Stealing Childhood

By Rachael Ashak Porter
Issue 133, November - December 2005

Have you noticed the term tween in print recently? Perhaps you've heard this age category tossed about on your local morning news program, or seen it emblazoned on a glitter-enhanced banner in the Juniors section of a department store. If not, hang in there's no doubt you'll see it soon. You may even notice a tag that's been created for very young children: pre-tween. What are we getting ourselves into?

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines tween as a child between middle childhood and adolescence, usually between 8 and 12 years old.  The word dates back to the 1960s, years of marketing research reference it, yet what is remarkable is the more recent use of the term by American families. The burgeoning mainstream acceptance of this latest classification for children leads the public to erroneously believe that "tween" is an actual developmental stage, much as we have come to view adolescence as a specific and separate life event instead of what it is: the natural and indivisible progression of a child into an adult.

Only 100 years ago, "teenagers" did not exist. Of course, there were young people between the ages of 13 and 19, but no particular terminology distinguished them from the rest of their community. Not until the 1940s was a special niche carved out for teenagers, a move primarily driven by savvy marketers who saw a brand-new population to target, as most young adults began to attend peer-filled high schools in large numbers for the first time.¹ This group, marketers knew, spent the bulk of their week away from family and the larger community, and had more leisure hours than previous generations. The seeds of new trends, fads, and gotta-haves would easily sprout in this fertile ground.

And grow and flourish they did. By the 1950s, the counterculture of adolescence had become an undeniable reality, including all the teen trappings: specific music, dances, apparel, and group behavioral standards (think American Bandstand, sock hops, Elvis, poodle skirts, and "going steady." This era gave birth to the cultural creation of teenagers as we know them today, along with an entire economic system built around them. We now view the teen period as a fact, as if it has always existed as a distinct and vital stage of life  more difficult to traverse than any other. In the last 60 years, we as a society have accepted the entire "teenager" package and have forgotten what life was like for thousands of years prior to the adoption of the teenager paradigm.

Like the teen years, the "tween" period is part of the continuum of life of developing human beings. We all naturally move from one age to the next, yet when a culture labels and classifies age groups, laundry lists of anecdotal "typical behaviors" and "commonalities" has opposed to scientifically based facts of child development form around the new categories. What will happen to our 8 to 12 year olds now that they've been labeled tweens? Most will relish the idea and dive into all that tween is defined as, just as adolescents dove into being teenagers: No longer will they have to be called children. Instead, they will gain respect and enjoy increased fraternity with their peers. Children will love the new title. So will marketers, who are encouraging this latest terminology and categorization of America's young people.

The US Census Bureau estimates that there are more than 40 million children aged 5 to 14 in the US, the largest population segment under 20. (Young people 15 to 19 years old come in a distant second, with almost 21 million members.) The sheer size of the "tween" generation makes it irresistible to companies of all kinds: this age group has buying power in the billions of dollars and is an important demographic in terms of establishing lifetime brand loyalties. An entire industry works hard daily to come up with ways to turn young people's heads and to keep them turned.