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No Longer Little: Parenting Tweens with Grace and Hope
PARENTING PRETEENS
No one tells you what to expect.
Your 9 year old that loves school suddenly takes 3 hours to get math done. Don’t even ask about everything else.
The 11 year old that loves to run errands now can’t remember the one thing you told them to bring you long enough to get out of the room.
And the 13 year old…
EMOTIONAL TURMOIL
“Change your shirt before you leave,” you tell your son, but he explodes.
“You don’t care about me! This is my favorite shirt! You’re always criticizing me!”
Or, you walk in to find your daughter sobbing and ask, “What’s wrong, honey?”
“I don’t know!” she wails.
They climb on an emotional rollercoaster and invite you to join them.
Don’t get a ticket for that ride.
A TIME OF TRANSITION
What’s happening? They’re changing! The tweens or preteens, whatever you want to call it ,are the beginning of the transition to adulthood.
Hormones are flowing. Things are changing. Emotions are high.
School is a struggle, all of a sudden.
And spiritual questions pop up where there were none before.
THE STAKES ARE HIGH
Most parent-child relationships are broken during the tween years. When they are, the teens often just get worse and worse.
If you can get through the preteen years with your relationship intact, though, the teen years tend to get better and better.
Lay a foundation to make the teen years great!
HERE’S HELP
Practical help. Real encouragement. Just what you need to cope with emotional meltdowns, motivate them to get school done, answer their spiritual questions, and most of all, protect your relationship with your eight to fourteen year olds.
No Longer Little: Parenting Tweens with Grace and Hope
Hal and Melanie Young, authors of Raising Real Men and My Beloved and My Friend, both awarded Christian Small Publishers Book of the Year, are your guides on this challenging journey through these critical years of parenting…so that the years to come get better and better.
No one tells you what to expect.
Your 9 year old that loves school suddenly takes 3 hours to get math done. Don’t even ask about everything else.
The 11 year old that loves to run errands now can’t remember the one thing you told them to bring you long enough to get out of the room.
And the 13 year old…
EMOTIONAL TURMOIL
“Change your shirt before you leave,” you tell your son, but he explodes.
“You don’t care about me! This is my favorite shirt! You’re always criticizing me!”
Or, you walk in to find your daughter sobbing and ask, “What’s wrong, honey?”
“I don’t know!” she wails.
They climb on an emotional rollercoaster and invite you to join them.
Don’t get a ticket for that ride.
A TIME OF TRANSITION
What’s happening? They’re changing! The tweens or preteens, whatever you want to call it ,are the beginning of the transition to adulthood.
Hormones are flowing. Things are changing. Emotions are high.
School is a struggle, all of a sudden.
And spiritual questions pop up where there were none before.
THE STAKES ARE HIGH
Most parent-child relationships are broken during the tween years. When they are, the teens often just get worse and worse.
If you can get through the preteen years with your relationship intact, though, the teen years tend to get better and better.
Lay a foundation to make the teen years great!
HERE’S HELP
Practical help. Real encouragement. Just what you need to cope with emotional meltdowns, motivate them to get school done, answer their spiritual questions, and most of all, protect your relationship with your eight to fourteen year olds.
No Longer Little: Parenting Tweens with Grace and Hope
Hal and Melanie Young, authors of Raising Real Men and My Beloved and My Friend, both awarded Christian Small Publishers Book of the Year, are your guides on this challenging journey through these critical years of parenting…so that the years to come get better and better.
202 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 23, 2018
91 people are currently reading
349 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
August 9, 2020
Good reminders. Nothing ground breaking but still helpful. Reading it was like talking over coffee to a mom you admire and want advice from!
May 3, 2025
I absolutely loved this book. took me forever to read but that was honestly better to enjoy small chunks of it and think of how to parent better as we are already in the emotional aspect of preteen years with my oldest. I can't recommend this book enough!
February 5, 2022
3.5 stars. It was a good overview and thoughts but nothing life changing. I am glad I read it though as it helped me realize some things to work on in my relationship with my older 2.
November 26, 2018
Hal and Melanie Young from Great Waters Press offer valuable insight into the mind of your tween in their new book No Longer Little: Parenting Tweens with Grace and Hope. The parents of six boys and two girls, the Young's have a wealth of experience from which to pool and share.
As a mother of six, soon-to-be seven, from ages 15 to 1, I was interested in what they had to say and what advice they would give. After all, I still have quite a few tweens to raise. I wish this book had been available several years ago as we were just entering the tween phase! Everyone tells you to prepare for the teen years, but they often neglect to mention that those emotions begin way earlier. All of my girls have gone through a phase thus far between 7-10 where they burst into tears over every infraction often leaving my husband and I both baffled and frustrated. After all, weren't they too little to be experiencing such mood swings?
