Twitter Tuesday - Cassie Clare

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Image found here.

Yesterday, Cassie tweeted the link to her article, "The Secret Worlds Teens Hide From Adults" which was printed in The Wall Street Journal on January 1st. She focuses on that magical place in the setting of a story -- a wardrobe, a in-between train platform and a small, rainy town. We all know those places well because they hold the very essence of magic in some of our favorite stories. And Cassie ties this in with that moment of time -- teenage years. Ah, we all remember them well, don't we? Here's a quote from the article:

Being a teenager is being caught between two worlds, occupying a liminal space where you’re not quite a child and not quite an adult. The concept of adolescence is a modern one — in earlier times, teenagers would be marrying, fighting and dying like adults, and today’s teens yearn for that adult power (making your own decisions!), while at the same time being afraid of it (enormous responsibilities come with adulthood). These days, adolescence is considered training wheels for adulthood, a time through which you must be guided and protected from too much autonomy.

For the rest of the article, go here. As a mom of a soon-to-be-teen, I had to take a step back and appreciate the concept of metaphorical training wheels once more. Those are challenging years, no matter which side you are on -- teen or parent.