Preteen Mood Swings - How To Deal With Them

If your child is getting old but not yet a teenager, he/she can be referred as a ‘Tween', which also means that this age will bring a lot of mood swings for them. Mood swings and tweens go hand in hand and there is nothing to worry about the same as they can go through multiple emotions during a day. Getting through the day with a moody tween is no easy job for a parent and hence you must take each day with patience so you can keep things under your control. Here are the ways which will help you deal with your moody tween.

1. Understanding is the key: This is the age where your child will be confronting a number of troubles, such as school, social media, home work, handling peers and so on and on the top there are a lot of hormonal changes happening in his/her body for which he/she must not be prepared which makes them go cranky. So you need to understand the same as once even you went through the same situation and remember how your parents managed to deal with it.
2. Taking the load off: These days tweens are loaded with ample of responsibilities such as home works, extra-curricular activities and so on which they tend to do without any break. If your child is complaining about numerous activities on his/her platter which is tough to deal with then it is time to take off a few of them in order to lighten the load. You will be surprised to find the mood swings disappear if your tween will have more time in hand
3. Getting a good sleep: Tweens require at least 9 hours of sleep every night in order to get charged up for the hustle to be battled the next day. So make sure your child gets enough sleep even during the weekends and remove all sorts of distraction from his/her room such as mobile phone, TV or a computer for a peaceful night sleep
4. Eating nutritious food: Apart from a good night's sleep, tweens must be eating a healthy diet in order to charge up their bodies to tackle the challenges they face on a regular basis. Giving your child a nourished diet consisting of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, milk and so on will offer them the right amount of nutrients that their growing bodies require. Junk foods do no good to them and hence must be cut off to a certain limit
5. Break time: Have you noticed your tween constantly being on the run without any break? If yes then give him/her a break at least once a day for a few minutes or a couple of hours to catch up with tasks that he/she loves to do such as catching up on a TV show, listening to some music or simply relaxing with family. Middle school can be demanding from your child which is why he/she needs to take off some time for himself/herself during the day
6. Chilling with friends: Tweens are used to confronting with their friends more than sharing with parents which is why it is essential for your child to relax with friends at least once a day. Let your child catch up with his/her friends through a call or through a personal visit which will help him/her relax while winding up the hard day. Also do not forget that being amongst friends offer tweens a sense of social security and is necessary for their well being
7. Family fun time: Being with family also means going for trips and picnics from time to time in order to make sure that as a family everyone has fun. Planning such trips every few months will help your child relax from the busy schedule he/she must be following
8. Exercising right: A balanced diet and a good night's sleep isn't enough to help your child keep up with his/her busy day. Exercise should also be involved in his/her routine which will allow the body to prep up for the hard day ahead. Exercise doesn't have to be hardcore for your child, it can involve cycling, roller skating or simply playing field games with his/her peers which will also enable him/her to enjoy some free time while also get some work out done. If you want to catch up with what is going on in your child's life then take a walk around the neighbourhood after dinner
9. Get your child to open up: At times tweens can exhibit mood swings because of something stressful that must be bothering him/her. Your child might feel frustrated as he/she must not be able to find anyone who he/she can confront to. This is why you need to be your child's first best friend so that he/she can share everything and anything with you without any hesitation. Whatever your child might be doing or thinking, you need not scold them if it is wrong as it will only make them more secretive towards you. Be a friend to your child and take things with an ease, understand by yourself and then make your child understand the situation from the right perspective. This will ensure your child a sense of security with you and will allow him/her to confide to you every time in need

These are the ways how you can deal with a moody tween and yet bring out the best in him/her. The only key to deal with a moody child is to be his/her best friend while also being an understanding parent and not judging him/her for everything that goes wrong in his/her life. You must not forget that you too were in a similar situation once and raging and dynamic hormones are to be blamed more or less for the rapid mood swings.

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