For the past year and a half, I have found myself returning again and again to one question:
who exactly is the tween, and what do they need while they are in-between?

It was, in fact, a digital conversation, about how to balance our screens, that first led my colleague and me to focus on tweens age.
This is the stage of life when many children are handed their first smartphone, transition from primary to secondary school, face
the beginnings of puberty, and start developing a strong desire for independence.

In 2024, we founded the Balanced Screen Hub community to share information about the digital world with others.
Our concern wasn’t just about the devices in our own children’s hands, but also the ones in the hands of their peers. Initially,
like many parents, we asked ourselves how to control or manage screen use more effectively. But as we explored the issue more deeply,
it became clear that the answer wasn’t simply about tighter control. It was about something far more fundamental:
where are the real-world spaces for our children to connect, to belong, and to be heard?

From this question, Tween Talk was born.

Figure 1 Dynamic Pubertal “Growth Spurt” Depicted[2]

Children at this stage are maturing physically earlier than in previous generations, while also navigating a world that feels faster, more complex, and increasingly unpredictable. Most have access to online content, whether directly through their own devices or indirectly through peers and the wider social landscape. Yet, while their exposure has expanded, their ability to critically process what they encounter is still developing. Without support, this gap can be difficult to navigate.

Mark Yeowell, founder of Digital Tweens, describes this as digital puberty. He explains, “For many children, this happens during the tween years, making this stage not just a bridge to adolescence, but also the point at which digital childhood begins to change in more significant ways.”[3] Their social lives, learning, and sense of identity are often deeply intertwined with online spaces. Platforms can provide connection, independence, creativity, and community, sometimes filling gaps that exist in offline environments. But as Mark warns, “It can also bring exposure to pressures, distractions, conflicts, and risks that require a higher level of judgement, self-regulation, and support than many tweens are yet ready to manage alone.”

These challenges include exposure to unrealistic standards, unfiltered information, social comparison, and interactions that can occur without adult guidance. At an age when curiosity about relationships, identity, and the wider world is naturally increasing, tweens are often encountering content they are not yet equipped to fully understand or process. Mark suggests that “when smartphone ownership simultaneously emerges [during tweenhood], it does not sit outside of other aspects of adolescent development, it becomes part of it.” This, he explains, is “why this stage matters so much,” and why “we should not treat smartphone ownership as a simple handover of a device.”

It reinforces the importance of trusted adults, open conversations, and importantly, access to safe third spaces, places outside of home and school where tweens can connect, explore, and make sense of what they’re experiencing, both online and offline.

These experiences are particularly significant because their brains are highly plastic at this stage,
making it an extraordinarily responsive period for learning, growth, and guidance. This begs an important question: 
if tweens are now encountering ideas, pressures, and experiences earlier than ever before,
shouldn’t we view this not only as a challenge, but as an opportunity?

Providing support at this stage has the potential to act as a protective factor, helping to reduce anxiety, poor mental health,
substance misuse, eating disorders, and the internalisation of harmful narratives. Equally, it offers the chance to actively build
resilience, confidence, and wellbeing before the more complex teenage years begin. Tweens are open, curious, and still receptive
to adult guidance. It is a window where connection is still possible, where listening, guiding, and creating safe spaces can have
lasting impact.

The tween period also coincides with a second wave of brain growth[4], making these years crucial for cognitive, emotional, and
social development. [5] Brain regions such as the ventral striatum and prefrontal cortex become more active when tweens
process social and emotional cues, reflecting a growing sensitivity to peers and feedback. At the same time, these areas particularly the prefrontal cortex, which governs decision-making, planning, and emotion regulation are still maturing. This combination helps tweens navigate increasingly complex social worlds, but also makes them more reactive to peer influence and emotional situations.

