My name is Thomas Brock and I’ll be using the Onslow Memorial Hospital TweenBeat blog to talk about my experiences as the dad of a 9 year-old girl. Our situation may not be unique (broken household with both parents in new relationships) but it provides a source of ideas and solutions to problems that Mini (my daughter), and other pre-teen children, face.
Today’s children face issues and situations that many of us didn’t (at least, I know I did not) have to deal with growing up: Adult-oriented media; Peer pressure to try illicit drugs, alcohol, tobacco and sex; Less parental supervision; And more opportunities for general mischief and mayhem. In Jacksonville, there’s also a constant flow of friends moving into and out of the area and a perceived lack of recreational and extra-curricular activities.
It is my goal to provide a springboard for conversations on parenting children that are in the awkward pre-teen stage of development. This site will be a place to come to get some advice from other parents in similar circumstances that will have different experiences and have different ideas.
Mini is 9, has lived in Jacksonville her whole life and is in the 4th grade. She’s dealt with me being a Marine, deploying and working weekends and late nights, she’s dealt with the deaths of her great-grandparents and her best friend, and she’s dealt with her parents splitting up and moving onto relationships with new people. She’s dealing with having two completely separate households, with different rules and responsibilities. But she’s dealing with it all very well, I think.
I’m 31, have lived in Jacksonville since 2000. I was in the Marine Corps for more than 8 years and deployed to the Horn of Africa in 2003. I’ve been a Civil Servant on Camp Lejeune since 2005, where I worked in the II MEF Family Readiness Office. Earlier this year, I was reassigned to the Installation Personnel Administration Center. I’ve had a girlfriend for several years, though Mini met her last summer.
That’s the outline, cast and crew. All that’s left is filling in dialogue. Hopefully, you’ll help with that and this will become the “go-to” place for advice on getting through the “Tween” years…
