I read a story this week about the online habits of teens and tweens. Recent studies prove what most parents already knew -- that youngsters as young as 12 are using social networking regularly, despite minimum age requirements of 13 or 14.

While experts in child safety, and in Internet addiction worry about the blowback of allowing youngsters to establish their own online profiles, many parents I know believe that social networking is a great way to stay on top of a child's life, and know what's going on at school, and with friends. What are your thoughts? Should tweens engage in social networking on sites such as Facebook and MySpace? Or should they wait a few years before jumping in?

Conflict is just going to happen in life, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. In middle school, you can pretty much bet the farm that your child will either encounter a bully, or, at some point, engage in bullying behavior himself (or herself, no discriminating here, folks).

According to the National Survey of Children's Health, 24 percent of parents report their child bullies or is cruel at least some of the time. Thirty-five percent of parents say that they are concerned about their child being bullied at school.

What can you do? Know the signs of bullying, and being able to recognize that conflict has gone too far. Also, know that youngsters who bully others and are bullied themselves are likely to have certain risk factors, such as social isolation, and serious academic challenges.

I have it so much better than my mother ever did. I had the privilege of choosing my profession, and never bothering to even consider whether any job I applied for was "appropriate" for women. My daughters, God willing, will have it even better than I.

But just to make sure they know all the hard work and sacrifice that's propelled massive change in women's rights, I won't fail to share this recent column penned by journalist Gail Collins.

If the young girls you know take their wide-open futures for granted, you might want to share her thoughts, too.

If your tween is no longer allowed to trick-or-treat in your neighborhood, or just doesn't want to, there are plenty of activities he or she can do to make the most of the annual celebration.

Put your tween to work decorating your home, or handing out candy to younger trick-or-treaters. Of course, carving the Jack-O-Lantern is always an option. And, there's no reason your tween can't dress-up, even if trick-or-treating is no longer an option.

Has your tween's need for privacy suddenly increased? Does he or she keep the bedroom door closed more often? It's normal for tweens to want a little more independence from their parents, and there's no reason to have hurt feelings if your child wants to create a little space between the two of you.

If you think your child's secrecy and mood swings are due to raging hormones, don't worry too much about it. Give your tween a little privacy, and knock before entering the room. But make it clear that you're still to be treated with respect. Yelling and door slamming should not be tolerated.

More on Tweens and Independence

It's started, again. The season of sugar. It begins somewhere around Halloween and ends, I don't know, around Easter? In between our children are bombarded with candy, sweets of every kind, and from all directions.

You can still put the breaks on your child's sugar intake. Just set some rules about when and how much. Two items per day, after dinner, for example. And be sure you offer plenty of healthy breakfast choices and snack ideas, too.

It's a mere five days away - does your tween have a costume ready to go? Or, is he or she one of the famous last minute outfitters? Someone who can throw a costume together in five minutes or less, makeup complete and looking great?

It's a mystery at my home as to what my tweens will decide to wear. I am glad I haven't given the contents of the dress-up drawers away.

Halloween can be a difficult holiday for tweens. On the one hand, they still enjoy dress-up and they certainly still crave the candy. On the other hand, older tweens may not be allowed to trick-or-treat in certain neighborhoods, or tweens may no longer wish to trick-or-treat with younger kids.

If your tween opts for spending time with friends or older siblings this Halloween over trick-or-treating, be sure you still keep tabs on your child. Check that any parties he attends will have adult supervision, and if your tween will be at an event with older children, make sure alcohol, smoking, and other dangerous behaviors won't be tolerated.

More on Tweens and Halloween

It's one of the biggest decisions working parents of tweens consider - when to leave a tween home alone after-school, or when to find after-school care for their preteen.

Katherine Lewis, About's Guide to Working Moms, recently commented on the difficulties parents of tweens face when considering after school care for their child. Tweens' don't always want the supervision that comes with an after-school program, and yet many parents feel that hours left home alone is not an ideal situation.

What was your solution to finding after-school care for your tween? Do you provide occasional supervision combined with time home alone? Is your tween fully supervised throughout the day, or is your tween responsible for himself until you get home? Share your experiences with other working parents.

Fess up, parents. Do your daughters take on more household chores than your sons? According to a recent national survey by Highlights Magazine, significantly more girls reported having to do chores than boys.

Highlights can't account for the gender difference, but the magazine's Editor-in-Chief does say that one of the issues they hear the most about from their readership is sibling conflict and fairness at home.

If your tweens aren't contributing to the family's household workload, now is as good a time as ever to recruit them for chore duty. That's girls and boys, in case you were wondering.

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