Importantly, this stage marks a peak in grey matter, the densely packed neurons responsible for processing information, supporting learning, and shaping social and emotional development. From this point, grey matter does not simply decline but reorganises, strengthening some neural pathways while pruning others. The experiences, environments, and relationships tweens encounter during this period play a decisive role in determining which pathways are reinforced and which fade.[6]

In essence, the tween years represent a window of neural potential. The support, guidance, and opportunities offered during this stage can have a lasting impact, shaping not only how young people think and feel in the present, but how they respond to challenges in the future. [7]

Data on anxiety and wellbeing during the tween years is scant, with most attention focused on early years and adolescence.[8] Research shows higher rates of specific phobia, social anxiety, and separation anxiety in this age group. The relationship with parents, the presence or absence of supportive third spaces, and nurturing schools are important predictors of adolescents’ adjustment.[9]

“More supportive or less stressful contexts (help) youth cope with negative thoughts and emotions, encouraging approach rather than avoidance in new situations, and providing opportunities for positive growth, which is likely to be associated with decreasing levels of anxiety.”[10]

At the same time, tweens are navigating one of the most significant structural transitions in their lives: the move from primary to secondary education. What was once a familiar, contained environment, one classroom, one teacher, consistent peers, becomes a far more fragmented experience. New teachers, new expectations, shifting peer groups, and increased academic pressure all arrive at once. Alongside this, they are expected to manage their time, organise themselves, and adapt quickly.

When combined with the neurological, biological, emotional, and social changes already underway, this transition represents a considerable shift. Without adequate support, it can contribute to stress, anxiety, and a sense of disconnection. The experiences, environments, and relationships young people have at this stage help shape which pathways are strengthened and which are lost.[11]

So why then is our focus on this age group so heavily centered on academic achievement, rather than using this period to build confidence, support mental health, and inspire them? Academics are important, but if tweens struggle with anxiety and mental health issues now, this doesn’t bode well for the teenage years ahead.

This is a concern shared by practitioners working closely with this age group. One such perspective comes from Jenny Warwick, therapist for parents of tweens and teens (talktojenny.co.uk). She says it’s important to consider who “we” refers to when we talk about providing more support, whether that’s parents, educators, schools, families, wider society, or government. “It’s a much wider collective responsibility… which requires a more collaborative and joined-up approach.”She believes we may be “missing a trick with school for this age group.” From her work, she suggests that “the school system needs an overhaul,” something she knows schools and teachers themselves recognise and want. As she stresses, “there’s a real window of opportunity here, and it feels crucial that we don’t overlook it.”

Are we teaching them the life skills they really need at school and at home? What life skills do they want to master better? Tweens need support in understanding the value of physical activity, the importance of sleep, and moderation when it comes to screens. The healthy habits they learn during this pivotal stage are crucial for wellbeing.

And is there a burden that our tweens are still carrying from the pandemic that we aren’t picking up on? What about the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East? Are we supporting them in the ways they truly need?

Across the UK, Australia, and beyond, children’s wellbeing is being tracked more closely than ever. And yet, the tween years still seem to slip through the cracks, too old for early childhood frameworks, and often placed within school systems that haven’t fully evolved to meet their changing needs. Middle school structures can feel outdated or misaligned, not always reflecting the social, emotional, and developmental realities tweens are navigating today, and they remain underrepresented in adolescent research.

And yet, this is exactly the stage where identities begin to take shape, where patterns of thinking and coping are formed, and where
experiences can leave a lasting impact.

So the question is: are we truly seeing tweens in this in-between stage?[12] 
And are we supporting them in the ways they actually need right now?

What do you think……..?

References

[1a] Asukulu Solomon Bulimwengu, Jennifer Cartmel, The tween years: A systematic literature review for services for children aged 10–13 years, Heliyon,Volume 8, Issue 1,2022, e08822, ISSN 2405-8440,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08822.

[1b] Voss ML, Claeson M, Bremberg S, Peterson SS, Alfvén T, Ndeezi G. The missing middle of childhood. Glob Health Action. 2023 Dec 31;16(1):2242196. doi: 10.1080/16549716.2023.2242196. PMID: 37548519; PMCID: PMC10408563.

[2] Dahl, R., Allen, N., Wilbrecht, L., & Suleiman, A. (2018). Importance of investing in adolescence from a developmental science perspective. Nature, 554(7693), 441-450. Report #: 7693. Pubmed ID: 29469094. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature25770 Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5rn0h52p (P.12)

[3] Yeowell, M. (2026). The impact of tweens’ initial smartphone ownership: Towards an understanding of digital puberty (Doctoral thesis, University of New South Wales).https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/32164

[4] Arain M, Haque M, Johal L, Mathur P, Nel W, Rais A, Sandhu R, Sharma S. Maturation of the adolescent brain. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2013;9:449-61. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S39776. Epub 2013 Apr 3. PMID: 23579318; PMCID: PMC3621648.

