“I feel a little bit of both”: Exploring the relational experiences of Norwegian tween girls through age as enactment and age-shifting

Abstract

Age categories gloss over complexities and nuances, and are sometimes used as an uncritical entity in childhood studies. This study explores how Norwegian seventh-grade girls, considered to be tweens, understand and enact their age through a relational ontological approach. Theoretically the concept of “age as enactment” is suggested, showing how age is produced in heterogeneous assemblages. The study finds that “age-shifting,” how girls navigate between child and teenager repertoires, a primary feature for tween girls. The concept of age-shifting allow us to view age as both a social strategy and as flexible, contextually, and relationally enacted.

Keywords

Age as enactment age-sihfting assemblage girls relational ontology tweens

Introduction

In childhood studies, although age is a denominator of what a child is, age categories are frequently used without critical analysis and are often taken for granted (Huijsmans et al., 2014; Khan, 2021; Thorne, 2004). One such category is ‘tweens'—children between 8 and 12 years old. Tweens are characterized as being positioned between childhood and the teenage years (Cook and Kaiser, 2004). Previous research has described tweens using the concept of liminality (Cody, 2012), suggesting that ‘tweens’ is not a distinct category, but rather an in-between stage. Although the term is not gender-specific, much of the focus has been on tween girls (Coulter, 2014; Kennedy, 2018; Mitchell and Reid-Walsh, 2005). This study specifically focuses on tween girls and explores how age is made sense of aiming to contribute to the existing body of literature on tweens. Understanding how girls at the cusp of teenhood make sense of their own age can give insights into how they enact and understand their age group. Are they between age categories or within a specific one? To explore this, I conducted interviews with ten 12-year-old Norwegian girls, focusing on how they perceive their age category and situate themselves and their peers within it. Additionally, this study examines how age-shifting challenges traditional age categories, highlighting the fluid and relational nature of ‘tweens’. I argue that instead of viewing tweens as merely a liminal phase or an in-between stage, tween girls should be seen as both children and becoming teenagers who engage in age-shifting.

Tweens

‘Tweens’ refers to children aged 8–12 years, implicitly indicating individuals transitioning from childhood to the teenage years (Sørenssen, 2015). ‘Tweens’ is a market-created term (Cook and Kaiser, 2004) and is commonly associated with the commodification of childhood (Cook, 2004; James, 2010). Although the term originated in the US, it has been adopted in Norway, where it is used in both academic and popular contexts to describe children in this age group. In Norway, parenting books like Tweens: Today’s 8–12 Year Olds (Rydahl and Lauritsen, 2013) and Understand Your Child 8–12 Years (Ulvund, 2010) discuss this age group. According to a bookstore, the latter book discusses “tweens—children on their way to youth and their characteristics” (ARK, 2010)¹ For a discussion on using ‘tweens’ in childhood studies, see Sørenssen (2015).

Often ‘tweens’ is used as an age demarcation, particularly in relation to social media, popular culture, pop-music or consumption in general. Several researchers have focused on tweens and consumption of fashion (Johansson, 2007; Pilcher, 2011; Pole, 2007; Rysst, 2010), media and popular culture (Bickford, 2015; Coulter, 2012; Godfrey, 2018) consumption (Cody, 2012; Cook and Kaiser, 2004; Weber and Francisco Maffezzolli, 2022) social media (Brito, 2012; Davis and James, 2013) and YouTube (Tolbert and Drogos, 2019).

While there is an array of research focusing tweens and consumption, media, and social media, these studies often examine tweens in relation to specific themes. This article aims to explore how tween girls experience this age group, not in relation to a specific theme, but rather to understand how they make sense of being tweens. By focusing on the meaning-making and experiences of 12-year-old girls in their last year of being tweens and how they perceive and make sense of this age category, this research aims to add to the existing body of literature on tweens.

How can we understand age theoretically?

Although age is recognized as a social construct and performance (Frønes, 1995; Laz, 1998) it remains theoretically underdeveloped (Barrett, 2022; Huijsmans, 2016). Sociological research has often prioritized class, gender, and race over age relations (Barken, 2019; Barrett, 2022; Laz, 1998). In childhood studies, age is often taken for granted despite its central role in identity formation (Huijsmans et al., 2014; Khan, 2021; Thorne, 2004). Thorne (2004) argues that while age intersects with identity, its dynamics are frequently overlooked.

