When you’re a new parent, you probably get asked pretty frequently how you’re doing. It’s no surprise that babies are hard work. There’s the nighttime feedings, early morning wake-ups, diaper blowouts and everything in between. Luckily, moms are all pretty accepting of this and try to help each other out and offer advice where needed.

But once your hits middle school, you might notice a shift in mood from other parents. If you’ve got a pre-teen, then you know just what we’re talking about.

One mom named Christine Organ sure does. Organ recently vented about the changes that occur when your son or daughter goes to middle school, and why we need others to stop pretending like it isn’t happening.

“When your kid starts middle school, people often ask: ‘How’s your kid like middle school?’ with this weird trepidation,” she says. “Most of the time, people answer with ‘It’s fine.’ Kind of in that veiled way people talked about how much they loved being a new mom. But you know what? IT’S NOT FINE. IT IS SO NOT FINE.”

Boom! There, she said it. She said what probably every parent of a middle-schooler is thinking but is too afraid to say.

“It is exhausting and scary and emotional and confusing and holy hell can someone please help me because I don’t know how I’m going to survive the next handful of years,” Organ continued.

The truth is, your child goes into middle school as a pre-teen, and comes out almost ready to drive, and there’s a lot of changes that happen to them in that time. New friendships and enemies are formed, hormones are out of control, not to mention all the acne. It’s not an easy time for them, nor is it for you. (Just think back to how middle school was for you! We bet it wasn’t the best time of your life.)

“Every day is like going to battle, except the rules are constantly changing,” Organ goes on to say. “Will your middle schooler be in a good mood or sulky? Will they want to hug and snuggle, or will it be an eye roll and heavy sighing kind of day? Will they come home in tears or practically bouncing off the wall due to all the hormones jumping around in their body?”

Organ has a brilliant idea to help. Since there are so many support groups for new moms—ones that are utterly helpful—why don’t we create a support group of moms of middle school-aged children—or as she coins it, ”Trying To Survive Middle School Moms”? That way, everyone can be on the same page and help the moms going through this rough transition phase.

At the very least, Organ is urging middle-school parents to be kind to each other—to lift each other up when the other one is down—and most importantly, to help us quit the faulty “It’s fine”s.

“Let’s be each other’s support group. Let’s stop immediately responding with it’s fine, and tell the truth. Let’s help each other out,” she says.

You can see more of Organ’s thoughts on the matter here!

Are you the parent of a middle-schooler? Could you benefit from a middle school parent support group?