Maturity advice

So far - I have been through two third graders, and I think Third is the best. They are starting to become their own people.

I tell my kids about maturity being a line, from completely dependent baby to independent mature adult. Your space on that line grows and shrinks as you move along it. Your space may be anchored right in the middle, but you can swing from preschooler to mature teen at any moment.

Yes, the attitude gets worse as they stretch into maturity (even though it doesn't seem very mature to us), but they also fall back to baby mode where they need our snuggles and reassurance. When the sass comes, I try to remember that it's like the preschooler who climbed too high and is scared to come down. They want to get down, they always get back down, sometimes they need help getting down, but in the end, they really want to be down and have their trusted people