Age groups are socially constructed categories, formulated within specific economic, social, and political contexts, and are therefore subject to change over time (Finch, 2018). People are categorized by age and learn behaviors associated with these categories (Bowker and Star, 1999). At the individual level, age discourses and placements influence identity and self-experience (Thorne, 2004). Thorne calls for childhood scholars to engage with age categories “paying closer attention to the situated uses and meanings of those we study” (2008: 437). The aim here is to pay attention to how an age category like tweens can be understood and experienced from those situated in this age category.

The social construction of tweens highlights how this age group is defined not just by biological markers but by cultural and social factors. Understanding tweens requires examining how those within this age category experience the interplay between the cultural and social factors. Childhood scholars such as Spyrou (2024, 2018) and Alanen have (2012) advocated for a relational ontological approach, which emphasizes that age categories are produced through interactions. This perspective elucidates the multiplicity of age in various interactions (Deszcz-Tryhubczak and García-González, 2023).

Age is done in relation to norms, perceived expectations, friends, peers, family, and society, and is also constituted in interaction and gains meaning within the context of larger social forces, such as economic systems, political structures, and cultural trends (Laz, 1998). Laz (2003, 1998) theorized age as a performance, termed “age-as-accomplished”, viewing age as a dynamic construct, shaped by the interplay between individual agency and social structures (Huijsmans et al., 2014). Thus, age is seen as flexible and negotiable.

Inspired by Law and Mol’s argument that entities, both human and non-human, are mutually enacted (2008), and Latour’s call to explore social relationships symmetrically, avoiding reductionist notions (2005), I use ‘age as enactment’ to emphasize the performative aspects and relational dynamics. Actors such as make-up, fashion, playing, and friends form assemblages with varying degrees of stability (Latour, 2005). This perspective allows us to see age as; “flexible, negotiable, and continuously constructed and reconstructed” (da Rosa Ribeiro et al., 2023: 138). Age as enactment highlights that age is continuously brought into being through everyday activities and social engagements. By focusing on enactment, we can better understand how age is experienced and expressed in various assemblages, revealing the ongoing processes that shape our understanding of age. Age as enacted shows how age influences and is influenced by relationships, social norms, and cultural contexts, acknowledging that age is relationally constituted.

From my theoretical perspective, age is enacted within heterogeneous networks by individuals and in relation to other actors. An actor is ‘anything that modifies a state of affairs by making a difference’ (Latour, 2005: 71). These actors can be both human and non-human, such as make-up, jungle gyms, or social practices like role-playing games. Different actors allow for different age enactments in various assemblages. Through a relational ontology, we can explore how actors participate in the enactment of age for tweens in an open, anti-essential way. The enactment of age is produced through assemblages of place, activity, and peers. Enacting age involves performing age in relation to normative cultural understandings of accepted behavior or activities in certain age groups (Andersson et al., 2011; Frønes, 1995). There are boundaries and constraints on how one can enact age in specific situations.

My goal is not to essentialize age but to explore how tweens make sense of their age. Previously I found that children in their tween years may act like children or teenagers depending on the situation and relationships, this is what I term age-shifting (Sørenssen, 2015). Age-shifting complicates traditional age categories, showing that age is produced in context. With this in mind, I sought to explore how the girls I interviewed described the potential variations in age performances across different assemblages.

Part of a relational perspective, and part of seeing age as enacted can be argued is not only seeing age categories in relation to each other, like generationing (Alanen, 2019) but also how individuals make sense of their past, present and ideas about the future. Adding to the notion of children as being and becoming (Uprichard, 2008) we can include “having been” as a productive lens in understanding how they make sense of their lives now in relation to what has been and what might become (Hanson, 2017; Hart, 2016). Previous studies have indicated that while some tweens are eager to grow up and embrace teenage life, there is also evidence that others prefer to remain “children” for a little longer (Wærdahl, 2003). This study includes the “been” child to explore these dynamics. I asked the girls to reflect on their current age category, their future, and their past, prompting them to make sense of the been, being, and becoming child, tween, and teenager.

