Tweens

"Caroline," a mom from St. Petersburg, FL, wasn't keen on her 11-year-old getting on Facebook, so she was furious when she discovered her daughter corresponding with a 23-year-old man through the social network. She wrote back to the older "friend" as though she were her daughter, and when his requests became explicit, she used her wits — and a Target mailer — to put him behind bars.

Watch the USA Today video below to find out how her one-woman sting operation got this predator off the streets.

When kids hit the teen years, many moms start worrying about curfews. When should teens go to bed? When should they be home for the night? What are the consequences of not following through? But the biggest question of all is: how do you decide what's appropriate? Circle of Moms members say to some degree it depends on your child, but there are still key dos and don'ts to guide you when setting your teen's curfews.

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Dear Diary...lots of girls keep their thoughts under lock and key. It's said that many girls grow up believing they can do anything and then become tweens and lose that confidence. The Hidden World of Girls Project gives parents some insight into the minds of their daughters. NPR's initiative asks women to take a picture of a diary page of their youth and upload it to Flickr in an effort to "form a comprehensive tapestry — from elation to depression — of life experiences." The entries thus far include crayon doodles and poetry, an elaborate boy rating system, and records of every day life. Add yours! Or share your best tween kept secrets with your daughter.

Nobody wants to be the parents of the mean kid. In fact, most moms and dads don't think they are going to be! I recently had the chance to chat via phone with Rosalind Wiseman, the author who made "mean girls" a household name when Tina Fey turned her book Queen Bees and Wannabes into a movie starring Rachel McAdams and Lindsay Lohan. Wiseman is an expert on the topic so I was interested in hearing what she had to say on ways mothers and fathers can avoid this situation by raising kind kids. Do you agree with her tip and do you keep the communication lines open in your home?

The middle-school version of ourselves probably had a blurry idea of the adults we would become, but some kids are proving that we knew a lot more about our identities than we thought. With no doubt about who they are attracted to, more and more kids are coming out as gay or bisexual before they make it to high school.

An article in this weekend's New York Times Magazine examines the trend and reveals that many of these kid are coming out before they've ever dated or kissed anyone of either sex. They just know they don't want to date the opposite sex.

The piece profiles Austin, a gay 13-year-old from Oklahoma. To hear what Austin thinks about tweens and teens coming out and the reactions they get, read more

Sign on the dotted line please. We sign contracts for our homes, our jobs, and even for our child care providers, but will signing one with our children help keep them in line?

Some parents use parent/child contracts to keep the communication path more open, while others see it as a way to keep order in their household. The contract can serve as a visible way to ensure that kids are aware of the house rules and the consequences of disobeying them. They also help children understand what their parents' roles are in helping them achieve their goals.

For families looking to put things in writing, this pad of contracts ($10) will help get the process started with 30 fill-in-the-blank sheets that outline the terms of the agreement and penalties for breaking them.

What's your opinion of drafting contracts with your kids?