The answer is no. We were just unprepared to be experiencing it sooner than we expected. In the first chapter, Hal and Melanie actually delve into the hormones and body changes your child will be experiencing as well as the emotional roller coaster they are about to embark upon.
I brought No Longer Little with me when I went to take my glucose test. After all, I would have an hour to spare. There I was sitting in a crowded lab waiting room, when I came to these sentences in chapter two describing life with an emotional tween: "It was like living in a house with a pet porcupine. One that has burst into flame. A flaming porcupine." I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the description and was completely unapologetic as strangers eyes shifted toward me. It wasn't my fault they didn't bring a good book to read. I found their description of living with a tween quite apt. We have had at least one flaming porcupine in our home that has left our heads spinning and asking, "What was that?"
As I read through the book it was as if Hal and Melanie had snuck into my home and were describing the scenes they had seen. I kept thinking, "Yes! That is exactly how it is!" They were describing my girls to a tee. It was both comforting and reassuring to know mine was not the only family with flaming porcupines.
In addition to sharing stories from their own experiences, they offer explanations for why tweens behave how they do and give practical advice to help you navigate the tween years and maintain a good relationship with your child. I appreciated that they seemed to have the same parenting philosophy as us and it was good to get a different perspective on how to achieve certain goals, such as teaching how to discern and use technology and media.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to any parent of tweens or emerging tweens. You won't be sad you read it, though you might be if you don't.
As a mother of six, soon-to-be seven, from ages 15 to 1, I was interested in what they had to say and what advice they would give. After all, I still have quite a few tweens to raise. I wish this book had been available several years ago as we were just entering the tween phase! Everyone tells you to prepare for the teen years, but they often neglect to mention that those emotions begin way earlier. All of my girls have gone through a phase thus far between 7-10 where they burst into tears over every infraction often leaving my husband and I both baffled and frustrated. After all, weren't they too little to be experiencing such mood swings?
The answer is no. We were just unprepared to be experiencing it sooner than we expected. In the first chapter, Hal and Melanie actually delve into the hormones and body changes your child will be experiencing as well as the emotional roller coaster they are about to embark upon.
I brought No Longer Little with me when I went to take my glucose test. After all, I would have an hour to spare. There I was sitting in a crowded lab waiting room, when I came to these sentences in chapter two describing life with an emotional tween: "It was like living in a house with a pet porcupine. One that has burst into flame. A flaming porcupine." I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the description and was completely unapologetic as strangers eyes shifted toward me. It wasn't my fault they didn't bring a good book to read. I found their description of living with a tween quite apt. We have had at least one flaming porcupine in our home that has left our heads spinning and asking, "What was that?"
As I read through the book it was as if Hal and Melanie had snuck into my home and were describing the scenes they had seen. I kept thinking, "Yes! That is exactly how it is!" They were describing my girls to a tee. It was both comforting and reassuring to know mine was not the only family with flaming porcupines.
In addition to sharing stories from their own experiences, they offer explanations for why tweens behave how they do and give practical advice to help you navigate the tween years and maintain a good relationship with your child. I appreciated that they seemed to have the same parenting philosophy as us and it was good to get a different perspective on how to achieve certain goals, such as teaching how to discern and use technology and media.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to any parent of tweens or emerging tweens. You won't be sad you read it, though you might be if you don't.
April 4, 2023
I was looking for help with parenting my ten year old daughter, who is in the throes of puberty and tweendom. While it had some nuggets of wisdom, some information that showed some solidarity (why is my kid suddenly flunking her classes?!, why can’t she get ready for the day without me having to lose my f&@!ing mind?!), and had some tips that I’ll be using it was more biblically based than I knew of when I purchased the book.
With the biblical focus, some of the advice won’t work for our family.
Overall, the book was written well with perspectives shared from the author raising a large family.
With the biblical focus, some of the advice won’t work for our family.
Overall, the book was written well with perspectives shared from the author raising a large family.
April 1, 2022
This is an excellent resource for all parents with kids who are quickly approaching the tween and teen years. Written by a couple who have successfully raised multiple young men to adulthood, this book is full of practical, Biblically solid advice. Topics covered include everything from physical changes and how to talk about them, to finances, video games, and social awkwardness. I appreciate the humble, humorous approach of the authors, and know this is a book I will refer to again as my kids go through this stage of life.