Methodology; talking with tween girls

This study, based on interviews from spring 2023, is registered and recommended by the Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research (Sikt). All names are anonymized, the girls have been given pseudonyms, and data handling follows Sikt guidelines. I observed four school days at two elementary schools to understand seventh graders’ daily routines. In Norway, children are placed in grades by age, so all seventh graders are 11-12 years old. I then conducted individual interviews with ten 12-year-old girls. In childhood studies, there has been a focus on children as actors and the importance of focusing on children’s own voices and perspectives (Hammersley, 2017; Prout, 2011). It is important to examine how those who are situated in various age categories, such as childhood, tweens and teenagers, experience and make meaning of these categories (Thorne, 2008). Here I explore how tween girls make sense of their age group during their final year as tweens. By exploring their perspectives, the research seeks to gain deeper insights into their meaning-making and experiences of age categories.

When conducting qualitative interviews, it’s important to reflect on power dynamics. The interviewer controls the conversation by defining topics and asking questions. While power imbalances can be mitigated, they cannot be entirely eliminated (Kvale, 2005). Children, as guardians of their culture, hold inherent power by choosing their level of participation (Christensen, 2004). We must consider power relationships not only between adults and children but also within specific cultural contexts (Mitchell and Reid-Walsh, 2002). Power shifts among different actors and social positions during the research process, being produced and negotiated in interactions (Vähäsantanen and Saarinen, 2013). In the Norwegian context, the hierarchical relationship between adults and children is less pronounced both at home and in school compared to many other countries. Good parenting is seen to be child-focused and dialogue-based (Sørenssen et al., 2024), and the Nordic model in education emphasizes democracy and equality, focusing on children’s rights and being child-centered (Kristjansson et al., 2006) where teachers are trained to be anti-authoritarian (Czerniawski, 2009). For example, Norwegian children are not expected to use titles but rather first names when addressing their teachers. This cultural context likely influences the dynamics of the interview situation, potentially reducing the hierarchical barriers that might exist in other settings.

During the interviews, I emphasized that there were no right or wrong answers and that the girls could speak freely. I place great emphasis making it clear to those I speak with that they can withdraw at any time and that what they tell will be anonymized, and that it is very important that children’s voices are heard in the research. The interviews lasted between 30 and 70 minutes, indicating that the girls felt comfortable enough to share their thoughts and experiences openly. While I cannot know how they experienced being interviewed, the length and depth of the conversations suggest that the adult/child hierarchy did not significantly hinder the girls' willingness to talk.

The knowledge produced in the interview results from the relational interaction between the interviewer and the interviewee (Kvale and Brinkmann, 2009). The interviews focused on how the girls experience their current age, reflected on their time from fourth to seventh grade, and thought about their future as teenagers, emphasizing the been, being, and becoming. The girls described how other actors, like make-up, playing and family were part on the enactment of age. By asking them to focus on the past the present and the imagined future they described more or less stable boundaries for how to enact their age in different assemblages. Although the setting was in group room in school, we did not only talk about their lives in school but also their lives at home, their organized and non-organized leisure time giving insight into how actors like family, home, friends contributed to multiple enactments of age.

When discussing their current age versus earlier years, the girls often explained how they saw themselves as different now and described transitions in practice. By doing so they described different ages and would tell me about what they experienced were the characteristics of both fourth and seventh grade. While the girls would talk in detail and give rich information about the past and the present, they were more reluctant to imagine their future age doings. When asked about starting ungdomsskole (youth school, ages 13–16), most had not given it much thought, possibly because the interviews were conducted in February, and they wouldn’t start until August. It might have been different if I had interviewed them closer to when they were done with elementary school. However, it might also be that these girls, as everyone else, knows the past and the present, the future however, and how we might change, be, or think then, is not a given. Therefore, the analysis focuses more on the “been” and “being,” where the been sheds light on the being. This approach challenges the conventional view of age as here-and-now, showing how the girls make sense of the present in relation to the past.

