Judith Warner

"The French have a name for the uniquely hellish years between elementary school and high school: l’âge ingrat, or 'the ugly age.' Characterized by a perfect storm of developmental changes—physical, psychological, and social—the middle school years are a time of great distress for children and parents alike, marked by hurt, isolation, exclusion, competition, anxiety, and often outright cruelty. Some of this is inevitable; there are intrinsic...