What's Up With Your 8-11 year olds??

Are they suddenly moody, irritable, distant?

What can you do to change the pattern?

How can you help them through adolescence and into adulthood?

Learn why your child is acting differently.
Learn what they are trying to tell you.
Learn what you can do to help them, and to make family life more enjoyable.

Announcing Peri-Adolescence!

Peri-adolescence is a new term describing the phase from 8 - 10 in girls, and 9 - 11 in boys, before they're clearly pre-adolescent.

Family interactions can be loving and pleasant through adolescence.

Fine-tuning your family's interactions before puberty makes the teen years much easier.

Some of the things you'll learn:

How life has changed for children and families
What modern pressures have been accelerating children's physical and behavioral development
How those pressures have affected normal child developmental stages
The difference between pre-adolescence and peri-adolescence, and why it's important to address this stage in a new way!
What kids are trying to say when they act moody and irritable
How you can help them with the pressures they're exposed to
How you can make your family a haven of safety and open communication
Why you need to

Parents of teens and young children can benefit from learning about Peri-Adolescence too!

It's never too late to improve communication and develop new coping strategies! Learn how to adjust your parenting style to smooth interactions, build stronger connections and ease the transition into adolescence for the whole family.

Sign up for the free Parenting & Peri-Adolescence blog!

If we focus on understanding their struggles, rebellion is unnecessary. Pre-adolescence and adolescence can be smoother, with more enjoyable family and school experiences, and children can grow into adulthood with more self-esteem and sense of feeling supported, and a sense of feeling close with their families.

“I saw your new blog. Congratulations - it is excellent! I think there is a real need for this information, and I am personally interested as the mother of an almost 11-year-old daughter. Thanks for sharing your work.”

Debra L, CT

“Many years ago, I read an article of yours on night terrors, which was my introduction to attachment disorder. I spoke to you at that time. You were our savior. We spent 1.5 years in attachment therapy (very successful), and most recently, have participated in a study on social anxiety at Temple University.
Now, our daughter (age 10) seems to be having some early signs of maturity. I have colleagues who tell me there is research that indicates the hormones we eat in our meat and milk are precipitating this - what is your opinion on this? Very happy to reconnect. You were a tremendous help to our family some 5 years ago . . .

Mary Ann F., New Jersey

“Sarah Gillen and her peri-adolescent curriculum have been instrumental in assisting me with my 11 year-old daughter’s explosive temper tantrums. Sarah helped me better to understand were my daughter was coming from and to develop more effective methods of discussion that would calm her emotions. Over the past weeks I have been able to implement some of Sarah’s suggestions, so that future explosive situations can be averted.”

Emily Sloan, mother,

photographer,

environmentalist,

Montpelier, VT