The interviews were transcribed verbatim and entered into NVivo software. Inspired by stepwise-deductive induction approach (Tjora, 2018), I coded empirically by using words that the girls themselves used. After reviewing the data material and the codes several times, three themes emerged that were heard in all interviews. Firstly, all the girls talked about going from playing to talking during recess at school as part of being in seventh grade. Secondly, they talked about being both as children and as teenagers, depending on the relational context. Thirdly, they talked about this transition from small children to tweens, or in-between children as many called themselves, as a slow transition moving through age categories.

From playing to talking

When asked what was typical for seventh graders all the girls told me that there was not much playing at recess, this was as opposed to fourth grade, and that now they primarily would talk during recess:

Ingvild: Is there a difference in what you do during recess when you’re in seventh grade compared to fourth grade?

Randi: Yes, in seventh grade, we don’t play like “mor og far og barn” and stuff like that. We talk, just walk around while talking or something like that. But in fourth grade, they like to play “mor og far og barn” and stuff like that.

The game «mor og far og barn» is Norwegian for roleplaying, mother, father, child. Randi made a distinction between this type of roleplaying that was not common among the girls in seventh grade and that differed from fourth grade and that in seventh they primarily walked around and talked. Here we can see how different actors like the game “mor og far og barn” and the act of talking are part of different age assemblages. In fourth grade, the game serves as an actor that enacts a younger age identity. As the girls move to seventh grade, talking becomes the dominant activity, reflecting a different age enactment. This shift illustrates how different actors mediate social practices and contribute to the enactment of age. Playing was seen as something that was part of an enactment of a younger age.

Ingvild: But what would you think if someone asked you, like, “Hey, are you a child or a teenager or what?”

Ida: I don’t really know what I am, because I don’t use make-up or anything like that, but I maybe don’t do as much of the things I did when I was younger.

Ingvild: For example?

Ida: For example, playing and stuff like that.

Ida did not place herself in any age category, telling me that she does not know, for she does not use make-up, but she does not play as much any longer. Mirroring previous research (Sørenssen and Franck, 2021), Ida’s quote emphasizes the role of make-up as an actor in the enactment of age. From this one could assume that make-up belongs to a teenage repertoire and playing belongs to a childlike repertoire as she uses this as a reason for both not being a teenager but also not being a child. While make-up was used by some of the other girls as a demarcation of teenagers, playing or not was mentioned by all of the girls as something they had to take an active stance to, either having stopped playing, kept playing although aware that this will soon end, some were upset about not being able to engage in at school anymore and some of the girls reported on playing outside school;

Hilde: We usually play during our free time, but when we are at school, it’s more like they stand and talk. It just became more and more talking because my friends and I used to play while the others were talking, so it just became more and more that we started to be more with those who talked.

Hilde’s quote illustrates how age is relational as well as it shows the multiplicity of enacting age depending on the assemblages. While playing was not common for them in a school assemblage, in another assemblage, which Hilde termed “free time,” they did play. From a relational ontological perspective age is enacted here in an assemblage of several actors. If we see playing to belong to a more childlike repertoire and talking to belong to a more teenage repertoire, depending on the assemblages where Hilde and her friends find themselves, they draw on different age repertoires. Other actors, such as peers, and social norms in different contexts all take part in the enactment of age. Although Hilde did not use age as a reason to play or not in school, it seems that the actors in the assemblage of Hilde and her friends at school normalize talking over time as what you do during recess. One could also argue that the status Hilde has as a seventh grader playing is not socially accepted or expected by seventh graders. Using age as enactment we can understand age not as an individual characteristic but rather is enacted in the relation to other actors in the assemblage.

Although going from playing to talking seemed like a “natural” and unproblematic, as with Hilde and Oda’s quotes over, some of the girls wanted to play but had friends who had stopped playing, and this could be experienced as difficult. Trine, for example, said that her friends had suddenly changed “in a snap” when they started seventh grade:

Ingvild: So, it started in seventh grade, but couldn’t you play together then?

Trine: We played and then we started playing with Anja and Lise and it was really fun, but then, yeah, I felt like they had similar interests, all three of them, and they always talked about make-up stuff that I didn’t quite understand, yeah, so they didn’t always listen when I talked and then I sometimes felt a bit stupid.

