I thought I used to worry when my kids were little, and then I had teenagers?

Oh my.

I never realized how annoying I was until I gave birth to a mini-me and started arguing with her as a pre-teen.

The scariest part of raising teens is remembering all the dumb things I did at that age.

Well, every parent of a teenager can probably relate to those comments.

And if you've got a preteen growing up in your family, get ready.

Welcome to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.

I'm John Fuller, and we're so glad you've joined us today.

You know, John, we have so much great content

for parents of littles, parents of preteens, parents of teens and man there is some good stuff.

But it takes a little bit of getting used to in that parenting role to know where to go. What do I do?

I mean it's preteens are a tough moment. There are challenges around every corner it seems. What do I do? I mean, it's, yeah, preteens are a tough moment, too.

There are challenges around every corner, it seems. Yeah. I remember first day of school. What was your first day of school like? Were you gung-ho as a kindergartener? I wouldn't go. I didn't want to go. What was the reluctance? Well, I just, I liked home. Okay. Well, I was a firstborn who wanted to go out into the world and conquer the little mat and the chocolate milk we had.

You liked the chocolate milk?

I did, yeah. Well, we haven't talked a lot about those in-between kids, but we're going to do that today, the nine to 12-year-old space. They're not little kids anymore. They're kind of beginning to get their independence and find their way. And, you know, a lot of

parents, it's time to buckle up because the teens are around the corner and they're really going

to stretch the independence at that point. But it's a good thing. It's a God-given thing. And they're

trying to figure out who am I and what's my identity. So this is a time for the parents to really

put the pedal down and help them to find

their identity. And we have two great guests to help us do that today. Tricia Goyer and Leslie

Nunnery have a lot of experience between the two. Tricia has been on this program a number of times.

She's a speaker and author and podcast host and has 10 kids. So Trisha has raised several preteens along the way. She speaks with experience and authority. And Leslie is also an author and a speaker and is the co-founder of Teach Them Diligently, which provides gospel-centered homeschooling events and resources and has four children.

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