Consider the example of the Chinese bamboo tree. Once the first sprout emerges from the soil, the rate of growth averages nearly two-and-a-half feet per day, culminating six weeks later in a ninety foot tree. What is even more amazing is the root system that sustains and nurtures this explosive growth. From the time the seed is planted, an extensive network of roots takes four years to develop before the tender bamboo shoot ever breaks ground and heads for the sun.

This is a good analogy of what is happening now with your middle years child. The growth in these years is silent, extensive and occurs mostly below the surface. Like the Chinese bamboo tree, your child is developing a supporting "root system" that will sustain and support him or her in the explosive growth years of adolescence. This is the time when you the parent must nurture, water and tend the "seedling" in your care. We want to help prepare you to meet that challenge.