Sharing Books with my Boy & Books for Tweens and Younger Teens

As I read the Happy Hooligan's blog post about reading to her boys along with  a list of their favourite books, I was hit with a wall of nostalgia that left me sad and on the verge of a depression episode.

As much as I adored reading to them when they were toddlers and little boys, for me, it got better and better as they got older!  We’d dive into these great chapter books, and tackle trilogies and series’, and just get lost in them for an hour or more every night. Read More...  

My favourite memory was when I'd cuddle up with the kids in my queen size bed and we'd take turns reading chapters of our latest book until we fell asleep. My son is now 16 and the idea of snuggling up with his mom for any reason is the stuff of horror stories.

One of the main conflicts within my novel THIRTEEN is the struggle between Jack and his mom. He wants to be his own person and his mom isn't ready to let him grow up yet. Every child grows up before their mothers are ready for them to. One day he's a little boy the next.... It's world war three.


I wrote this post, Getting Older - Cutting the Strings is So hard, on my raising siblings blog around the time I was considering writing a novel about a boy surviving war.

My son is getting older and it is so frustrating because I am having a hard time with the distance he's putting between us.  I am beginning to understand how obsolete technology must feel.  I know he doesn't mean to be mean but it still hurts just the same when he tells me he doesn't need me anymore.   

I look at him and see a young man where a boy used to be.  I wonder where all the time went and why I didn't hang on to every second of every moment with him.  I was distracted at times by work, friends, TV, books, and the internet while he was growing up.  I remember his baby years better than the last 5 years, his primary school years where friends grew more important than mom.  I long for those wonderful years when I was the only person in his world. Read More....

Has your son or daughter grown up sooner than you would have liked? Share your experiences in the comment section. Any tips for parents whose kids are becoming tweens or teens? 

If your child is still small enough to want to cuddle up with you... Click here to find out what 40 books for boys 8-16 Happy Hooligans recommends. 

About my son when he was 10 and pulling away from me.

Click here to discover the books my son and I shared together. 

Shannon Peel is the mother of two wonderful teenagers who live with her in South Surrey, BC Canada. 

She is the author of THIRTEEN a book about a boy trying to figure out who he is in a world that has turned upside down. She drew from her own conflict with her son and his personality to write the story.

THIRTEEN is her debut full size paperback novel.

Click to go to her website.