In the interview, Trine was clear that she liked to play, but most of the girls in her grade had stopped. In the excerpt above, again make-up is used as a clear indicator of belonging to an older age category and of something Trine is not interested in. Trine said that she feels “a bit stupid” compared to her friends, and this was perceived as a bit hurtful, that she didn’t have the same interests and didn’t understand what they were talking about. Trine was the only girl who did not talk about herself as being between child and teenager and considered herself a child and told me that she would play by herself on the jungle gym.

Sara was one of the girls who told me that she still did play a bit during recess with her friends. When I asked here is she was a child or a teenager she told me “I’m kind of the in the middle”. She also mentioned that some might avoid playing out of fear of being judged; “there are some who are like oh, I don’t want them to think weirdly of me, so I won’t play, I’ll do like they do”. However, she still played:

Ingvild: But what makes you, I was going to say, dare to play?

Sara: I don’t really think they think it’s silly to play, but that they kind of think it’s a bit childish, but I think the reason I dare is that my friends also dare, so I’m not the only one.

Ingvild: But what if your friends suddenly don’t dare anymore because they care about what the others think?

Sara: Yes, then I think… it’s not as fun to play alone either, so then I don’t think I would want to play anymore either.

Sara’s response illustrates the fluid and context-dependent enactment of age. It doesn’t have to be contradictory or problematic, while also acknowledging that others might be worried about what others think of them. Unlike Trine, Sara has friends who still play, and as she pointed out, “then I’m not the only one,”. However, she also said that if her friends stop, she would stop playing too.

Although the interviews suggest a clear transition from playing to talking during recess, there was still the possibility to engage in both child and teenage repertoires depending on the relational context, highlighting the benefit of a relational ontological approach. Different assemblages, such as home, free time, and school, allow for varied enactments of age. For instance, while playing was not that common in the school assemblage, it was still prevalent during free time, highlighting how age can be enacted in multiple ways depending to the assemblages. This is what I call age-shifting.

Multiple enactments of age; age-shifting

When asked how the girls would define themselves regarding what age category they belonged to, several of the girls talked about themselves as being between younger children and teenagers, however, this was not dependent on the girls biological age, but it rather depended on where and with whom they were, mirroring Finch’s (2018) argument that age is socially constructed and relationally dependent. This demonstrates how the categorization of ‘tweens’ is fluid and dependent on the assemblages. For example, Sara reflected on how she felt both like a child and not like a child:

Ingvild: But for example, when you’re out during recess and not playing with the other class, do you feel more like a teenager or more like a child or…?

Sara: Maybe a bit of both, it kind of depends on what we’re doing because if we’re out during recess and standing around talking and stuff, then I don’t feel like a child, but maybe not quite like a teenager either, but if we’re playing tag and stuff, then I feel maybe a bit more like a child.

Sara demonstrated here how age is not static; it is not biological but social and relational. She felt not quite like a child, but not fully like a teenager either, showing the multiplicity of age, what I call age-shifting. Sara’s experience of age categories shifted based on the activities she engaged in during recess, highlighting the relational enactment of age. Her sense of age was not fixed but varied depending on the assemblages she was part of. When she was “standing and talking”, she did not feel like a child, yet she did not fully identify as a teenager either. This indicates that the enactment of age as a mutual enactment; in part enacted by herself but also enacted by other actors in the assemblage. When engaging in playing tag she felt more like a child. This shift underscores how age is enacted and experienced through specific practices.

Ingvild: Are you a child or a teenager, or what do you think?

Wilma: A bit more on the teenager side, but I don’t think it’s about age.

Ingvild: Okay, what is it about then?

Wilma: It’s more about how you are, how you behave, how you feel.

Ingvild: How do you feel then?

Wilma: Medium.

Ingvild: Medium? What does that mean?

Wilma: It depends on where I am. Like, if I’m at school, I feel more like a teenager because right now we are the oldest. When I’m at home, it’s not really like that; then I feel more like a child. When I’m with friends, also more like a child.

