Being "That" Age

Being 20 leaves a lot of room for maturity and personal growth.  I am by no means perfect, but do feel as if I have a decent ability to look at younger kids, and relate back to a time when I was their age.  For most of us the pre-pubescent years some of the most awkward in our life.  Hormones begin racing through our bodies and hair begins growing in places we never thought possible.  It is sometimes hard to remember back ten years when you live in a city such as New York.

Coming home for the summer and coaching 200 swimmers with ages ranging from 5-18 years, you learn, or rather remember a lot.  For the most part ,12 and unders are great, and so are 15 and ups.  Not to single anyone out (which I am about to do...), but the 13/14 age group is totally at "that" age.  They go from the opposite sex to wanting to be all up in them.  They think they are too cool to listen to instruction, yet know they are doing the wrong thing.  The bigger kids make fun of everyone, because they can.  No one is going to stand up to a six-foot, 160-pound man.  Hell, I get intimidated by these 13 years olds.  The bigger kids use their size to beat up on kids.  By beat up, that rarely means physical action, simply intimidation.

If you bloom on the later side, or are just not a big kid, words become your best line of defense.  Middle School is nothing short of a warzone of testosterone and estrogen.  The smaller kids use their knowledge of a developing vocabulary to fight back against the giant, already-shaving, young boys.  Clashing between the big and the small occurs on a daily basis and often translates over to adults (and in my case, swim coaches).

When kids reach whatever age it is that they reach, they begin to develop their personal style preferences, and sexuality.  This does nothing but further the divide between rich/poor, smart/dumb, matured/maturing, gay/straight, nice/mean.  If you are different in any way, there will be someone who noticies it, and will call you out on it.  Middle school is a time where conformity stressed that is contradicted by the development of personal style and choice.  It is a couple year period of bullying, misery, and struggle.  Long story short I hate middle school.

Looking back, I had it pretty easy.  I never had it too bad, being between the popular kids and the nerds.  There is no avoiding "that" age, but it is something that will eventually unite us all as we develop and mature as a society.  Eventually kids will realize there is more to life than who can start shaving first or who has the lowest voice.  Long story short I hated middle school and seeing kids reminds me of how far my piers and I have come.  There are still clicks, there is still drama, but we have become vastly more accepting of everyone.