Preadolescence

Preadolescence is the time between being a child and a adolescent, that is the period of time during which a person slowly grows into an adolescent, but is emotionally not mature. Preadolescence in the English-speaking world usually corresponds to the tweenager years of 10-12.

The ages when one is no longer a child, and when one becomes an teenager, vary by culture. During this time, a person's body, emotions and academic standing change a lot. When preadolescence starts, in America, children usually finish elementary school and enter secondary education, such as middle school or high school.

During this period of life, most children go through the physical stages of puberty, which can often begin before a person has reached the age of 10. They also have a growth spurt in which their height increases more rapidly than in childhood or teenagehood.

Most cultures think of people as becoming teenagers at various ages of the tweenage years. For example, Russian tradition thinks that people are teenagers at age 13, as the Slavic languages have a suffix at the end of the numbers 13-19 that are similar to the suffix used in the numbers 13-19 on Germanic languages. 

 Related pages 
Tweenager
Teenager
Youth

Category:Human life stages