Community Tween Pop-Up Group Series
a place for tweens to come together. . .
Everyone wants to be heard …to express opinions …to be understood.
Tweens need to have people and places where they can feel supported to safely talk with others …a place where they can express feelings and thoughts and not be laughed at. This safe place can be anywhere—a church group, scouting, school clubs, sports teams. Tween Pop-Up Groups are designed to offer time and space in the community for social, emotional and character development led by tweens and guided by a licensed professional.
The developmental stage we call the tween years encompasses a period I refer to as “the forgotten years”—a time when parents describe their rapidly changing child with phrases like “he changed overnight” or “she is secretive” or “he has emotional outbursts for no reason” or “her friend group is more important than her family.” Overnight, it seems our children turn into new people we don’t know. In reality, tweens are confused too! To them, overnight their bodies go through new changes, their emotional turbulence appears more often and hard for them to describe, and their peer relationships matter in a profound way that impacts how they see themselves.
Meanwhile, parents and caregivers tend to focus during the elementary years on academics and social dynamics to make sure their children are safe and happy. And then shift to worry about the teen years and the changes ahead. These four little years between 9-12 get overlooked in the hustle and bustle.
Pop-Up Groups meet throughout the community for tweens to attend and talk openly, learn about themselves and grow in their understanding of the world around them. It is a short-term commitment (come to one, some or all the groups) that offers group members an opportunity to experience curiosity about self, answer questions they are unsure how to ask, and feel heard. Each group offers a safe place to talk, play, move, think and leave feeling lighter. Groups include time for activities, sports, discussion, games, music, art and food. The groups are happening in a variety of settings throughout our community to expose tweens to different places that are here to support and nurture their development. Each community site will have a different focus that touches on the theme of social emotional development.
Audience: Boys and girls ages 9-12
Length: Each pop-up group is on site for an hour and a half session.