July 30, 2018
This is a great guide to tween & teen parenting young man cubs- boys who are no longer boys, but not quite men. The authors- parents of eight and more specifically, 6 man cubs- get it. They explain in useful, practical tips how to get through the tough times of parenting tweens. “If you want to preserve your relationship with your child, you will need to keep your own feet (and heart and mind) on solid ground, in order to give them a point of stability they can cling to.” Great read!
January 28, 2026
I felt like the first half was so encouraging as I'm drowning in preteen emotions at my house. it is from a Christian perspective which I also appreciated. The last few chapters seemed to have a different tone and focus though which was mostly preparing your teen for adulthood. That part I found less helpful at this stage. But overall I will be reading at least the first half again with each child that enters this stage.
July 7, 2023
I really enjoyed how real and thorough this dynamic duo were in sharing their experiences with their preteens and into the teenage years. I will treasure this book and pass it on to my kids. It contains very practical, spiritual and relationship-equipping tools to help you as a parent to guide your children into becoming responsible adults.
January 1, 2025
There are so many great nuggets of advice in this read and I was really looking forward to it! I kept waiting for something groundbreaking or deeply insightful but it felt quite redundant on what worked for their kids. Lots of practical information but nothing I wasn’t already aware of and implementing. However, HOWEVER, for a family looking to start gathering resources for a simple faith driven perspective on parenting this age group it’s PERFECT!
July 3, 2025
Good book that I’d recommend. The last couple of chapters or points strayed from strong Biblical basis to more personal preferences or personal experiences, but were not bad. Some helpful anecdotes throughout that make the concepts seem more attainable, but also a couple unhelpful (vague?) experiential comments. Overall, recommend for parents with “tweens”.
October 28, 2025
So encouraging, enlightening and helpful for anyone who spends time with children between 10&15. I currently have 2 at home in the range. I've learned to give them grace as I've been given grace and be thoughtful in conversations with them. They say children don't come with a manual, but this little book helps bring biblical perspective to raising up tweens.
December 2, 2025
Very practical, helpful tips for guiding parents and their children through the preteen and teen years. I especially loved the emphasis on needing to listen to my children and trust the Lord through it all.
January 9, 2019
I wish I would have read this when my oldest was 8ish. One of the best books I’ve read in a long time on parenting. Easy read and packed full of Godly wisdom and advice. Very good!!
May 19, 2019
A nice overview of the preteen years and things to look for and be aware of before you get there. Thanks for the heads up.
February 15, 2021
Reviewed on my website, http://learndifferently.com
July 13, 2021
Light on substance and practical advice. Heavy on personal anecdotes and preaching.
May 31, 2022
Helpful and practical
This book was very informative and practically helpful. I would recommend it to all parents with children of any age.
This book was very informative and practically helpful. I would recommend it to all parents with children of any age.
July 3, 2022
Probably one of the best parenting books I have read in that it is full of actual practical tips and daily wisdom. If you are heading into the tween years give this a read
July 28, 2022
Good solid info from experienced parents, but nothing super insightful for me at this point. It would have probably been more useful to me several years ago.
February 21, 2023
Great encouragement to keep on loving and parenting your kiddos during those tough transitional ages.
June 4, 2024
I was bothered a little by typos, but I found the advice very helpful for the preteen/teen years - all from a biblical perspective. I have loved learning from this family for the past several years.
June 15, 2024
A look at raising kids in that I'm between time of child and teenager. A good reminder that they are changing quickly and looking forward to being adults one day.
July 31, 2025
this book felt like sitting with someone older and wiser as they gave very practical advice ♥ enjoyed!
December 10, 2024
Excellent
This has turned out to be an excellent resource to help me understand and navigate the changes going on in my preteens life. I have gained a lot of practical advice and guidance to grasp my role in this stage of motherhood.
This has turned out to be an excellent resource to help me understand and navigate the changes going on in my preteens life. I have gained a lot of practical advice and guidance to grasp my role in this stage of motherhood.
August 2, 2018
know this isn't new, but I wish I had this book when my children were younger. The Youngs cover every topic you need to deal with in this
the world where it seems everything and everyone is trying to steal your children.
Even if you add your own twist to their ideas so that it suits your family better, you will have a good base to build from.
It would also work to read this with your child - after you've read it yourself.No Longer Little: Parenting Tweens with Grace and Hope
the world where it seems everything and everyone is trying to steal your children.
Even if you add your own twist to their ideas so that it suits your family better, you will have a good base to build from.
It would also work to read this with your child - after you've read it yourself.No Longer Little: Parenting Tweens with Grace and Hope
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews