By Rebecca Thompson, Broward County School Board Member, District 2
I’m a mom of three.
I’m also a social worker.
And I sit on the Broward County School Board representing thousands of families across this community.
So I say this with love, and also with full honesty:
Middle school is not the enemy.
And your child is not the problem.
But sometimes? Our fear is.
Middle school is biologically hard. That’s not news.
Hormones show up. Emotions run high. Friendships get messy. Voices crack. Boundaries get tested.
That’s not because something is wrong.
That’s because something is developing.
And when we, as parents, caregivers, and adults in the community, forget that, we start trying to manage something that doesn’t need to be managed. It needs to be supported.
Your child doesn’t need to be protected from middle school.
They need to be prepared for it.
When I talk to 5th graders, they’re excited.
They’re ready to try new classes, meet new friends, step into something bigger. But often, their excitement gets overshadowed by the anxiety of the adults around them.
We say things like:
“I just don’t think you’re ready.”
“Middle school is going to be really hard.”
“We’re looking at private options—we don’t want you exposed to that.”
And whether we mean to or not, we hand them our fear.
We replace their curiosity with worry.
We plant the idea that middle school is something to survive, not something to grow through.
We can do better than that.
Want your child to self-advocate? Model it.
Kids don’t learn how to problem-solve because we told them to.
They learn it because they saw us do it.
They watch how we talk to teachers. How we speak to other parents. How we handle social media. They notice if we call the school in anger before ever asking a question. They notice when we scroll for three hours and then lecture them about screen time.
If we want them to communicate with respect, solve problems with clarity, and show up with maturity—we have to go first.
What schools need from parents isn’t perfection. It’s partnership.
There are incredible educators in our public schools—people who care deeply about kids and are doing this work with limited resources and a lot of heart.
But we can’t do it alone.
We need parents to stay involved. To ask questions. To hold space for complexity. To show up when it’s hard and when it’s mundane. To understand how systems work and where their voices can actually make a difference.
Because change doesn’t come from yelling louder.
It comes from joining forces.
I didn’t run for school board to sit in a seat. I ran because I believe in doing this work with families—not for them. Not around them. But alongside them.
Middle school is a turning point—for kids and for parents.
Let’s use it to grow, not just worry.
Let’s give our kids what they really need:
Confidence, consistency, and a calm adult in the room.
Even when that adult is still learning, too.
About the Author
Rebecca Thompson is the first social worker to serve on the Broward County School Board. She represents District 2, is the mother of three young children, and is a guest on This Is NOW: Parenting Teens Today.
CONNECT WITH REBECCA: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rthomps/
