Is 11 or so preteen age? Good God, it creeps up on you. Lena, my oldest, will be 11 late this summer. She vacillates between wanting to be an astronaut or some kind of biologist, and mercifully, isn't terribly sophisticated at all. But she's at a good school, girls only, and I think that helps. Lets her be a geek as long as she wants to be. I hope that's still true.