It has been about twelve and half years since I was a pre-teen. I was a little worried that I am way out of the loop. I am new to SuperStart! this year. I came on staff about a month and a half ago. What a month and half it has been! Not only am I new to SuperStart!, but I am new to pre-teen ministry.
In recent years I have spent tons of time working with high school and college students. I was able to relate to them pretty well. God started preparing me for pre-teens about six months before I accepted my position with SuperStart!. Little did I know at the time that he was doing so. I was finishing up my final semesters in school and started Substitute teaching on the side. I signed up to teach high school, then middle school. Well somehow God orchestrated it for me to teach sixth grade everytime I got called. Not only did I do sixth grade, but it was at the same school with the same kids every week. Here were some things I learned about pre-teens through those days of teaching.
1. Don’t mess with pre-teen girls guys, they will eat you alive.
2. Shoes with skates in the bottom of them are really cool.
3. I need to start listening to Hannah Montana.
4. Pre-teens didn’t like books on tape.
5. Football, baseball, and skating are now the cool sports. (I still can’t stand on a skateboard without falling on my face).
6. Pre-teen guys are genuinely looking for a strong male mentor who they can talk (or make things up) about sports with.
7. Pre-teens are at a weird stage in life where they can change personalities at the flip of a switch. One moment they are quiet and shy (flip the switch) the next moment they are the class clown.
8. Pre-teens have more pent up energy than I have ever seen!
9. Pre-teens know more about some technology than I do! Yikes!!!
10. Pre-teens are easily amused by the simple things, like me getting chalk all over my shirt or something.
11. Pre-teens love to be involved. I never had to worry about having a volunteer to read during class because there was always a kid at the edge of his seat screaming at me that he wanted to read.
12. I struggle with 6th grade geometry (oh ok and English). Give me a break it has been twelve years!
As I reflected on my pre-teen days, I started to realize that I am not that out of the loop. Things are still a lot like they were twelve years ago. I am excited to get on tour and start learning even more about Pre-teens but accept the fact that I to can still relate to where they are having been there just a shade over a decade myself.
Let me leave you with a quick story of a pre-teen named Aaron. In sixth grade Aaron was in a co-taught class that had about 56 students. It was during a Geometry lesson when Aaron and his classmates were studying angles. They seemed so simple. It came to the time when the teacher said, “I am going to call on somebody to give me an obtuse triangle off of the page.” All 56 students were on the edge of their seats hoping they could be the one chosen. All of a sudden like a ray of light shinning right on him, Aaron’s name was called out and he had a grin ear to ear! “Well Aaron” the teacher said. Aaron perked up and said, “Angle x,y,b!” Ohhh no, he blew it. In a brief moment of stage freight he gave a right angle instead of an obtuse angle.
That’s right it was me, and I was all shades of red in front of my 55 classmates. Ya know what though, I tell you this to let you know that I have been there and I can relate to how you feel. Being a pre-teen is a hard time. You want to make good impressions, want your friends to think you are cool, and want to be the one who can tell the whole class that an obtuse angle is a straight line. Let me just encourage you by saying you WILL do silly things, say the wrong thing, and often times look really foolish and all shades of red. It is ok though because so will everybody else. So belt out the wrong answer once in a while, but be proud of it because you are pre-teen and that is what you do! These times will pass so make the most of them so in twelve years you have something funny to look back on and laugh at J.
-Aaron Smith
SuperStart! Program Administrator
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