Your tween will no doubt start developing a growing curiosity about their body and, especially for girls, start their journey through puberty in the tween years.
It can be a challenging and confusing time for any child. So where do you find the best sources of information to direct your tween to (other than some pretty far out there and erroneous info they pick up on TikTok?)
Best Tween Health Websites
Whilst nothing can replace on-to-one honest conversation with your tween, we know there are plenty of topics that tweens might find difficult to approach.
Here are some safe and kid-friendly websites that may help them with some independent answers:
Health for Kids and Health for Tweens
www.healthforkids.co.uk and healthforteens.co.uk
Both run by the NHS in the UK, these are excellent and reliable sources of health information for your tweens, set out in plain language with accurate and reliable information.
The major focus on both sites at present is naturally Coronavirus, dealing with germs- in a fun and cute way on the kids’ site and in more of a news site manner for the teens. The teens’ site also quite prominently tackles the subjects of anxiety, puberty, alcohol, tobacco, and sexual health in a matter-of-fact way.
Kids can also find fun games on the Health for Kids site, even exercise videos.
Kids Health
www.kidshealth.org/en/kids and www.kidshealth.org/en/teens
Run by the non-profit Nemours Foundation, it’s certainly packed full of useful information thought the design is somewhat uninspiring and unlikely to engage tweens for long, it does have a load of useful information.
One function we love about this site is that it has a Spanish translate button and a listen-to function so those less confident in reading English can listen in.
Young Men’s Health
Ideal for your older male tweens, this highly targeted website is run by the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. It goes deep on male teen issues covering general health, sexual health, diet and nutrition, and emotional well-being.
There’s a great back catalog of articles covering any male health issue and concerns you can think of, plus an opportunity for boys to ask questions anonymously – use the search function as there’s a lot in there; your tween’s question has no doubt been asked before!
There is a specific parents section to help you as parents, too, with some super detailed guides for tackling difficult topics with your tween and teen boys.
Centre for Young Women’s Health
The sister site to Young Men’s Health is an excellent and reliable resource for your tween and teen girls. Covering general health, sexual health, gynecology, nutrition, and emotional health, it’s a treasure trove of information for your older tween girls hitting puberty in English and Spanish.
There’s also a chat function where you can ask all those embarrassing questions. A more grown-up site but easy to navigate and sure to help your tween through those difficult questions in a no-nonsense manner.
Parents will find a great range of health guides here, too, to help their tween and teen girls navigate the journey into womanhood.
The Trevor Project
Tweens with curiosity and concerns about sexuality may feel comfortable exploring The Trevor Project in their own time. Although it may seem quite a grown-up concept for your tweens, the site is designed to help LGBTQ+ youth and their families with sexual identity acknowledgement and sexual health questions.
The site touches on sensitive topics with practical information and the ability to connect with counsellors via phone chat or text.
Final thoughts on tween health websites
The important part of letting your tween research their own health concerns and questions online is there as part of the process. Don’t simply accept that they’ll learn everything they need online and be done with it.
Direct them to these websites as part of building their own understanding of themselves and the world around them, but be part of the process. Gentle probing on what they have learned, the opportunity to ask any follow-up questions for topics they didn’t quite understand – it’s not a term test paper, just being there as a sounding board.
We hope you’ve found this tween resource useful. Let us know in the comments if you’ve found any other handy resources.
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