Ingvild: So, whether you are a child or a teenager is not about age, but how you feel…

Wilma: …with the others, at least that’s how I feel

Here it is clear that how one does age is relational and flexible. Wilma was not locked into one way of enacting age; it depends on how one feels with others. There are norms and expectations for which type of age repertoire one can use in given assemblages. Wilma pointed out that it depends on where and with whom she is, in terms of whether she felt like a child or more like a youth. How one feels with others is thus a key here to knowing which age repertoire to use. This illustrates how actors like the school environment and social contexts coproduce age enactment.

When asked about what age category Anja would consider herself, she also used feelings as reasoning and, like Wilma, seemed to think it did not necessarily have to do with chronological age:

Anja: I feel more like a teenager because I’m closer, if you compare with a 9-year-old and a 14-year-old, I feel like I’m closer to a 14-year-old than a 9-year-old. But there are people who are 12 who are probably closer to a 9-year-old, but I feel like I’m closer to a 14-year-old, and there are many who are closer to a 14-year-old than a 12-year-old. I feel like a teenager.

Anja did not highlight the same shifting of age that Wilma did. Throughout her interview Anja placed herself as closer to a teenager than a child, talking about how she did not play anymore and that she was interested, and used, make-up and was interested in fashion. She did however open for different age enactments of 12-year-olds, not due to a relational enactment but rather age enactment as a personal attribute. Anja was the only one who strictly defined age enactment as an essence, you were either more like a teenager or more like a child.

While Anja was the only one adamant on only being a teenager, Oda reflected around her move from playing to talking in school which included a relational perspective:

Ingvild: And it’s also a kind of, you mentioned transition earlier, a transition from playing to not playing, does it happen like this (snaps fingers) or?

Oda: Not really, it’s more like, it maybe depends on who you’re with. If you’re with many who think it’s fun, to when you’re with some who kind of don’t think it’s fun, so you don’t switch immediately. But if you start hanging out with some who doesn’t think it’s fun but have hung out with people who think it’s fun, then it’s like; “shall we do it?” and if they say no, you just stop doing it for a while.

Viewing age as more than just an individual attribute isn’t solely based on theoretical reasoning. Several girls expressed this relational perspective, explaining that their engagement in play depended on their location and the people they were with. Like Sara who when asked if she was a teenager or a child said:

Sara: I feel a little bit of both. Sometimes I feel small, but sometimes I feel big, it’s like if I meet younger people, I feel big, but if I’m with my cousins who are older, I feel small

Ingvild: Do you think that one can feel both at the same timer or is it like you have to be or the other?

Sara: I feel like both, and I think it’s ok to be both

Again, it depended on the other actors in the assemblage whether one felt like a child or a teenager, or even, as Sara said both simultaneously. In addition to shifting between different age enactments, it was also possible to embody both simultaneously without this being a paradox or conflict. It was just the way age was enacted, as flexible, relational and multiple.

The data shows that place, activity, and peers are of key importance to how age is perceived and enacted. It then logically follows that how age is perceived and enacted is not stable, making age-shifting possible. This fluidity in age categories highlights the dynamic nature of age enactments in the present. The concept of age-shifting allows us to see age as both a social strategy and as flexible, contextually, and relationally enacted. This demonstrates how the categorization of ‘tweens’ is fluid and multiple, challenging linear chronological approaches to age. By critically engaging with the concept of “tween,” we can better understand how these girls navigate the multiple enactments of age. In general, this relational and flexible approach to age categories can provide a nuanced understanding of lived experiences and highlight the importance of context and social interactions in shaping age enactments.

Looking back- the gradual transition

The fluidity in age categories can be seen as a continuity from past to present, where the girls would draw on their past experiences to navigate their current identities. While Trine expressed that going from playing to talking happened abruptly, most of the girls described it as a slower transition when looking back:

Ingvild: If you think about what is typical for seventh grade, not just you but for the whole grade, what is typical for a 7th grader here?

Ida: Maybe like, yes, that people stand in groups and talk…

Ingvild: Didn’t they do that before?

Ida: No, then everyone did a lot of different things, but now it’s like, yes…

Ingvild: Isn’t that a bit strange, or is it… to go from doing a lot of things to just standing and talking?

Ida: Yes, it kind of happened gradually, so I don’t think it’s that bad.

