowledge the pull of video games on this generation. How do we pull in that other 56% of the boys, particularly those who are also included in the 83% of gamers? Many games now have novelizations available, and there are gamer magazines available – if we offer it, they will read. And what about the missing 48% of girls? What can we provide to pull them in?

What other needs can we as librarians address? We can’t entirely remove the pressure to “grow up- GROW UP – GROW UP!!!” but we can create a haven in which tweens are free to explore who they are and who they are becoming. Make the information tweens need available to them. Provide an atmosphere in which tweens can relax, as well as one in which they can study. Sponsor social activities based on different tween interests. Most importantly, provide a place in which tweens have the opportunity to be human beings rather than human doings.

References:

Jayson, S. (2009, February 4). It's cooler than ever to be a tween, but is childhood being lost?. USA Today, Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-02-03-tweens-behavior_N.htm