Changes

''9 Ways to Empower Tweens'' is a self -help book for tweens, setting out to show them vital #lifeskills. Don't groan! I know there is a market glut of such books for we grown -ups and for young adults too, but there is a needful space in an increasingly technological world accessible to younger and younger children for material for tweens too. There are nine short sections:

I have been a little bit worried of late that the word ''empowerment'' has been subject to a little bit of mission creep - that any form of self -expression is empowering, that actually doing anything that takes your fancy is also empowering. I don't think that's quite true. Human relationships are about give and take. They are about negotiations and negotiating well, for the benefit of oneself ''and'' others, is the key to a fulfilling and happy life. Empowerment isn't very empowering without resilience either. And so I absolutely ''loved'' this little book. It emphasises resilience throughout and it also places thoughtfulness at its centre. Children reading will come away with a good understanding that human beings have rights ''and'' responsibilities and that the key is achieving a healthy balance between them. As one of the endorsers of the book pithily puts it, the empowering here is showing tweens how ''to become lifelong learners and teachers''.