The transition from “doing a lot of different things” to talking during recess was defined here as a gradual transition, not something that happened suddenly, which made Ida not experience it as abrupt or difficult; it wasn’t “that bad” as she pointed out. This gradual, or slow transition was apparent in several of the interviews, particularly when the girls reflected on a longer period of change, such as their experiences across different grade levels over the past 2 years. When I asked Anja about the difference from fourth grade to seventh grade, she said that this transition wasn’t necessarily felt as a transition when it happened, but rather when you look back at it in retrospect:

Ingvild: You talked a bit about the difference between fourth and seventh grade, and as far as I understood, you have changed friends a bit?

Anja: Yes, but you kind of notice the difference. You don’t notice the difference from sixth to seventh grade in June, July, and August, but you do notice it when you look back from fifth to seventh or fourth to sixth, but you don’t notice it when it happens.

Ingvild: What does it mean to be 13 then?

Anja: I don’t know, there isn’t a big difference between being 13 and 12 on that day, but there is a difference from when you are 11 to 13, for example, or 10 to 12. You don’t notice the difference right away.

Anja here suggests that one needs time to look back to see changes. This shows how not only focusing on the being here and now but asking the girls to reflect on the been self as a productive lens in understanding their age now in relation to what has been (Hanson, 2017; Hart, 2016). To further illustrate this point, Wilma in her interview also highlighted how transitioning from one age group to another was a slow transition and that you don’t really experience it when it is happening, but rather after:

Ingvild: You said earlier, I find it very interesting that it’s not just about age, but also how you feel and where you are, whether you are a child or a teenager. And when you talked about being at school, did you say you felt like children here or like teenagers here?

Wilma: It’s more like right now we feel, or at least I feel more like a teenager because now we are the oldest in the playground and when third graders walk by and they look at you and go “oooooo.”

Ingvild: But do you act differently when you feel like a teenager than when you feel like a child?

Wilma: I don’t know, it happens so slowly that you don’t really notice a difference.

Ingvild: What do you mean, the transition happens slowly?

Wilma: Yes, or if I think about it now compared to before, there is quite a big difference at the same time, but I didn’t really feel the transition, it just happened. It’s like when you grill a sausage and suddenly it turns brown, and you see another sausage that is raw, and you think, “Oh, that one is so brown.” You don’t really feel it when it happens slowly, so you don’t really feel the transition.

Wilma explained here that you don’t feel the transition; it just happens. However, there isn’t a specific point where you can pinpoint that the transition has occurred. Wilma’s analogy of grilling a sausage illustrates that transitions are often only noticeable in hindsight. As Wilma pointed out, you don’t feel it happening, only when you see that the sausage has turned brown, and you compare it to uncooked sausages. While Trine felt that her friends changed “in a snap,” Ida, Wilma, and Anja described their own transitions as gradual. This difference in perception might be influenced by whether they were observing others or reflecting on their own experiences.

How the girls talked about becoming different, doing different things from fourth to seventh grade tells a story of having been, and being becoming. By looking back at their experiences, the girls illustrated how the transition from childhood to tweenhood is a gradual process. It’s through reflecting on what you have been that you see the transition from one age category to another. The relational contexts in which these transitions occur also play a crucial role. While Wilma explained that she felt more like a teenager at school because they were the oldest, but more like a child at home, Sara mentioned feeling both like a child and a teenager depending on the activity and context, highlighting the ongoing influence of past experiences on present identity.

Concluding discussion: Age as enactment, age-shifting, and tweens

Common to the themes of transitioning from playing to talking, engaging in age-shifting, and looking back is that age is enacted relationally. Using an ontological relational perspective, we can explore age as enactment in childhood. Rather than looking for an essence, we can strive to understand and open up to the fact that age can be enacted differently in different relations and assemblages, thus freeing us from the idea of time as uniform (Millei et al., 2021; Sparrman, 2020; Uprichard, 2008). Age has been argued to be a social category and can be understood as the social practice (Frønes, 1995). Through the concept of “enacting age” age is implicitly detached from biological age in the sense that it is something done and that can differ depending on the assemblages.

