Each year the eighth grade language arts teachers ask students to put together a LOVIT – a list of very important things – that teachers should know about them as learners and students. That got me thinking. How about giving parents a LOVIT about what parents should know about us as middle schoolers and what we are going through.

1. Please don’t ask us to do our homework.
Now, I know that you are just “looking out for us” and “want us to do our best in school,” but these are the years in which we are supposed to learn to become responsible for what we do and don’t do. Plus, if we don’t do our homework, it’s on us – we are the ones who get in trouble and at the end of the day, we’ll, suffer.

2. Understand that although it may not seem like it, we are most likely really stressed out about one thing or another.
It could be something like the four different tests we have that Friday, or something out of school like problems with friends or maybe a post on social media. A way that you could help is just to check in on us every once in awhile, but don’t push us to tell you something because sometimes we just don’t want to open up at that moment.

3. Please don’t make out of school plans for us.
Whenever it seems like we don’t have anything to do, we are probably going to study or do homework or just spend our free time doing whatever we want (reading, watching Netflix or Youtube). Most of us do have phones, so if we did want to hang out with our friends we can just do it ourselves.

4. We are still trying to figure out what we like to do.
Although some of us do already have a “thing” like soccer or a form of art, the majority of us don’t know what we should really focus on yet. And although highschool may be years away for a few of us, the pressure of what we should spend majority of our time doing is just another thing that stresses us out. So, please keep that in mind.

5. The last thing is that if you do start to see drastic changes in how we act or react with different situations, realize that that’s normal.
Aka, don’t start freaking out if we don’t do something the exact way you like it or the way we did it a few years ago. With all the pressure going on with school and social aspects, we are eventually bound to have our own “freak-outs.”
I really hope you can somehow relate to this and maybe even share this with other parents if you feel strongly enough about it. I hope that this helps you understand what us middle schoolers are going through and can somehow make even a little change in how you think about us.