[5] Arain M, Haque M, Johal L, Mathur P, Nel W, Rais A, Sandhu R, Sharma S. Maturation of the adolescent brain. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2013;9:449-61. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S39776. Epub 2013 Apr 3. PMID: 23579318; PMCID: PMC3621648.

[6] Giedd, Jay & Blumenthal, Jonathan & Jeffries, Neal & Castellanos, Francisco & Liu, Hong & Zijdenbos, Alex & Paus, Tomas & Evans, Alan & Rapoport, Judith. (1999). Brain Development during Childhood and Adolescence: A Longitudinal MRI Study. Nature neuroscience. 2. 861-3. 10.1038/13158.

[7] Giedd, Jay & Blumenthal, Jonathan & Jeffries, Neal & Castellanos, Francisco & Liu, Hong & Zijdenbos, Alex & Paus, Tomas & Evans, Alan & Rapoport, Judith. (1999). Brain Development during Childhood and Adolescence: A Longitudinal MRI Study. Nature neuroscience. 2. 861-3. 10.1038/13158.

[8] Steinsbekk S, Ranum B, Wichstrøm L. Prevalence and course of anxiety disorders and symptoms from preschool to adolescence: a 6-wave community study. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2022 May;63(5):527-534. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13487. Epub 2021 Jul 27. PMID: 34318492.

[9] Nelemans SA, Hale WW, Branje SJT, Meeus WHJ, Rudolph KD. Individual differences in anxiety trajectories from Grades 2 to 8: Impact of the middle school transition. Development and Psychopathology. 2018;30(4):1487-1501. doi:10.1017/S0954579417001584

[10] Nelemans SA, Hale WW, Branje SJT, Meeus WHJ, Rudolph KD. Individual differences in anxiety trajectories from Grades 2 to 8: Impact of the middle school transition. Development and Psychopathology. 2018;30(4):1487-1501. doi:10.1017/S0954579417001584

[11] Giedd, Jay & Blumenthal, Jonathan & Jeffries, Neal & Castellanos, Francisco & Liu, Hong & Zijdenbos, Alex & Paus, Tomas & Evans, Alan & Rapoport, Judith. (1999). Brain Development during Childhood and Adolescence: A Longitudinal MRI Study. Nature neuroscience. 2. 861-3. 10.1038/13158.

[12] Asukulu Solomon Bulimwengu, Jennifer Cartmel, The tween years: A systematic literature review for services for children aged 10–13 years, Heliyon, Volume 8, Issue 1, 2022, e08822, ISSN 2405-8440,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08822 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844022001104)

At the time, my own daughter was (and still is) a tween and she had a lot to say. She wanted to be heard. The conversations she was beginning at school didn’t have enough airtime, and yet her curiosity was expanding rapidly. Through friends with smartphones and unrestricted online access, she was already encountering complex topics, world conflict, politics, social issues. She understood enough to feel concerned, to form opinions, and to want to explore these ideas further.

And that’s when it became clear: this is not an age group that can simply be overlooked or expected to “wait their turn.” This is an age that needs support, guidance, and meaningful engagement. Since that realisation, tweens have firmly been on our radar and we have been driven by one central aim: to better understand how we can support them in a world that is asking more of them, earlier than ever before.

Tweens, typically aged 8–13 years, occupy a unique space between childhood and adolescence, a stage that is still too often overlooked in research, policy, and everyday conversation.[1a] As highlighted in The Missing Middle of Childhood by Maj‑Lis Voss et al., there remains a “lack of comprehensive, relevant, and widely available core data on the large middle childhood population entering adolescence (which) hinders our understanding of risks and challenges.”[1b]

The word “tween” reflects this sense of being in-between. Tweens are also referred to as preadolescents, preteens, or historically subteens, and this period is often described as the “forgotten” or “middle years.” While development naturally varies between individuals, even a simple look at pubertal growth patterns (Figure 1) offers a clear indication of just how much is changing during this stage, physically, emotionally, and cognitively, often all at once.