Age as enactment also decenters “the child” (Spyrou, 2018) focusing on what children and other actors do in this enactment. Different actors such as games, make-up, school environments, and activities like playing and talking, participate in enacting age. Tweens as a category is not a free zone where one can age-shift and adopt different age performances at will, as there are limits and restrictions within various assemblages regarding acceptable age enactments. There are certain expectations of what children should be able to do, and how they should act according to different age norms. Age as enactment opens for multiple age enactments in different relational assemblages and underscores that age is not just a biological fact but a social practice that is continuously shaped by interactions and contexts.

For tweens, this means that their age is performed and experienced differently depending on the situation. The shift from playing to talking during recess illustrates how activities and social practices enact age. In fourth grade, playing games was common, while in seventh grade, talking became dominant. This change signifies different age identities. Age-shifting highlights the fluidity of age with girls feeling like both children and teenagers depending on the assemblages. Reflecting on their experiences, they saw the transition from childhood to tweenhood as gradual. Anja noted that changes were clearer in retrospect, suggesting that understanding age involves looking at both past and present selves. This view emphasizes the continuous change and relational contexts of age transitions. By adopting an open relational perspective, we can see age as flexible, negotiable, and continuously assembled and reassembled. This approach provides a nuanced understanding of age as a dynamic and context-dependent construct.

The girls placed themselves as being both, sometimes more like children, sometimes more like teenagers. Based on my data it did not seem that they perceived themselves as being in a liminal phase. Instead, I argue that they were in a distinct stage where they can shift between child and teenager repertoires. This age-shifting highlights the fluidity and relational nature of the ‘tweens’ category. While none of the girls used the term tweens to describe themselves, they did describe themselves as distinct from both older and younger children and that they could feel like children or teenagers, thus engaging in age-shifting, depending upon the assemblage. Instead, of seeing tweens as a liminal phase or between two stages, they are rather both: They are children, and they are becoming teenagers and engage in age-shifting. Whether they use a teenage or child repertoire is relational and depends on the assemblages they are in. Age-shifting was not just a characteristic of the age category. I argue that this category, whether we call it ‘tweens’ or not, is defined by age-shifting as a primary feature and an assemblage in itself. The concept of age-shifting allows us to see age as both a social strategy and as flexible, contextually, and relationally enacted.

We need to continuously explore how age is being done and giving meaning by those in specific age categories as the theme will never be exhausted. Finch argues that “age groups, however constituted, should not be treated as if they have some autonomous and lasting significance outside the particular social and economic contexts which give them meaning” (Finch, 2018: 19). Those belonging to the age group differ and discourses surrounding the age groups may differ. It could be argued that the girls interviewed here are not necessarily representing tweens as an age group but rather talking about being oldest in school. Nonetheless, from 2006 to 2011 I observed and interviewed children, individually and in focus groups when they were between 9 and 12 and primarily 10-11. It was here that I first used the concept of age-shifting to discuss how tweens switched between drawing on childhood and teenage repertoires (Sørenssen, 2014). The results from the 2023 study support this. The girls I interviewed in 2023 pointed out that it depended on who they were with and where they were when it came to whether they played or not, and whether they felt like children or teenagers. However, this does not have to be the case, it could be otherwise. It is important to note that these are qualitative studies, and we cannot generalize from this. Nevertheless, it seems that age-shifting is something that can characterize being a becoming teenager, and a have-been child in transition to becoming a teenager. This concept can be useful in how we can engage with girls in their tweens and give room for their age-shifting.

The interviews show how these girls talked about age, which highlights how age is understood and enacted. However future research could benefit from incorporating observational data to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how age is enacted in different assemblages. In addition, as this research focuses on girls, it would be interesting to expand this research to focus on how boys make sense of this age group, is age-shifting a useful concept to use when exploring how tween boys enact age?

Based on both this study as well as previous work (Sørenssen, 2014, 2015), I would argue that we can still use tweens as a demarcation, not to essentialize, but we do need categories to make sense of the world (Bowker and Star, 1999). The question is how those situated in the categories make sense of this. As childhood scholars, we should not be afraid to engage in defining age categories from how those categorized make sense of these ages, as long as we keep the anti-essentialist perspective and look at how this is done.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Ingvild Kvale Sørenssen

Note

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